Suggested Practices for 

Journalists Reporting on 

Child Abuse and Neglect 

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control 

Division of Violence Prevention
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Introduction 

News reports on cases of child abuse and neglect can play an 

important role in educating the public and policy makers about 

the systemic causes of child maltreatment and ways to prevent it. 

This guide was developed to explain how journalists can impact 

prevention by expanding the focus of stories about physical, 

sexual or emotional abuse or neglect of children to include 

information on the causes of the problem and ways to prevent it. 

Journalists can provide comprehensive coverage that highlights 

prevention approaches and promotes safe, stable, nurturing 

relationships and environments for all children and families.

Often, news coverage about child abuse and neglect focuses on 

the shocking and brutal results of individual cases of abuse—a 

perspective that can reinforce misperceptions that “bad parenting” 

or a failure of child protective services is the main cause of child 

maltreatment.1,2 Journalists can help audiences understand that 

child abuse and neglect is not simply the result of individual 

failures or family dynamics, but a public health issue that 

affects communities and society in significant ways. By working 

with prevention researchers, practitioners, and other experts, 

journalists can craft news stories about child maltreatment that 

convey not only the problem but also possible solutions. 

Preventing child maltreatment requires individuals and 

communities to work together to insure that no child is ever 

abused or neglected. Stories that highlight steps anyone can 

take to provide safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and 

environments for children will be more helpful for prevention 

than focusing on the response after violence has occurred.

Child abuse and neglect is a significant public health problem 

in the United States. According to reports from state Child 

Protective Service (CPS) agencies, 702,000 children were found 

to be victims of maltreatment in 2014. Another 1,580 children 

died from child maltreatment that year. In these CPS cases, 

Children 3 years old and under were at greatest risk, and the 

majority of cases involved neglect.3

 Statistics tell only part of the 

story because many cases are never reported to social service 

agencies or the police. Estimates from self-report data indicate 

that more than 1 in 7 children have experienced one or more 

forms of child abuse or neglect in the past year.4

Terms to Know

There are four commonly 

recognized types of child abuse:

■ Physical abuse is the use of 

intentional physical force, such 

as hitting, kicking, shaking, 

burning, or other show of force 

against a child.

■ Sexual abuse involves 

engaging a child in sexual 

acts. It includes fondling, rape, 

and exposing a child to other 

sexual activities.

■ Emotional abuse refers to 

behaviors that harm a child’s 

self-worth or emotional wellbeing. Examples include name 

calling, shaming, rejection, 

withholding love, and 

threatening.

■ Neglect is the failure to meet 

a child’s basic needs. These 

needs include housing, food, 

clothing, education, and access 

to medical care.

■ Child Maltreatment is a 

term often used by scientists 

and prevention specialists to 

include all types of abuse and 

neglect of a child under age 18 

by a parent, caregiver, or other 

person in a custodial role.

For more detailed definitions, 

see http://www.cdc.gov/

violenceprevention/pdf/cm_

surveillance-a.pdf.
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Suggestions for Journalists

1. Examine the factors that contribute to child abuse and neglect and 

explain the impact on children, families, and communities.

Stories that focus strictly on isolated incidents of child 

maltreatment usually don’t leave room to discuss 

prevention. Journalists can widen the lens on child abuse 

and neglect by telling stories that extend beyond the 

details of a specific case to examine the broader context 

of child maltreatment and emphasize opportunities for 

prevention.

■ Explore community and societal factors that 

contribute to child abuse and neglect such as poverty, 

unemployment, lack of social support for parents, and 

violence in the community.5

■ Examine family stressors that make it harder for 

parents to provide safe, stable, nurturing relationships 

and environments, such as alcohol and drug abuse, 

violence within the family, a parental history of abuse 

during childhood, and a lack of parenting skills.5

■ Look at data from local, state, and national child 

death review teams on the number of children that 

have died from abuse or neglect and highlight their 

recommended prevention strategies such as home 

visitation, parenting programs, and connecting 

families to community resources.

■ Work with child abuse prevention organizations to 

find story angles that help audiences understand the 

serious, life-long consequences of child maltreatment 

and illustrate how prevention approaches can help. 

■ News stories should include information on rates 

of abuse and common circumstances of child 

maltreatment in the county or state to increase 

awareness of the problem. This information can 

be supplemented with examples of programs and 

strategies that help parents provide safe, stable, 

nurturing relationships and environments. For more 

information on prevention strategies that work see 

page 7.

Reliable Sources 

for Data on Child 

Abuse and Neglect

CDC’s National Center for Injury 

Prevention and Control 

http://www.cdc.gov/

violenceprevention/

childmaltreatment/index.html

Administration on Children

and Families

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/

cb/research-data-technology/

statistics-research/child-maltreatment

CDC’s National Center for 

Health Statistics 

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/

child-health.htm

Child Welfare Information 

Gateway

https://www.childwelfare.gov/

topics/can/

The Forum on Child and 

Family Statistics 

http://www.childstats.gov/

Annie E. Casey’s Kids Count 

http://www.kidscount.org

Child Trends Data Bank 

http://www.childtrends.org/databank

National Center for the Review 

and Prevention of Child Deaths 

www.childdeathreview.org
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2. Explore the long-term consequences of failing to prevent 

child abuse and neglect.

Journalists are in a position to ask important questions about the long-term consequences of child abuse and 

neglect and emphasize the importance of prevention. The consequences of abuse and neglect reach far beyond 

the individual child and family to affect the entire community and society as a whole.

■ Talk with child abuse prevention experts about the dangerous effects of toxic stress on early brain 

development. When a child experiences child maltreatment over a long period of time, the body’s stress 

response system is activated for an extended period. The resulting toxic stress can cause changes to the 

developing brain, leading to long-term problems with learning, behavior, and physical and mental health.6

■ Examine the lifelong health consequences of adverse childhood experiences such as child maltreatment. 

Children who are abused or neglected are at higher risk for health problems as adults. These health 

consequences include alcoholism, depression, drug abuse, eating disorders, obesity, high-risk sexual 

behaviors, smoking, suicide, and certain chronic diseases.7,8

■ Explore the economic toll child abuse and neglect exerts on the community and society through costs 

related to child welfare, physical and mental health, special education, and the legal system. A recent 

CDC study found the total lifetime estimated financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed 

cases of child maltreatment is approximately $124 billion.9
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Questions to Ask Local Experts:

■ Why is it so important to prevent child abuse and neglect? 

■ How can child abuse and neglect affect lifelong health? 

■ What are the economic costs to our community?

■ What is the latest research on the long-term effects of abuse and neglect?

■ What are other communities doing to prevent child abuse and neglect?

■ What are local agencies doing to prevent abuse and neglect?

■ What resources are available to help parents and caregivers provide safe, stable, nurturing 

relationships and environments for children?

■ What else could be done to prevent child abuse and neglect in our community?

■ What is the link between child abuse and neglect and other forms of violence?

3. Focus on prevention strategies that work.

Researchers, practitoners, and community-based organizations are good resources for examples of prevention 

strategies that work. State health departments, school officials, or medical professionals may also be able to 

suggest prevention strategies and provide information on community trends and local prevention efforts. By 

including information on prevention strategies that work, reporters can expand the focus of news stories to 

include potential solutions for the problem of child abuse and neglect.
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■ Highlight the best available evidence for prevention 

approaches. Many communities have a range of programs 

to support parents and caregivers. However, by focusing on 

strategies that have been rigorously tested in research trials, 

journalists can increase the chance that their stories will lead 

parents to programs that can actually make a difference in 

their lives.

■ Use real examples from the community to illustrate how 

prevention strategies can help. For example, a National 

Public Radio (NPR) series from March 2015, What Shapes 

Health?, explores social and environmental factors that affect 

health and well-being throughout life. This information is 

being used to raise awareness about ways to prevent child 

abuse and neglect. One segment focuses on Philadelphia 

medical clinics that support parents in breaking generational 

cycles of trauma and abuse so kids get a better chance to 

grow up healthy. Other segments focus on how substandard 

housing, low incomes, and workplace policies impact future 

health problems and parents’ ability to provide safe, stable, 

nurturing relationships and environments for their children.

4. Protect children and avoid causing additional harm to 

victims and families.

Journalists have an important role in providing the public with 

information about cases of child abuse and neglect in the 

community. However, these stories should be reported in ways 

that protect the identities of the victims and provide a broader 

context for why abuse occurs and how it can be prevented.

■ Protect the confidentiality of children who are victims of 

abuse and neglect. Even if a victim or parents agree to be 

identified, they may not fully understand the ramifications of 

their decision. Often the potential for harm to the child and 

family far outweighs any potential benefit to the story.11

■ Use state and federal public-disclosure laws to obtain 

information. Redacted documents from police or childwelfare agencies can be invaluable for providing context and 

background for the story without revealing the identities of 

the victim and family.11

■ Be aware of the responsibilities and sensitivities involved in 

interviewing children who have experienced maltreatment. 

Interviewing child victims is inadvisable and should rarely 

happen. Protecting victims from additional harm should take 

precedence over getting a good quote.

Prevention Strategies for 

Child Abuse and Neglect

CDC ‘s technical package for 

preventing child abuse and neglect

identifies a number of strategies to 

help states and communities prioritize 

prevention activities based on the best 

available evidence. These strategies 

include:

■ Strengthening economic supports 

for families

■ Changing social norms to support 

parents and positive parenting

■ Providing quality care and 

education early in life

■ Enhancing parenting skills 

to promote healthy child 

development

■ Intervening to lessen harms and 

prevent future risk10

The technical package includes 

strategies with a focus on preventing 

child abuse and neglect from 

happening in the first place as 

well as approaches to lessen the 

immediate and long-term harms of 

child maltreatment. These strategies 

range from a focus on individuals, 

families, and relationships to broader 

community and societal change. 

More information on prevention 

strategies for child abuse and 

neglect is available at http://www.

cdc.gov/violenceprevention/

childmaltreatment/prevention.html.
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Tips for Interviewing Children

While it is inadvisable and potentially harmful to interview children who have experienced 

abuse and neglect, the following tips are important to keep in mind in the rare instances when 

interviews with children occur:

■ Seek informed consent from a parent or guardian before interviewing or photographing a child. 

That means explaining to the adult and child why you want to talk with them and how the 

interview will be used. 

■ Make it clear that you are a journalist reporting the news. Do not act like a friend. 

■ Find a quiet place for the interview and do what you can to put the child at ease. 

■ When the interview is over, clear all the quotes you think you will use with an adult who is 

responsible for the child’s well-being.11

5. Use language carefully when you report on child sexual abuse.

News reports about child abuse and neglect can unintentionally cause further harm to victims, particularly in 

child sexual abuse cases. Journalists should avoid reporting details about what happened with language that 

might imply the victim’s behavior somehow caused or contributed to the crime. By carefully choosing their 

words, reporters can tell a compelling story without minimizing the criminal aspects of abuse.

■ Seek advice from prevention specialists on the best terms to describe sexual abuse in a neutral and 

exact way. Resist using sensationalist language or phrases that imply consent such as “affair” or “sex 

scandal.” Rape or sexual assault should never be framed as “sex.”

■ Use language about sexual abuse that is specific and accurate and doesn’t convey unintended meaning. 

The Judicial Language Project maintains a running list of problematic language used during sexual 

assault cases and provides an alternative list of more appropriate terms and phrases.

Conclusion

Journalists have a powerful role in reporting on cases of child abuse and neglect. By expanding the focus 

beyond individual victims and families, reporters can broaden news coverage and explore the causes of 

the problem and ways to prevent it. Working with practitioners, organizations, researchers, and editors, 

journalists can tell stories that paint a more accurate and comprehensive picture of child maltreatment in all 

its forms and highlight the prevention strategies needed to promote safe, stable, and nurturing relationships 

and environments for all children.

When children and their families have access to safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments, individuals and communities flourish. For more information on promoting safe, stable, nurturing relationships 

and environments and preventing child abuse and neglect, visit CDC’s Essentials for Childhood Web site at: 

http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/childmaltreatment/essentials/index.html. 
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Checklist for Reporting on Child Abuse and Neglect

1. Examine the factors that contribute to child abuse and neglect and explain the 

impact on children, families, and communities.

 Explore community and societal factors that contribute to child abuse and neglect.

 Examine family stressors that make it harder for parents to provide safe, stable, nurturing 

relationships and environments.

 Review data and recommended prevention strategies from local, state, and national child 

death review teams.

 Identify story angles that illustrate the serious, life-long consequences of child abuse and neglect. 

2. Explore the long-term consequences of failing to prevent child abuse and 

neglect. 

 Talk with child abuse prevention experts about the dangerous effects of toxic stress on early 

brain development.

 Examine the lifelong health consequences of adverse childhood experiences such as child 

abuse and neglect.

 Explore the economic toll child abuse and neglect exerts on the community and society.

3. Focus on prevention strategies that work.

 Highlight the best available evidence for prevention approaches.

 Use real examples from the community to illustrate how prevention strategies can help.

4. Protect children and avoid causing additional harm to victims and families.

 Protect the confidentiality of children who are victims of abuse and neglect.

 Use state and federal public-disclosure laws to obtain information.

 Be aware of the responsibilities and sensitivities involved in interviewing children.

5. Use language carefully when you report on child sexual abuse.

 Seek advice from prevention specialists on the best terms to use.

 Use language about sexual abuse that is specific and accurate.
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References

1. Aubrun A, Grady J. (2003). How the news frames child maltreatment: Unintended consequences. 

Retrieved from: http://preventchildabuse.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/

HowTheNewsFramesChildAbuse.pdf.

2. Bostrom M. (2003). Discipline and development: A meta-analysis of public perceptions of parents, 

parenting, child development and child abuse. Retrieved from: http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/

toolkits/canp/resources/pdf/DisciplineAndDevelopment.pdf. 

3. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, 

Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2016). Child maltreatment 2014. 

Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Retrieved from: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/

cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/child-maltreatment.

4. Finkelhor D, Turner HA, Shattuck A, Hamby SL. (2015). Prevalence of childhood exposure to 

violence, crime, and abuse: Results from the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence. 

JAMA Pediatrics, 169(8):746–754.

5. Child Welfare Information Gateway, Administration of Children, Youth and Families, Children’s 

Bureau. (2004) Risk and Protective Factors for Child Abuse and Neglect. Washington, DC: Department 

of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from: https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/

riskprotectivefactors.pdf.

6. National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2014). Excessive Stress Disrupts the 

Architecture of the Developing Brain: Working Paper No. 3. Updated Edition. Retrieved from http://

developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/wp3/.

7. Felitti V, Anda R, Nordenberg D, Williamson D, Spitz A, Edwards V, et al. (1998). Relationship of 

childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. 

American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4):245–58.

8. Runyan D, Wattam C, Ikeda R, Hassan F, Ramiro L. (2002). Child abuse and neglect by parents and 

caregivers. In: Krug E, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, Zwi AB, Lozano R, editors. World Report on Violence 

and Health. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

9. Fang X, Brown DS, Florence CS, Mercy JA. (2012). The economic burden of child maltreatment in 

the United States and implications for prevention. Child Abuse and Neglect, 36(2):156–165.

10. Fortson BL, Klevens J, Merrick MT, Gilbert LK, Alexander SP. (2016). Preventing child abuse and 

neglect: A technical package for policy, norm, and programmatic activities. Atlanta, GA: National Center 

for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

11. Teichroeb R. (2006). Covering Children and Trauma: A Guide for Journalism Professionals. Retrieved 

from: http://dartcenter.org/sites/default/files/covering_children_and_trauma_0.pdf.
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For more information, please contact:

Division of Violence Prevention

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

4770 Buford Highway, MS F-64, Atlanta, GA 30341

Telephone: 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636)/TTY:1-888-232-6348

www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention

AK-2016