Identifying, screening and engaging high-risk clients in private non-profit child abuse prevention programs

Child abuse prevention programs rely on varied strategies to identify, screen, obtain referrals of, and engage high risk parents. Available literature on community-based child abuse prevention projects is not conclusive about project outcomes nor sufficiently descriptive about implementation. From the literature, experience and interviews with staff from more than 20 programs, barriers to implementation are identifiable. Barriers arise during identifying and screening at-risk families, referral, continued collaboration with referrers, and engaging clients in services. The paper describes a diverse set of strategies for surmounting these barriers. Staff characteristics and concrete services partially predict the success of program implementation. So does the program's relationship to other agencies. Child abuse prevention programs assume independent, interdependent, and dependent relationships with other agencies and referrers. Interdependent programs appear to have the best chance of obtaining referrals and maintaining clients who match their program's intent.