November 2000Vol. 1, No. 7USDA Service Offers Rich Resource for Child Welfare Professionals
For a wide array of resources on many aspects of child and family well-being, including issues related to child abuse and neglect, visit CYFERNet (http://www.cyfernet.org), a service of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
CYFERNet provides program, evaluation, and technology assistance for children, youth and family community-based programs; the site is maintained by seven Land Grant universities.
Online items of interest to child welfare professionals include the following:
The April 2000 issue of Applying CYFERNET Resources to Evaluate Children Outcomes (http://www.ag.arizona.edu/fcr/fs/cyfar/nowg_bul_child_4.pdf--Editor's note: this link is no longer available) offers a case study of a community-based child abuse awareness program. Professionals from Cooperative Extension worked with local Child Protective Services staff, local policy, and a church to design and run the program. The report describes the program and discusses how CYFERNET resources were used to evaluate the program's effectiveness.
A literature review of risk factors for partner abuse and child abuse (http://www.cyfernet.org/parent/violence.html) was prepared by researchers at the State University of New York, Stonybrook. The review is organized as annotated tables. Chapters concerned with children address risk factors of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual victimization, and neglect.
In addition to the site, CYFERNet materials are made available through national conferences, printed publications, listserves, emails, and satellite downlinks. Contact:
CYFERNet
Phone: 612-626-1111
Email: cyf@reeusda.gov
Website: http://www.cyfernet.org