Treatment of Child Abuse: Common Ground for Mental Health, Medical, and Legal Practitioners

Reports alleging maltreatment of more than three million children were made in the United States in 1996, a rate of 44 per 1,000 children in the population. Of those reports, child protective services substantiated abuse or neglect in nearly one million children―an 18 percent increase since 1990. More than half the 1996 reports alleging maltreatment came from medical, social services, education, or law enforcement professionals, and almost two-thirds of the substantiated reports were made by these professionals.

As diagnostic expertise has increased, child care professionals face new responsibilities for recognizing the short-term and long-term consequences of childhood victimization and for effectively treating victims of the various forms of child maltreatment. Achieving treatment goals requires that consultations among mental health, medical, and legal practitioners be conducted on common ground. This book seeks to provide that common ground.

Combining current theory about treating child abuse with current practice guidelines, Treatment of Child Abuse provides professionals with the guidance they need to take the correct steps to restore the child and the family as much as possible to normal. In addition, it addresses the rising demand for accountability in the health care system, which increasingly requires professionals to justify their efforts and their methods. The result is the first single reference source for the clinician who needs to know which approach to treatment might be most appropriate for a given child trying to cope with the aftermath of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. It provides guidelines for treatment of the different categories of abuse as well as neglect, Munchausen by proxy, and multiple traumatization. Initial medical management, legal interventions, long-term medical management, and long-term management of developmental and psychological consequences are thoroughly covered, as are complicated issues such as treatment-resistant families, the treatment of offenders, forensic implications (including confidentiality), and the long-term consequences of childhood victimization.