There are three distinct types of prevention of child abuse and neglect: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary prevention seeks to prevent the abuse or neglect of children before it occurs and is usually directed at the population at large. Secondary prevention strategies address particular risks among specific groups to prevent child abuse or neglect before it occurs. Tertiary prevention strategies seek to prevent child abuse and neglect from occuring again in families where it has already occured.

As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: the abuse and neglect of children is best stopped before it happens. To truly prevent child abuse of any kind, we need to co-create a culture that understands and respects children, protects them from harm, and shows them how to treat others in a positive and non-exploitive manner.

Primary Prevention

The first level of prevention, primary prevention, focuses on strategies for the general public. Primary prevention strategies often seek to strengthen family functioning. The long-term goal of such strategies is to educate the entire community to create social change that is supportive of healthy child development and intolerant of child maltreatment.

Possible goals of a primary prevention strategy could be to:

1. Increase parents’ knowledge and understanding of how children develop and what they can expect at each stage of child development.

2. Enhance bonding and communication between parents and their children.

3. Increase parents’ skills in coping with the stresses of caring for children with special needs.

4. Increase parents’ knowledge about managing homes and families.

5. Reduce the burden of child care.

6. Increase access to social and health-care services for all community members.

To achieve these goals, primary prevention strategies could include:

1. Programs that support new and expecting parents by helping them prepare for the challenges of child rearing.

2. Programs that educate parents about child care and child development.

3. Child care opportunities for working parents and for parents who need respite from the stresses of their responsibilities.

4. Programs that teach children how to protect themselves from abuse.

5. Life-skills training that helps children and young adults learn the interpersonal communication skills they need to thrive as kids and later as adults and parents.

6. Self-help groups, peer-support systems, and other neighborhood support programs to reduce the isolation experienced by many parents.

7. 24-hour crisis care programs that provide immediate assistance to parents by offering a telephone helpline, caretakers, nurseries, and counseling.

Secondary Prevention

The next level, secondary prevention, includes strategies that are focused on those who are at risk for abuse or neglect of their children. Based more than 40 years of research about child abuse and neglect, factors that place a child at risk for abuse or neglect have been well-documented. These include high-stress familial situations, lack of familial or community support, and young maternal age. Also, factors related to the child (e.g., disability or temperament that differs from the parents') may place him or her at greater risk of abuse or neglect.

Possible goals of a secondary prevention strategy could be to:

1. Increase parents’ knowledge and understanding of how their own upbringing influences their parenting skills and strategies.

2. Enhance bonding and communication between at-risk parents and their children.

3. Increase the connection between at-risk parents and resources or services in the community.

4. Increase parents’ skills in coping with the stresses of caring for children with special needs.

5. Increase access to social and health-care services for all community members.

To achieve these goals, secondary prevention strategies could include:

1. Parenting education programs that are available to parents who are known to their local departments of social or human services as being at risk for child maltreatment.

2. Programs that educate parents about interacting with community resources.

3. Referrals for parents to address depression, substance abuse, or other mental health challenges.

4. Crisis care nurseries or respite care.

5. Connection for parents with other parents in their community through support groups and other peer-support systems, such as mentoring families.

6. Programs that educate parents about child care and child development.

7. Parent education classes aimed at teen mothers and fathers.

Tertiary Prevention

Tertiary prevention encompasses treatment for families who already have encountered child abuse or neglect; these prevention programs serve to prevent the recurrence of such maltreatment.

Possible goals of a tertiary prevention strategy could be to:

1. Decrease the likelihood of a recurrence of child abuse or neglect, perhaps by placing the child with other caretakers or incarceration of the perpetrator(s).

2. Decrease the abuse of substances within the family.

3. Increase the connection of families to other families through support groups and other peer-support systems, such as mentoring or tandem families.

4. Increase the connection between at-risk parents and resources or services in the community.

To achieve these goals, tertiary prevention strategies could include:

1. Rehabilitation of parents who have abused by providing intensive treatment or therapy.

2. Intensive treatment or therapy for children who have been abused.

3. Referrals for parents to address depression, substance abuse, or other mental health challenges.

4. Foster care.

5. Kinship care (care provided by a relative or a nonrelative who has an existing relationship with the child, such as a teacher or neighbor).

Source: Child Abuse and Neglect: Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Colorado Children's Trust Fund.