Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This revised edition provides a concise introduction to a range of knowledge which should be of importance to students and practitioners in the child protection field. It stresses the need to understand child abuse in a historical, social and political context, and critically reviews a range of relevant contemporary research in Britain, the USA and Europe.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements (p. xiv)
• Chapter 1 Introduction (p. 1)
• Messages from research (p. 2)
• Children abused outside the family (p. 3)
• Institutional abuse (p. 3)
• Paedophiles (p. 3)
• Other developments (p. 4)
• Ongoing concerns about intrafamilial child abuse (p. 4)
• The European dimension (p. 4)
• The aims and outline of the book (p. 4)
• Chapter 2 Childhood, child abuse and history (p. 7)
• Interpreting history (p. 8)
• Childhood and history (p. 9)
• Childhood as a social construct (p. 9)
• Philippe Aries and childhood (p. 11)
• The barbaric past perspective (p. 13)
• Child abuse and history (p. 15)
• Cruel treatment of children in antiquity (p. 15)
• Child cruelty in the Middle Ages (p. 16)
• Sexual abuse of children in antiquity and the Middle Ages (p. 17)
• Child abuse from the Middle Ages to Victorian times (p. 18)
• Concluding comments (p. 19)
• Recommended reading (p. 20)
• Chapter 3 A history of child abuse and neglect 1870-1991 (p. 21)
• Late Victorian and Edwardian responses to child abuse (p. 22)
• Socio-economic factors (p. 22)
• Child care concerns up to 1870 (p. 23)
• Baby farming (p. 24)
• The formation of the NSPCC (p. 24)
• Responding to sexual abuse (p. 26)
• Protecting children within the family (p. 27)
• Between the two world wars (p. 28)
• A shift in focus (p. 28)
• Sexual abuse (p. 30)
• The period 1945-70 and the rise of the children's departments (p. 30)
• The Curtis Committee (p. 30)
• The 1948 Children Act and its implementation (p. 31)
• Child care concerns in the 1960s (p. 32)
• Summary (p. 32)
• The rediscovery of child abuse 1970-85 (p. 34)
• Henry Kempe and baby battering (p. 34)
• The re-emergence of child abuse as a problem in Britain (p. 35)
• Maria Colwell (p. 36)
• The establishment of a system for dealing with child abuse (p. 37)
• Child abuse work 1975-85 (p. 37)
• Intrusive social work practice? (p. 38)
• Jasmine Beckford, Cleveland and the 1989 Children Act 1985-91 (p. 39)
• Developments in the general child care field (p. 39)
• The Jasmine Beckford inquiry (p. 40)
• Child sexual abuse (p. 42)
• The Cleveland affair (p. 43)
• The 1989 Children Act (p. 44)
• Concluding comments (p. 45)
• Child abuse: a historical time-line 1800-1990 (p. 46)
• Recommended reading (p. 47)
• Chapter 4 Child protection and family support in the 1990s (p. 48)
• Ritual/Satanist abuse (p. 49)
• The Orkney case (p. 50)
• Working Together guidelines 1991 (p. 51)
• Institutional abuse (p. 51)
• The Pindown inquiry (p. 52)
• Other inquiries into institutional abuse (p. 52)
• The government's response (p. 53)
• Summary (p. 54)
• Organized abuse, paedophiles and child prostitution (p. 55)
• Intrafamilial child abuse: the resurrection of family support (p. 56)
• Messages from research 1995 (p. 57)
• Countervailing views (p. 59)
• Concluding comments (p. 61)
• Key events in child protection in the 1990s (p. 62)
• Recommended reading (p. 63)
• Chapter 5 Defining child abuse (p. 65)
• Defining child abuse (p. 66)
• The cultural context of child abuse definition (p. 66)
• The concerns of the definers (p. 67)
• Defining child abuse in practice (p. 69)
• Formal definitions of child abuse (p. 70)
• Physical abuse (p. 71)
• Seriousness (p. 71)
• Intention (p. 72)
• Age of child (p. 72)
• Context and risk (p. 72)
• Evidence for court (p. 73)
• Reasonable chastisement? (p. 73)
• A note on Munchausen syndrome by proxy (p. 74)
• Physical neglect (p. 75)
• Cultural relativity (p. 76)
• Failure to thrive (p. 77)
• Sexual abuse (p. 77)
• Medical, social and behavioural factors in defining sexual abuse (p. 78)
• The child's testimony (p. 79)
• Living with uncertainty (p. 79)
• Emotional abuse (p. 80)
• Factors common to all types of abuse (p. 81)
• Other forms of abuse (p. 82)
• Other concerns stemming from paediatrics (p. 82)
• Institutional, ritual and organized abuse (p. 83)
• Bullying (p. 83)
• Child prostitutes, child runaways and child pornography (p. 83)
• Domestic violence and mental health (p. 84)
• Concluding comments (p. 84)
• Recommended reading (p. 85)
• Chapter 6 The extent of child abuse (p. 86)
• Official statistics (p. 87)
• Child protection statistics in Britain (p. 87)
• Child protection statistics in the USA (p. 90)
• Numbers of children in care (p. 91)
• Child mortality statistics (p. 92)
• Incidence and prevalence studies into child abuse (p. 93)
• Physical abuse studies (p. 93)
• In Britain (p. 93)
• In the USA (p. 94)
• An adequate response? (p. 94)
• Sexual abuse prevalence studies (p. 96)
• In the USA (p. 96)
• In Britain (p. 98)
• The international picture (p. 99)
• Concluding comments (p. 100)
• Recommended reading (p. 101)
• Chapter 7 Who abuses whom (p. 102)
• Who abuses (p. 103)
• The gender of those who abuse (p. 104)
• Physical abuse and neglect (p. 104)
• Sexual abuse (p. 105)
• The age of those who abuse (p. 106)
• Physical abuse (p. 106)
• Sexual abuse (p. 107)
• Abuse by adolescents and children (p. 107)
• Poverty, race and child abuse (p. 108)
• Physical abuse (p. 108)
• Sexual abuse (p. 109)
• Parents who have been abused themselves (p. 110)
• Physical abuse (p. 111)
• Sexual abuse (p. 112)
• Family structure and child abuse (p. 113)
• Lone-parent families (p. 113)
• Step-parents (p. 114)
• The psychological capacities of those who abuse (p. 115)
• Physical abuse and mental illness (p. 115)
• Physical abuse and parents with learning difficulties (p. 117)
• Sexual abuse (p. 117)
• Other factors associated with those who abuse children (p. 118)
• Alcohol and drugs (p. 118)
• Social isolation (p. 119)
• Partner problems and wife abuse (p. 120)
• Criminality (p. 121)
• Pregnancy, prematurity, bonding and other neonatal problems (p. 122)
• Who is abused (p. 123)
• Age (p. 124)
• Gender (p. 125)
• Parent-child relationship problems (p. 126)
• Physical and mental disabilities (p. 127)
• Family size (p. 127)
• Concluding comments (p. 128)
• Recommended reading (p. 128)
• Chapter 8 The causation of child abuse (p. 130)
• Psychological theories (p. 132)
• Biology and child abuse (p. 132)
• Attachment theory and child abuse (p. 133)
• Psychodynamic theory and physical child abuse and neglect (p. 135)
• Psychodynamic theory and child sexual abuse (p. 138)
• Learning theory and child abuse (p. 139)
• Cognitive approaches to child abuse (p. 140)
• Social psychological theories (p. 141)
• Individual interactionist perspectives and child abuse (p. 141)
• Family dysfunction theory and child abuse (p. 142)
• Family therapy and child sexual abuse (p. 143)
• Social ecological approaches (p. 144)
• Sociological perspectives (p. 146)
• The social cultural perspective and child abuse (p. 147)
• The social structural perspective and child abuse (p. 148)
• The feminist perspective and child abuse (p. 150)
• The children's rights perspective and child abuse (p. 151)
• Concluding comments (p. 153)
• Recommended reading (p. 155)
• Chapter 9 The consequences of child abuse (p. 156)
• Introduction (p. 157)
• The case of child sexual abuse and prostitution (p. 159)
• The consequences of physical abuse and neglect (p. 159)
• Short- and medium-term effects on emotional development (p. 159)
• Medium-term effects on social and intellectual functioning (p. 163)
• Relationships with peers (p. 163)
• School performance (p. 164)
• Resilient children (p. 164)
• Severe psychological difficulties and impairments as a result of physical abuse (p. 166)
• Longer-term pathological effects of child abuse (p. 166)
• Mental illness (p. 166)
• Drug-taking (p. 167)
• Delinquency and violent crime (p. 168)
• General life experiences and outlook (p. 168)
• Summary (p. 169)
• The consequences of child sexual abuse (p. 170)
• Short-term effects of child sexual abuse (p. 171)
• General psychopathology (p. 171)
• Fearfulness (p. 171)
• Depression, withdrawal and suicide (p. 172)
• Hostility and aggression (p. 172)
• Low self-esteem, guilt and shame (p. 173)
• Physical symptoms (p. 173)
• Running away and other 'acting-out' behaviours (p. 173)
• Cognitive disability, developmental delay and school performance (p. 173)
• Inappropriate sexual behaviour (p. 174)
• Summary (p. 174)
• Long-term effects of child sexual abuse (p. 175)
• Fear and anxiety (p. 175)
• Depression and suicide (p. 175)
• Self-esteem (p. 176)
• Likelihood of revictimization (p. 176)
• Sexual disturbance (p. 176)
• Psychiatric problems and sexual abuse (p. 177)
• Other long-term consequences of sexual abuse (p. 177)
• Summary (p. 177)
• Variables affecting both short- and long-term consequences (p. 178)
• Age at onset of abuse (p. 178)
• Sex of child (p. 179)
• Degree of seriousness of the abuse (p. 179)
• Duration of abuse (p. 179)
• Relationship of the abuser to the abused (p. 180)
• Abuse accompanied by violence (p. 180)
• Response to abuse (p. 180)
• Concluding comments (p. 181)
• Recommended reading (p. 182)
• Chapter 10 Research into child protection practice (p. 183)
• Prevention and prediction (p. 185)
• Prevention (p. 185)
• Predicting child abuse (p. 186)
• Assessment and decision-making (p. 189)
• Short-term decision-making at child protection case conferences (p. 189)
• Sexual abuse (p. 191)
• The context of initial child protection assessments (p. 191)
• Summary (p. 192)
• Longer-term assessment and intervention (p. 192)
• Physical abuse (p. 193)
• Sexual abuse assessments in statutory agencies (p. 196)
• The Great Ormond Street approach (p. 196)
• Summary (p. 197)
• Providing treatment and support (p. 198)
• The effectiveness of intervention and treatment (p. 199)
• Physical abuse and neglect (p. 200)
• Therapy for parents (p. 200)
• Other approaches (p. 201)
• Summary (p. 202)
• Sexual abuse (p. 203)
• Concluding comments (p. 204)
• Recommended reading (p. 205)
• Chapter 11 Current issues in child protection work (p. 206)
• Balancing child protection and family support (p. 208)
• Working at a societal level to prevent child abuse (p. 210)
• Developing therapeutic services for abused children and adults (p. 214)
• Responding to offenders (p. 215)
• Concluding comments (p. 217)
• Notes (p. 218)
• Bibliography (p. 228)
• Index (p. 253)

Author notes provided by Syndetics