Are there better ways of preventing and addressing reports of child maltreatment?
A. Yes. CWLA believes current child protection efforts must be improved so no further harm is done to children who have already been abused and neglected. Even more important, we believe the only true child protection response will occur when we prevent abuse and neglect in the first place. As with most health concerns, we must not confuse the treatment of the symptoms or even treatment of the disease with finding a cure. A comparable analogy might be our search for a cure for cancer. While we work to improve early detection, and we find quicker and more effective ways to treat cancer, our real goal is to stop it altogether. To date, our efforts in child abuse have not focused adequately on prevention. For example, we provide parenting education only after parents have failed. We provide placement only after children are hurt, and we provide treatment for problems when correcting them has become nearly impossible. Q.
