Despite the significant financial and human resources invested in child protection services (CPS), it is unknown whether these services are effective in preventing recurrence of child physical abuse and neglect. This paper reviews available studies evaluating the effectiveness of these interventions and identifies methodological limitations and factors that may contribute to these limitations. The authors searched databases to identify randomized controlled trials published in peer-reviewed journals in the past five decades that evaluated interventions to reduce recurrence of physical abuse and neglect. The paper outlined 10 methodological standards that are important for rigorous testing of psychosocial interventions and applied them in critically appraising identified studies. Thirteen randomized controlled trials were reviewed. This review identified methodological limitations (e.g. small sample size, lack of standardizations, contamination) that made it difficult to draw reliable conclusions as to the effectiveness of interventions. Field-specific factors that contributed to methodological limitations (e.g. heterogeneity of sample, multiple family problems, psychosocial nature of interventions) were identified and recommendations were provided for improvement. It was concluded that it is possible to implement high-quality trials that are ethical and feasible in the child welfare field. Table and references (Published Abstract)