Summarizing discussions held during the Second Annual Child Abuse/Neglect Conference (Houston, 1977), this paper presents the following: the historical background of the special legal relationship between the Federal and tribal governments; current tribal-state relations (emphasis on state jurisdiction, Bureau of Indian Affairs' services, and the cultural awareness of social service workers); a description of the Arizona Community Development for Abuse and Neglect (ACDAN) project (based on the philosophy that the state's most valuable resource is its people, this project includes 6 planning districts, a $250,000 annual base budget, and a core of coordinators trained intensively in child abuse/neglect, community assessment, and organizational methods); community development strategy (community development used as a method for establishing statewide resource capability re: child abuse/neglect and operationalized via the objectives of public/professional awareness, need/resource assessment, resource capacity expansion, and coordination of services); ACDAN reservation efforts (service to 17 reservations and 1,200 people via extensive planning supported by a policy of "being available when there is a need"); conclusions (the community development approach is successful because it is consistent with Native American values of cooperation, resource utilization, the extended family system, tribal self-determination, and community collaboration in the community problem solving process). (JC)