Providing Services to Maltreated Children and their Families. Some Findings of Romanian Case Based Surveillance Study

Reliable national child maltreatment data is needed for the development and improvement of policies aimed at preventing child maltreatment and supporting recovery of child victims of abuse and neglect. The article reviews the importance of child abuse and neglect data especially of surveillance systems. The paper presents findings of the Romanian case-based surveillance study (part of the BECAN project , with special focus on information regarding elements of case management in terms of involved agencies and services provided for children victims of abuse and neglect and for their families. The results of this study are based on the document analysis of 288 case-files collected from 16 Romanian counties. The study shows the absence of standard tools for risk and needs assessment, as well as the absence of clear thresholds or reference points in decision making and intervention planning. Case management often relies on uncompleted assessment, lacking essential information to orient intervention planning. The results of the study show a great need for evidence based instruments to be used in all phases of case management.