Community-Based Approaches to Preventing Child Maltreatment

In the past, efforts to prevent child maltreatment have been hampered by a failure to address the structural social forces and the community-level factors that impact on children, families and the propensity for maltreatment. This paper provides a review of the theoretical constructs underpinning recent efforts to prevent child maltreatment holistically, and identifies a current emphasis on health promotion strategies and efforts to develop healthy, resilient communities. Three major interventions, perceived to be key components of any attempt to reduce maltreatment at the societal and community levels, are described: early intervention projects, cross-sectoral collaboration, and 'whole of community' initiatives. Overall, the authors support the adoption of a developmental prevention approach, where effective child abuse prevention requires acknowledgement of the inter-relationship between risk and resiliency, and solutions are developed to address the former and to promote the latter.

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