Visits by nurses or social workers to the homes of at-risk parents with young children can reduce child abuse by 40 percent, according to a report released last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But while at least 43 percent of births are to mothers in categories considered at risk - those who are single, under age 20 or have less than a high school education - very few such families receive home visits, the CDC said.

Other risk factors for child abuse and other types of home-based violence include mothers with low incomes and babies with low birth weights.

Home visits, which generally occur during a child's first two years of life, can provide training on parenting, prenatal and infant care and child abuse and neglect prevention and assistance with family planning, educational and work opportunities and links to community services.

A task force of 14 CDC-appointed health experts assessed 22 studies of home visits. The studies showed that, on average, child abuse or neglect declined 40 percent with such visits. There was an average 49 percent reduction if the visits were conducted by nurses. If they were performed by community workers with less training, the benefit dropped to 18 percent. The report said the studies were inconclusive on whether home visits reduce violence by children, domestic violence between parents or violence by parents other than child abuse.

The cost of home visits - which run up to $8,000 per family for the length of each family's program - exceeded the benefits by an average of about $3,000, although there was a net average benefit of $350 for low-income mothers, the CDC said. But researchers said the analysis looked only at savings in costs to the government from reducing child abuse and not at other advantages, such as improving the educational level of mothers, enhancing parenting skills and reducing children's health problems later in life. Georgia has seven home-visit programs, funded by federal and state money, that serve about 90,000 families a year.

- This article was reprinted from The Atlanta Journal- Constitution.