Rethinking Our Approach: Fundamentally Reshaping Our Response to Child Abuse and Neglect

Knowing the perils and long-term impacts of out-of-home placement, it is incumbent upon us to reimagine how to respond to child abuse and neglect. We can work to redesign the child welfare system, but the truth is, we probably can’t do better than the child welfare system already exists-it’s called the family. When families struggle, as all families do from time to time, our current approach often involves punishing parents and disconnecting children. Instead, what if we began to ask, “What would it take to keep this family safely together?” Dr. Amelia Franck Meyer and her team at Alia are working with trailblazing systems to test innovative concepts such as “no out-of-family placements,” even when out-of-home placements may be necessary.