Violence & Abuse > Child Abuse

Dave Pelzer was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games - games that left one of her three sons nearly dead. She no longer considered Dave a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an 'it'.
His bed was an old army cot in the basement, hi... read more

Protecting children from abuse and neglect is a serious and complex area of social work practice and for many students, understanding the essential skills of communicating, listening and understanding children's behaviour is essential. The highly-regarded, revised second edition explores these skills in detail while the ethic... read more

Emotional abuse and neglect are at the core of all types of child maltreatment, and have the most harmful effects on the physical and psychological development and well-being of children. Yet they are considered to be the most difficult to deal with by those who have the responsibility to protect and intervene in effective wa... read more

Would you recognise a child molester standing in a supermarket queue? And if you did, would you understand what went on in his - or her - mind? Nigel Latta is a forensic psychologist. He spends his working life with the sort of people most of us would prefer to pretend didn't exist.
In this new edition of his ground-bre... read more

This volume considers the unique and overlapping long-term effects of all major forms of child maltreatment.
The author integrates information on seven types of child abuse and neglect - ranging from sexual and physical abuse to mistreatment by alcoholic or drug-addicted parents - and outlines the complex ways in wh... read more

An important contribution to the field of child protection... the editors have aspired to offer an encyclopedic overview of knowledge about child abuse and neglect.
The APSAC Handbook will serve as a reference for both practitioners and researchers in the various disciplines involved in investigation, adjudication, prev... read more

Focusing on how child protection professionals can build partnerships with parents where there is suspected or substantiated child abuse or neglect, this book brings the solution-oriented model to child protection work. Providing practical strategies for building a partnership with parents, it aims to prevent abuse and fa... read more

Written by a psychologist who has worked with families and foster children for 11 years, Treating Families and Children in the Child Protective System is designed for therapists, social workers, family preservationists, court officers, attorneys, judges, and others caught up in the interplay of child protection.
Usi... read more

With the government giving priority to preventing child harm and family breakdown, a number of initiatives have been launched to tackle problems in this area.
Part of the NSPCC Protecting Children series and revised in paperback to take account of the new green paper 'Every Child Matters', Supporting Families invest... read more

It has been widely noted in the social work literature that the practice of child protection is highly gendered. When it comes to child abuse, women come under more scrutiny and men, who are more likely to present a risk of harm to children, are not engaged with.
This text takes stock of this controversial topic, e... read more

How can professionals build constructive relationships with families where the parents dispute professional allegations of serious child abuse? How can meaningful safety for children be created in these families? How can professionals work together constructively in such cases? Situations where parents refute child abuse alle... read more

Recent studies by the US Department of Health and Human Services (1996, 1999, 2000, 2002) show that children are almost twice as likely to be neglected by their families as they are to be abused, and that the effects of neglect are at least as devastating as those of abuse. And yet there is a glaring gap in the literature... read more

A professional book aimed at practitioners and practitioners in training, this volume is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive, practical approach to the assessment and treatment of physically abused children.
While there are other books that cover certain aspects of assessment and treatment, this book is com... read more

These are the sorts of questions that face mental health practitioners who are increasingly involved in complex child care cases which come before the courts. They have been given little guidance to date on how these assessments should be made, especially where a decision has to be taken as to whether a child has experien... read more

Child psychologist Cynthia Monahon teaches parents and professionals about the effects of childhood traumas on children, offering a blueprint for restoring a child's sense of safety and balance. She suggests straightforward ways to help kids through tough times, and also details the warning signs that indicate professional help is needed.

Over the past two decades, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) emerged as a leading-edge method for helping parents improve their children's disruptive and oppositional behavior. Today, PCIT has a robust evidence base; is used across the country in settings as diverse as hospitals, mental health centers, schools, and mobi... read more

The legal system requires mental health professionals to provide research summaries to support their evaluations in child custody cases. Contributions from leading developmental researchers, legal professionals, and clinicians describe how scientific evidence is properly used in court. Timely and current, this book helps eval... read more

Identifying Child Molesters clearly spells out the techniques that child sexual molesters so successfully use to charm adults into giving them access to children. When these strategies are seen and understood, adults can take much more direct responsibility for preventing child sexual abuse than was previously possible. An... read more

Highlighting the importance of a 'safe place' as the foundation of the healing process for those affected by child sexual abuse, this practical book details the factors that contribute to a secure therapeutic climate where recovery can take place.
The Children and Families Project draws on the perspectives of those who ... read more

The editors of this collection are experienced practitioners and teachers of forensic psychology. They have collected chapters with nationally and internationally experts in applied research and practice to provide others with their best advice and knowledge on conducting evaluations for and testifying in court.