The Basics
Child abuse and neglect affects countless families across the country, regardless of geography, ethnicity, or income. Adverse Childhood Experiences can not only harm a child while young, but have a significant impact on social and health issues later in life as an adult. Thankfully, safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments are shown to help families thrive and prevent child abuse and neglect.
Risk Factors
Research shows that a combination of individual, relational, community, and societal factors contribute to the risk of experiencing child abuse and neglect. For example, some risk factors include parental history of child abuse or neglect, limited parenting knowledge or skills, and families and communities experiencing social isolation and violence.
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Protective Factors
Research is helping identify factors that help reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect. Nurturing, safe, and stable family relationships, supportive communities, and access to health and social services, are promising protective factors.
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Consequences
Child abuse and neglect are associated with both short- and long-term consequences. Children may suffer immediate physical injuries as well as emotional and psychological problems. As children grow into adulthood, they are at increased risk for heart disease, cancer, smoking, suicide, and other leading causes of illness and death.
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Essentials for Childhood Framework
Essentials for Childhood is designed to help communities through strategies to promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. The steps suggested in the Essentials for Childhood Framework — along with your commitment to preventing child abuse and neglect —can help create neighborhoods, communities, and a world in which every child can thrive.
- Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Resource for Action: A Compilation of the Best Available Evidence
CDC has a Resource for Action of strategies that represent the best available evidence to help states and communities prevent and reduce child abuse and neglect.
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Prevention Resource for Action: A Compilation of the Best Available Evidence
This is a resource to help states and communities leverage the best available evidence to prevent ACEs from happening in the first place as well as lessen harms when ACEs do occur. It features six strategies drawn from the CDC Resources for Action to Prevent Violence.
- Infographic: Help Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect
Share this infographic with your community to help people learn more about how to prevent child abuse and neglect.
- Building Community Commitment for Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments
This supplement to the Essentials for Childhood Framework will help you develop a vision, raise awareness, and partner with others in the community.
- Suggested Practices for Journalists Reporting on Child Abuse and Neglect
This guide empowers journalists when reporting cases of child abuse and neglect through suggestions, checklists, and resources.
- Promoting Positive Community Norms
This guide provides information about creating a context for increasing safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and environments for children and families by promoting positive community norms.
- The Raising of America
Explore with subject matter experts and families as they discuss the challenges people face raising children in the United States.
* The titles of these documents changed in July 2023 to align with other Prevention Resources being developed by CDC's Injury Center. The original titles are noted in each document's suggested citation section.
- Child Health Statistics
CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics provides information on the health status of children in the United States.
- National Violent Death Reporting System
CDC has funded 50 states and territories and established the National Violent Death Reporting System to link information about the “who, when, where, and how” from data on violent deaths and provides insights about “why” they occurred. This enables policy makers and community leaders to make informed decisions about violence prevention programs, including those that address sexual violence and intimate partner violence.
- WISQARS
Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) is an interactive database that provides national injury-related morbidity and mortality data.
- Administration for Children and Families
The Administration for Children and Families provides state and national data on child abuse and neglect. Their findings are summarized each year in an annual report.