In 1988 the William Penn Foundation awarded nearly $6 million to agencies in the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) area for a variety of programs aimed at preventing child abuse. The 4 programs selected targeted parents who most needed but were least likely to have access to parent education and support services. The Foundation appointed the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA) to evaluate this multifaceted initiative. The NCPCA measured behavioral change in clients, investigated the way each agency carried out its programs, and prepared a detailed report, summarized by this report. Client-impact findings were based on pretesting and posttesting of 1,078 adults who received services, in-depth interviews with 91 of these clients 3 months after termination of services, in-depth interviews with 31 considered at particularly high risk, and pretests and posttests of 133 children and 102 adult caregivers. The NCPCA found that all the funded programs were effective in reducing the incidence of child abuse. Based on these findings, the Foundation renewed many of its grants. Ten charts summarize evaluation findings. Appendixes list grantees, evaluation reports, risk factors, and adult functioning problems. (SLD)