Children Exposed to Violence

In the past decade, children's exposure to violence has attracted more public interest and media attention than ever before. But addressing this problem will take more than concern and news coverage — it will require a comprehensive, focused research agenda. That's the goal of this timely, much-needed resource, which brings current research together, identifies gaps in our understanding of the effects of exposure to violence on children, and sets a direction for future research to support interventions and violence prevention. Focusing on three major types of violence — domestic violence, community violence, and war and terrorism — two dozen foremost authorities discuss and assess

• up-to-date statistics and research on the prevalence of each type of violence in the lives of children from birth to age 17
  
  
• the ways each type of violence might affect a child's physical health, psychological well-being, social development, and academic achievement
  
  
• promising interventions and programs for working with children exposed to violence
  
  
• current and emerging public policies that address the issue of violence in the lives of children with and without disabilities
  
  
• recommendations for future research and public policy that would support best practices

An essential resource for researchers, students, decision makers, and practitioners, this book will give readers the insight they need to work toward violence prevention and develop more evidence-based interventions for children and families. Clear, accessible, and compelling, this important book brings us closer to solving one of today's most prominent social problems.

Dr. Feerick holds a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, and a doctorate in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University. Early in her career, Dr. Feerick worked as a language arts teacher and director of development/contributions at an independent junior high school in New York City, while also working as a freelance editor/reader for Penguin Books, U.S.A. She has also served in research and statistical consultant positions on several federally-funded research projects at St. Luke's–Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, the New York State Research Institute on Alcoholism and Addictions, and the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, and has published articles and book chapters addressing various aspects of child maltreatment and family violence. Dr. Feerick has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, including an individual National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Executive Branch Policy Fellowship. From 1998–2004, Dr. Feerick served as a Health Scientist Administrator/Program Director at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, where she directed a large research and training program in child development, family processes, and child maltreatment and violence, in addition to serving on numerous inter-agency work groups and committees including the Federal Interagency Work Group on Child Abuse and Neglect, the NIH Child Abuse and Neglect Working Group (which she co-chaired), the Inter-Agency Work Group on Children Exposed to Violence (which she developed and chaired), and the Technical Advisory Group for the Fourth National Incidence Study (NIS-4) of the Office of Child Abuse and Neglect. She is currently working as an independent consultant, a freelance science writer, a Liaison for the Section on Child Maltreatment of the Division on Children, Youth, and Families of the American Psychological Association, and a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, while completing several writing projects and raising her two children.

Gerald (Jerry) B. Silverman, M.Ed., M.S.W., is a social science analyst at the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Mr. Silverman has been a senior policy analyst in ASPE for more than 30 years, where he has played a leading role in addressing domestic violence, the overlap of domestic violence and child maltreatment, child welfare reform legislation, and the social aspects of pediatric AIDS, as well as coordinating community-based responses to family problems. This work has included staffing the department's Interagency Work Group on Child Abuse and Neglect, helping to define the domestic violence regulatory provisions of the welfare reform legislation of 1996, and playing a major role in the child welfare reform efforts of 1980. In the past few years, he has been leading the federal multi-agency program referred to as the Greenbook initiative, community demonstrations addressing domestic violence and child maltreatment. This initiative focuses on system change to better serve battered women and children in child welfare agencies, domestic violence programs, and juvenile and family courts. Mr. Silverman also served on the original technical work group for the National Conference of Juvenile and Family Court Judges that developed the Greenbook. Prior to coming to HHS, he was a school teacher and public welfare case worker in New York City and poverty program director for the Washington State Office of Economic Opportunity. He holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in education from New York University and a master's degree in social work from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Dr. Trickett is the David Lawrence Stein/Violet Goldberg Sachs Professor of Me