Organization and Funding of Medically-Oriented Child Abuse and Neglect Teams in the USA: Key Issues to Consider

Ideally, children reported for potential abuse and/or neglect would receive an evaluation by a medically-oriented child maltreatment team composed of an interdisciplinary team of health care professionals who collaborate with the community’s child protection and law enforcement professionals who then conduct an investigation to potentially substantiate the abuse and/or neglect. Each year, approximately 3 million reports for potential child abuse and neglect are received by authorities in the USA, and after investigation in 2022, over 558,000 children under 18 years of age were determined to be victims of some form of child maltreatment. This topical review explores the literature that has emerged over the past 25 years describing the systematic study of the organization and funding of medically-oriented child abuse and neglect teams in the USA. Several national surveys are summarized and compared regarding the organization and funding of such teams and programs. The majority of these teams are housed in the nation’s children’s hospitals, and child maltreatment programs vary widely in terms of 1) the professionals who staff the team, 2) the range of services each team provides, and 3) the manner in which they are funded and financially managed. Local factors are key to how teams are staffed and sustained, and, while the services provided are essential to the care of the children involved, the institutions housing the child abuse and neglect teams uniformly shoulder a significant portion of the financial responsibility to operate the programs on an annual basis.