NCJ Number
178970
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 23 Issue: 9 Dated: September 1999 Pages: 905-914
Date Published
1999
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This article examines the role played by mental health, legal and social services in the assessment and intervention in 30 cases of severe physical abuse of infants and toddlers.
Abstract
The article examined the child protection process and compared characteristics of the families with risk factors previously reported in the published literature. Parents displayed a range of psychological characteristics (depression, anxiety, personality disorders) and life problems (domestic violence, substance abuse, abused as child). The majority of parents denied the abuse. The children were very young (more than half under 6 months old) and many had difficult births or medical problems prior to the abuse. The most common services offered were individual psychotherapy and parenting classes. More than half of the children reunited with at least one parent within 1 year. Forty percent of the cases involved criminal prosecution. Reuniting occurred more quickly and more often than expected based on the severity of the injuries. The system often relied on psychotherapy to correct abusive behavior, even when the perpetrator remained unknown and specific risks such as substance abuse or domestic violence were present. Table, references