Protecting children from abuse and neglect: analysis and recommendations.

On December 15, 1997, the cover of People magazine showed the solemn and frightened face of a two-year-old named Peter who was on his way to a New York City shelter after violence broke out in his home. The article inside the magazine, called “A Day in the Life,” was unusual in its approach to the emotional issue of child abuse. Rather than give a wrenching account of Peter’s experiences, it focused on the unseen adult holding Peter’s hand—one of the child protection caseworkers described here as “the last line of defense for America’s children.”1