Child Physical Abuse and Neglect
Child abuse exists everywhere in the world, in all cultures and ethnic groups, resulting in huge economic and personal costs. Legal and health professionals have studied the causes and treatment methods to try to prevent and mitigate the harm done by abus
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Lenore E. Walker
Abstract: Child abuse exists everywhere in the world, in all cultures and ethnic groups, resulting in huge economic and personal costs. Legal and health professionals have studied the causes and treatment methods to try to prevent and mitigate the harm done by abuse, especially from parents or other caregivers. This chapter provides the legal issues and definitions in physical abuse and neglect, maltreatment, and psychological abuse looking at the recent history and current laws. Information is given about the child protection system in the USA and other countries. Psychological theories of why parents abuse their children are discussed and the psychological harm such abuse has on their children using a developmental perspective and emphasizing the learned behavior from one generation to the next. Basic and special competencies needed by health professionals to work in this area are also described including psychological assessment of children and abusers. Standardized psychological tests and assessment inventories commonly used by psychologists are reviewed. Various psychotherapy interventions with children and parents are listed including offender-specific treatment for abusers, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectic behavior therapy, family systems therapy, EMDR, and supportive therapy. Prevention strategies following a public health model of decreasing risks and strengthening resiliencies is discussed. Expert competencies are described for clinicians providing forensic evaluations and serving as expert witnesses. Numerous references are available for further information.
13.1 Overview Jill lay on the floor of the playground appearing to be writhing in pain. She clutched her stomach and moaned from time to time. Her father was chasing after her little brother, Billie, who was trying to climb up the slide and did not pay much attention to her. The boy started screaming as his father pulled him up by the arm, leaving him dangling. It was summer and other bruises could be seen on the young boy by any casual observer. But observers did not think twice about what they saw given the high activity level of the child and the difficulty the well-dressed man seemed to be having in controlling his children. He seemed like any other father who had the responsibility of two young children. In fact, later one observer stated that she felt sorry for the father and wondered where the children’s mother was. At no time did she even suspect that the father who had been granted shared parental responsibility of the two children whom he abused would eventually kill them and himself.
Unfortunately, the above scene is becoming more familiar as courts are granting shared parental responsibility or joint custody when parents get divorced. As discussed later in this chapter, the standard for granting joint custody is not adequate in protecting children, especially when their father has also committed domestic violence against their mother (see www.the leadershipcouncil.org). Although protective mothers attempt to
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