Prevention of child maltreatment and family support — branching viva

Opening question

Examiner: The registrar wants to know what the service can offer "before anything goes wrong." What is your overall frame for prevention of child maltreatment, and what will you offer this family? [1]

Candidate: Prevention is a public-health enterprise with three levels. Primary acts before harm across the whole population — universal parenting support, school-based education, and economic and policy supports. Secondary acts early in at-risk families, usually through structured home visiting from pregnancy or infancy. Tertiary acts after harm to prevent recurrence and reduce long-term harm. The frame is support, not surveillance: I match the intensity of support to this family's need and escalate to protection only if a reasonable belief of current significant harm appears. [1]

Examiner: So what specifically for this mother? [2]

Candidate: She has identified risk factors — young, first-time, single, unstable housing, social isolation — so she is a clear candidate for targeted secondary prevention. I would offer structured nurse home visiting beginning now, in pregnancy, through the child's second year: the Nurse-Family Partnership. At the universal level she gets the medical home, well-child schedule, and population parenting support. In parallel I would treat the modifiable drivers: housing support, mental-health screening and treatment, and social connection. None of this is a child-protection referral; it is family support. [2] [12]