The Need for Effective Intervention

The need to create such an intervention was based on the following facts:

• Reported cases of child abuse and neglect have been increasing steadily nationwide since the inception of mandatory reporting statutes in the late 1960's and early 1970's. In 1996, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated that the number of child abuse and neglect reports nearly doubled between 1986 and 1993, rising 98 percent from 1.42 million to 2.81 million. In addition, the number of seriously injured children nearly quad-rupled, increasing from 141,700 in 1986 to 565,000 in 1993.

• An average of three children die of child abuse and neglect each day in the United States. The number of children who will die of these causes with-in the average lifespan of the typical American, 72.5 years, will approximate 80,000, the size of many small towns across the country (National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, 1998).

• Abused children exhibit high degrees of antisocial and delinquent behavior in adolescence and criminal behavior in adulthood (Bavolek, Kline, and McLaughlin, 1979). Child abuse has clearly been shown to be one of the leading causes in the development of juvenile delinquency and criminal behavior in adults (Straus, 1991).

• Coupled with the relationship between child abuse and increased delinquency and criminal behavior are the escalating costs of treatment and incarceration and the overcrowded conditions of detention centers and jails. Facilities to house lawbreakers are in short supply, while the need for such facilities keeps increasing.