The opening essay traces the evolution of child abuse and neglect as a serious social problem and examines how current approaches to the problem have led to the development of false allegations as a serious social problem. Papers on policy issues consider policy guidelines for decisionmaking in the investigation of reports of child abuse and neglect, the perspectives of child protection workers toward unsubstantiated reports, the appropriate response to reports of child abuse and neglect, and the strengths and limitations of current risk assessment systems used in the investigation of child-maltreatment allegations. Four papers address clinical evaluations of child sexual abuse. They discuss an assessment approach, drawing conclusions from the evidence, the medical examiner's dilemma, and clinical issues in false and unsubstantiated sexual abuse allegations. Three papers focus on sexual abuse allegations in the context of custody/visitations disputes, and another three papers address allegations of child maltreatment in foster homes. Chapter references and a subject index