Child Abuse and Neglect: A Clinician's Handbook

Rating:
Summary: Review of a clinician handbook on child abuse and neglect
Review: Child abuse and neglect (CAN) is as old as human history, but after many years of denial, both by parents, professionals and society, it is now coming out in the open. Here in Israel we hear now nearly every day about a new story of CAN reaching the awareness of professionals and quickly splashed all over the news media.

The pediatrician Charles Henry Kempe made headlines, when his work on "the battered child syndrome" was published in 1962. His work resulted in the establishment of the Kempe Center in Denver in 1972, the founding of the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect in 1976 and the publication of the international scientific journal "Child Abuse and Neglect" in 1977.

Child abuse and neglect. A clinician's handbook is written by the team of community pediatricians from Leeds in United Kingdom, Christopher Hobbs and Jane Wynne, together with the clinical psychologist Helga Hanks. The first edition was published in 1993, but this second edition is more comprehensive and very much focused on the clinical and practical aspects of handling cases of CAN. Case stories from daily life as community pediatricians are used in a very illustrative way all through the book.

Child abuse and neglect has 18 chapter with topics such as failure to thrive, physical abuse, burns and scalds, neglect, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, disability and abuse, problems in the fetal period, poisoning, management, psychological intervention, residential care, legal aspects and fatal child abuse. 32 pages with 132 color pictures are used to explain physical signs of CAN.

Many cases of abuse and neglect in the adolescent age group are also discussed through the chapters and the book can therefore be recommended for every professional working with children and adolescents as a handbook and teaching guide.

Professor Joav Merrick, MD, DMSC, Medical Director Division for the Mentally Retarded in Israel, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs,Box 1260, IL-91012 Jerusalem, Israel,Email: [e-mail]