Poverty and Child Maltreatment

This chapter reviews current knowledge around child maltreatment and poverty. The past ten years have seen substantial advances in the body of available empirical work, and it is now apparent that poverty is not only associated with maltreatment, but that it is at least partly a causal factor. Previous assertions that the overrepresentation of the poor in official maltreatment data is largely due to class bias in reporting have been closely examined and found to not be true. The relationship of poverty to child maltreatment has substantial practice and policy implications, as provision of concrete and material supports, including cash transfers, have been shown to reduce maltreatment rates. It is likely that any large gains in reducing maltreatment will come at least in part through socioeconomically oriented interventions or policies.