Diagnosing physical child abuse: the way forward

The ophthalmologist's role in diagnosing child abuse.

Objectives To identify the incidence, clinical outcome, and associated factors of subdural haemorrhage in children under 2 years of age, and to determine how such cases were investigated and how many were due to child abuse. Design Population based case series. Setting South Wales and south west England. Subjects Children under 2 years of age who had a subdural haemorrhage. We excluded neonates...

Child Physical Abuse

Kenny was placed in foster care because his community’s Department of Child Protective Services (CPS) determined that his family was “in conflict.” The placement was made after 10-year-old Kenny was seen at the local hospital’s emergency room for bruises, welts, and cuts on his back. According to his mother’s report to emergency room personnel, the boy “fell off of his Razor” (scooter) while ri...

Child Physical Abuse

EVEN THOUGH acts of child abuse have been committed throughout history (Zigler & Hall, 1989), widespread concern over child abuse as a significant social problem began as recently as the 1960s. Maltreated children have been an increasing focus of protection efforts, which may be due to frequent and intense attention from the media, general public, legislators, and health, mental health, and soc...

Diagnosing Child Sex Abuse: A research challenge

Child sex abuse increasingly is recognised as a societal problem that can no longer be ignored. In this paper definitions, prevalence, trends, assessment, and available diagnostic procedures are described and critically evaluated. It is argued that the lack of reliable diagnostic procedures remains one of the main difficulties in dealing effectively with the detrimental effects of CSA on the ch...

Child Physical Abuse and Neglect