The Psychological Maltreatment Alliance in collaboration with APSAC’s Child Policy Center has formed a new committee devoted to the topic of psychological maltreatment. The Child Policy Center’s mission is to translate research into useable resources that promote evidence-informed policy-making and best practices for professionals involved in the field of child maltreatment. The newly formed committee is comprised of many of the thought leaders and national and international experts in the area of psychological maltreatment.
The committee has met twice and identified three specific policy areas to focus on.
The first of the three identified policy topics wrestle with definitional issues with the goal of developing a single consensus model definition of psychological maltreatment that can be used in State statutes and for training CPS workers and other professionals in the field of child maltreatment. The second focus of the committee will be a review of State statutes with respect to legal definitions of psychological maltreatment with an eye toward identifying and developing a model State statute. The third area of the committee’s focus will be on developing a collaboration with leaders of the National School Board Association. It is the intention of this policy issue to seek partners within the school board community to disseminate information about psychological maltreatment and its effects to school personnel in order to protect children from the most harmful impact of psychological maltreatment exhibited by parents.