Monica L. McCoy and Stefanie M. Keen: Child Abuse and Neglect

I had graduated with a Master’s in psychology in the mid 1970s and was working at a community mental health center (CMHC) in Philadelphia. I was hired to be a child and adolescent clinician. In my first 3 months and being the “new guy”, I was “volunteered” by the outpatient supervisor to be the liaison between our CMHC and a newly organized network in our catchment area that was to coordinate services to those families that were referred to the city’s Child Protective Services (CPS). The network was comprised of representatives from a local teaching hospital in our catchment area, schools both public and private, pediatricians, non-governmental community agencies that focused on children (i.e., the local YMCA), religious organizations, and police. We had our first meeting and like all new inter-agency committees there was a lot of energy and good ideas. Being a novice in the field of mental health, I soon learned that a family accused of child abuse faced a rather “adversarial” process instead of a therapeutic one. Once accused, a letter was sent to the address at which the “index child” was last known to be residing. The letter basically informed the guardian of the child the possible legal outcomes and that a CPS worker would be in touch shortly. The outcome was that many times the families disappeared after receiving the letter. The letter did not mention the possible assistance that could be available to the family from the various community agencies that were represented in that room that day. After awhile, no contact with the family resulted in the case being closed. …