Abstract
This chapter critically examines the utility of a public health approach in addressing, and preventing complex constellations of maltreatment, particularly when this occurs within impoverished neighbourhoods and communities. It discusses issues surrounding the tensions between the increasing push for more accurate risk assessment against concerns relating to greater social surveillance. Both approaches relate to the value of advanced data-integration systems. It begins by examining problems in the investigation-oriented child protection system that fail to engage families, provide needed services, and proactive early intervention and prevention. A public health model seeks to address prevention issues and takes seriously the social determinants of inequality and poor outcomes for low-income families. The question of whether its whole-of-population epidemiological focus translates well to child protection is one this chapter seeks to examine.
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Gray, M., Schubert, L. (2019). Critiques of a Public Health Model in Child Maltreatment. In: Lonne, B., Scott, D., Higgins, D., Herrenkohl, T.I. (eds) Re-Visioning Public Health Approaches for Protecting Children. Child Maltreatment, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05858-6_14
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