Child Maltreatment Risk Assessments: An Evaluation Guide is a professional practice manual designed to assist clinicians in conducting forensic risk assessment in child maltreatment cases. The authors—each with an extensive background in forensic child abuse evaluation—present up-to-date research findings and provide practical, fact-based information on key issues. The book is an essential reference source on procedural issues, treatment options, and risk management strategies necessary to make high-quality, ethical evaluations. Child maltreatment risk assessments are complex, specialized evaluations with the potential for permanent legal termination of all parent-child contact on one hand, and the possibility of injury and even death on the other. Because of the weighty nature of these issues, the legal standards imposed on individual states to justify intervention is great, and evaluators must be well versed in the most current material available. Child Maltreatment Risk Assessments provides up-to-date information on the effects of maltreatment, empirically based risk factors for child abuse and neglect, specialized assessment techniques and interventions,and professional practice issues. The book emphasizes the importance of individual and cultural differences. Child Maltreatment Risk Assessments also includes a step-by-step guide to conducting and writing quality evaluations, including: components of an evaluation report forensic versus clinical evaluations methods of assessment assessment domains and much more! Child Maltreatment Risk Assessments: An Evaluation Guide is an invaluable tool for clinicians, lawyers and judges, human service agency personnel, and others involved in child maltreatment cases as well as students who represent the next generation of clinicians working in child abuse prevention and treatment. Reviews: “This is a successfully ambitious, comprehensive book that DISTILLS A VAST AMOUNT OF CLINICAL RESEARCH AND EXPERIENCE INTO A FOCUSED AND PRAGMATIC GUIDE to conducting child maltreatment risk assessments. The authors describe and weave together 'best practices' in areas including violence risk assessment, forensic evaluation, and clinical intervention to provide a thoughtful and sophisticated framework for conducting these often complex, high-stakes assessments. The final chapter is A MUCH-NEEDED ROADMAP FOR CONDUCTING CHILD MALTREATMENT RISK ASSESSMENTS that also includes frank discussion of the controversies and pitfalls that can complicate professional practice in this specialized assessment area. This volume will be invaluable to clinicians who conduct child maltreatment risk assessments, professionals who supervise or teach others how to conduct these assessments, and attorneys and judges who must rely upon these assessments when making far-reaching decisions about the lives of children and families.” Robert Kinscherff, PhD, JD, Director of Juvenile Court Clinic Services, Juvenile Court Department, Massachusetts Trial Court; Lecturer (Law and Psychiatry), Boston University School of Law; Clinical Associate in Psychology, Harvard Medical School “REPRESENTS STATE-OF-THE-ART THEORY AND PRACTICE. . . . Provides many guidelines, forms, and practical tips related to risk assessment that will be especially valuable to risk assessment professionals. A MUST-READ INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT for individuals needing to learn about child maltreatment clinical risk assessment. . . . AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE (and reminder of salient risk assessment issues) for seasoned professionals. . . . Goes far beyond child maltreatment risk assessment, including, for example, material on the impact of child maltreatment, on spousal abuse, and on the effectiveness of interventions.” Joel S. Milner, PhD, Director, Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault, Northern Illinois University Contents: Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Child Maltreatment: What Is It? Definitions of Abuse Chapter 2. The Impact of Child Maltreatment The Impact of Child Maltreatment on Attachment Security The Impact of Physical Abuse The Impact of Sexual Abuse The Impact of Psychological Maltreatment The Impact of Exposure to Family Violence The Impact of Neglect The Impact of Multiple Forms of Child Maltreatment Comparative Studies of the Impact of Abuse and Neglect The Impact of Marginal Maltreatment The Impact of Mediating Factors Chapter 3. Risk Assessment Problems and Strategies for Assessing Violence Historical or Developmental Factors Personal or Dispositional Factors Clinical or Symptom Factors Current Situation and Contextual Factors Final Remarks Chapter 4. Formulating Risk Management Strategies Introduction Treatment Outcome Literature: A Brief Review Parenting Training Interventions Comprehensive and Ecobehavioral Programs Child-Centered Services and Treatment Interventions Facilitating Parent-Child Relationships Individual Therapy and Long-Term Therapy with Parents Abuse-Focused Interventions Parents with Mental Retardation Substance Abuse Mental Health Interventions Relapse Prevention Facilitating Motivation for Positive Change Final Remarks Chapter 5. Putting It All Together Child Maltreatment Risk Assessments: A Specialized Evaluation Area Forensic versus Clinical Evaluations Components of the Evaluation Report Conducting and Writing Quality Evaluations Professional Issues References Index from the publisher's website
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