Injury Prevention and State Law as Strategies for the Reduction of Child Maltreatment Fatalities

Purpose of Review: This review focuses on one state’s multidisciplinary legislative efforts to decrease the incidence of child maltreatment, including fatalities and near-fatalities. Such efforts have encompassed primary and secondary prevention modalities, including early support to parents, training, and education about recognition and reporting of child maltreatment for professionals who interact with children, review of all child deaths, and multidisciplinary in-depth case review of the most serious child maltreatment cases. Recent Findings: Although reliable trends can be difficult to determine based upon the complexity of the problem and multiple confounding variables, there are a number of indicators that suggest these cumulative efforts are beginning to have a favorable impact on the most serious child maltreatment cases, although heightened awareness has likely contributed to an increase in the total number of reported cases. Summary: Multidisciplinary collaborative efforts including governmental, academic, and non-profit entities may affect meaningful change in legislation and other interventions to decrease the incidence of the most serious cases of child maltreatment.