Child Maltreatment Recurrence Points to Urgent Need to Improve Systems for Identification and Prevention.

There is considerable evidence that child maltreatment is associated with significant short- and long-term negative outcomes.1 Protecting children from maltreatment should be a clear priority, and there is substantial opportunity for making improvements in child protective services (CPS) to better serve those they are tasked with protecting. Making progress in this effort requires a closer inspection of the processes in place to identify children in danger of being harmed and of the potential effectiveness of the current system. The article by Kim and Drake2 published in the Journal examined CPS records to create US estimates for child maltreatment onset and recurrence for children from birth to age 11 years. More than one-third of children are estimated to have a screened-in report for investigation or assessment by CPS, and after an initial report is made regarding a child, the probability of a subsequent report is nearly 1 in 2. This alarming rate of maltreatment recurrence points to potential areas for improvement.