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University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

Abstract

Child emotional maltreatment (CEM) has been recognized as a widespread, serious social problem that is linked to a variety of adverse physical and mental effects that follow affected children into adulthood. The justice system has responded to calls to action by mental health professionals, and for more than two decades, federal and state laws have included child emotional maltreatment on the list of caretaker behaviors that can trigger child protection action. Despite the potential for meaningful action, recent data shows that occurrence rates of CEM are quite high, while rates of official reporting and intervention remain low. This Article examines possible explanations for the disconnect between good intentions and successful remedies and concludes that statutory wording, inhibitions against reporting child maltreatment in general, and social attitudes about family privacy all play a role in the failure of current legal approaches. However, this Article goes on to argue that a trauma-informed analysis of the harm resulting from CEM shows that current policies, such as child removal and threatened or actual termination of parental rights, cannot work because they exacerbate the traumatic harm of CEM. Instead, resources should be used to deliver services that support families and increase both caretaker and child resilience.

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