The report of the Second Annual National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect (1977) contains 58 papers dealing with contextual issues and government interventions. Papers in the first section address the general focus of the conference (the role of government in strengthening the family, family life preservation, child protective services, the role of the community, the psychosocial ecology of child abuse and neglect). Papers in the second section address the following issues (sample subtopics in parentheses): family systems in society (changing family roles and structures, isolation and devaluation); cultural and cross-cultural perspectives (cultural milieu, Indian reservation community development, Mexican-American child abuse, housewife/mother's role in society, child abuse in the United Kingdom, corporal punishment in the schools, interventions); research (a practitioner's view, a behavioral perspective, treatment program evaluation); emotional abuse (emotional neglect); child neglect (labeling, accountability); prevention (recent trends, future education, prediction); public awareness (public education, misconceptions, self-referral programs); and reporting systems (use of needs and resources assessment data, central registries). Section 3 deals with the following governmental interventions: role of federal, state, and local government; legislative and legal issues (legal mechanisms for accountability, corporal punishment); and parental problems and solutions. (BD)