The CDC launched a new web site called “Child Maltreatment is a Public Health Issue“. It’s aimed at public health departments to encourage them to become more active in preventing child maltreatment. More information about what the department provides, after these screen-grabs from the site’s infographic that provide a good overview of the CDC’s groundbreaking Adverse Childhood Experiences Study.

The site provides a framework for public health departments to develop an approach and programs to prevent child maltreatment. Note that the CDC’s using the word “maltreatment”, not “abuse”. In a situation where a parent is profoundly depressed and inadvertently neglects his or her child, for example, maltreatment is a more appropriate choice of words than abuse, even though the child can be profoundly damaged.

The framework includes information and strategies about how a public health department can provide leadership, develop services such as surveillance and data systems to support prevention efforts, and how to include child maltreatment prevention into existing department programs.

The site is tucked into the CDC’s VetoViolence site. It’s also a very useful site, but hasn’t been updated with the ACE list of the family dysfunction types of child maltreatment, or other types of trauma, such as living in a violent neighborhood, witnessing violence outside the home, etc.