Child protection and justice systems processing of serious child abuse and neglect cases

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.11.010 Byline: Andrea J. Sedlak (a), Dana Schultz (d), Susan J. Wells (b), Peter Lyons (e), Howard J. Doueck (c), Frances Gragg (a) Keywords: Child protection; Justice systems; Child abuse and neglect Abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the trajectory of cases through four systems: child protection, law enforcement, the dependency courts, and the criminal courts. Author Affiliation: (a) Westat, Rockville, MD, USA (b) School of Social Work, University of Minnesota, College of Human Ecology, St. Paul, MN, USA (c) School of Social Work, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA (d) RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, USA (e) School of Social Work, Georgia State University, University Plaza, Atlanta, GA, USA Article History: Received 3 January 2004; Revised 11 November 2005; Accepted 26 November 2005 Article Note: (footnote) [star] This project was funded under Grant Number 92-IJ-CX-K041 from the National Institute of Justice and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the US Department of Justice to the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, Susan J. Wells, Principal Investigator. It was conducted in cooperation with the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.