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October 2017Vol. 18, No. 7Collaborating to Sustain Evidence-Based Interventions to Reduce Child Neglect

Child neglect is the most prevalent form of child maltreatment and is responsible for nearly 80 percent of U.S. child welfare fatalities. Typically, evidence-based interventions (EBIs) have been applied to help address and prevent child neglect. The Child Abuse & Neglect article, "The Role of Collaborations in Sustaining an Evidence-Based Intervention to Reduce Child Neglect," highlights a study that found that the EBI SafeCare significantly reduces child neglect recidivism rates.

The study methods include descriptive quantitative surveys, qualitative interviews, and focus-group findings to examine the role of collaboration within the context of public-private partnerships in 11 child welfare systems that have implemented SafeCare. The participants of the study were government child welfare administrators and administrators from community-based organizations and supervisors, coaches, and home visiting staff from the SafeCare EBI.
The SafeCare study focuses on the following key points:

  • How collaborations operate within the context of public-private partnerships
  • The role external partners, such as academic researchers, intervention purveyors, and outside funders, have in supporting the EBI
  • How less formally developed collaborations of multiple stakeholders can affect the implementation and sustainment of an EBI

Five major, interrelated themes emerged as integral to supporting EBIs: shared vision, building on existing relationships, academic support, problem solving and resource sharing, and maintaining the collaboration over time. The authors conclude that the study provides evidence of the important role collaboration among stakeholders has on the implementation and sustainment of EBIs such as SafeCare, especially to avoid imbalances of power, disorganized operations, reduced accountability, and lack of cohesion.

"The Role of Collaborations in Sustaining an Evidence-Based Intervention to Reduce Child Neglect," by Amy E. Green, Elise Trott, Cathleen E. Willging, Natalie K. Finn, Mark G. Ehrhart, and Gregory A. Aarons (Child Abuse & Neglect, 53) is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213415004354.