SERENA will accelerate efforts to improve access to health and social care (HSC) for child victims of maltreatment (physical, sexual,
psychological abuse and neglect) throughout Europe.The project is being carried out with 22 universities in Europe, funded by Horizon Europe.

The major ambition of SERENA is to identify and promote the means of improving the detection of child maltreatment (CM), of limiting its consequences, and reducing the induced burden for victims, families, and society. This ambition will be supported by assessments of current care pathways (HSC services), the barriers and inequalities when accessing these services (before and after the recognition of CM, including children's physical and mental health conditions), as well as the financial burden on a societal level.

Our assessments will rely on a mixed method approach combining qualitative analyses in 3 EU countries (interviews with adult survivors of CM (ASCM) and HSC professionals) and quantitative analyses (longitudinal cohort study based on HSC administrative data in 7 countries, but also aggregated CPS data in 26 countries).

An interdisciplinary participatory synthesis of the findings (with stakeholders and ASCM) will deliver a co-constructed assessment of the situation and the definition of priority actions. Finally, we will design and promote, through the consortium's extensive network, operationally and economically viable recommendations with potential for transposability across the EU for policy makers and HSC services. The SERENA recommendations will encourage changes in policies in all EU member states and Switzerland.