The Encyclopedia of Child Abuse (Hardback)

In 1996, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the findings of the Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect. One million children were victims of substantiated child abuse and neglect in 1995, the most recent year as reported to HHS by state child protection services agencies. According to the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse's 1996 Annual Fifty State Survey, reports of child abuse have maintained a steady growth of forty-five percent for the past ten years. The Encyclopedia of Child Abuse, Second Edition provides an exhaustive overview of this tragic issue. More than 500 A-to-Z entries cover every aspect of the problem - from psychological concerns to political and legal factors, from medical terms to sociological and educational considerations. The second edition features new and expanded entries on abandonment, adopting abused or neglected children, The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, civil commitment laws, family preservation, kinship care, Megan's Law, resilience of abused children, sex offender registration, and teenage pregnancy. Also included are extensive appendixes that provide international statistics and the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, as well as listings of regional child abuse and neglect resource centers, state child abuse statutes and agencies, and trends in child abuse funding. "...a comprehensive survey of child abuse that will be of use in high-school, public, and academic libraries as well as professional collections..."-Booklist"