This state-of-the-art report provides preliminary information on the status of child abuse and neglect research projects currently in progress or recently completed. Each chapter discusses a particular research problem area and outlines the relevant demonstration projects. Chapter I describes the background of our present perception of child abuse and neglect, and past difficulties of defining and solving the problems. Chapter II focuses on the people involved (parents and children in their environment), and on the effects of child abuse and neglect on both groups. Chapter III deals with the problems of determining the extent of child abuse and neglect, including public awareness, means of reporting and recording meaningful information, some of the obstacles to reporting, and the special role of the hospital emergency team in diagnosing and reporting child abuse. Chapter IV discusses intervention in the family to prevent or reduce the likelihood of recurrence of abuse. Three useful appendices are included: the text of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, abstracts of current Federal research and demonstration projects on child abuse and neglect, and an annotated bibliography of research on child abuse and neglect. (Author/CS)