Each day, the safety and well-being of some children across the Nations are threatened by child abuse and neglect. Intervening off actively in the lives of these children and their families are not the sole responsibility of any single agency or professional group, but rather is a shared community concern. Since the late 1970s, the Child Abuse and Neglect User Manual Series have provided guidance on child protection to hundreds of thousands of multidisciplinary professionals and concerned community members. The User Manual Series provides a foundation for understanding child maltreatment and the roles and responsibilities of various practitioners in its prevention, identification, investigation, assessment, and treatment. Through the years, the manuals have served as valuable resources for building knowledge, promoting effective practices, and enhancing community collaboration. Since the last update of the User Manual Series in the early 1990s, a number of changes have occurred that dramatically affect each community‘s response to child maltreatment. The changing landscape reflects increased recognition of the complexity of issues facing parents and their children, new legislation, practice innovations, and system reform efforts. Significant advances in research have helped shape new directions for interventions, while on-going evaluations help us to know what works.
