Helping Children Affected by Abuse

This book successfully addresses the complexity of all forms of child maltreatment including the scope and nature, causes, and consequences of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. The focus is on diagnosis, intervention, and prevention, enhancing the roles of the healthcare provider to become more engaged with families and effective community-based programs that can help these children and their parents. There are excellent examples of intervention and prevention strategies for both parents and teachers to utilize for children and their caregivers. The authors have added three important sections on timely areas of concern: the parameters and key issues surrounding dating violence, childcare settings, and Internet safety.

Additionally, an overview of public child welfare, mental health, and team decision making are reviewed to give the reader a broader understanding of systemic responses to the problem of child abuse and neglect. Also, an introspective chapter on art therapy gives insight into the power of this technique to explore feelings and assist in the healing process for families. A must-read for professionals in the field, teachers, health care providers, and parents alike.

This well-written volume provides an up-to-date review and analysis of the core topics related to child maltreatment. It delves below the surface to disentangle risk factors for maltreatment from consequences and provides readers with an enhanced understanding of this complex issue. With a focus on prevention and early intervention, this book offers concrete strategies that parents, teachers, and clinicians can employ to respond effectively in situations where abuse is suspected. This book is a valuable resource for anyone working with children.

The authors have created an excellent overview of child abuse, indicating how child abuse is manifested, how to recognize and treat child abuse, and importantly, how to prevent child abuse for future generations. This is a terrific resource for all individuals who care for children and want to keep them free from harm.

The book is an excellent resource for parents, teachers, and even child protection workers. Dr. Giardino has the ability to simplify complex topics of abuse and make them understandable for both parents and professionals. The book’s practical suggestions and guidance on the spectrum of abuse, protecting children, the Internet, schools, and childcare will be indispensable to concerned caregivers and education professionals. The easy language of this book makes it a valuable resource for any personal, professional, or school library.

This resource book provides a concise and up-to-date look at the complex issues surrounding child abuse. It is a valuable combination of definitions, dynamics and concrete discussions that explore how effective parenting can help prevent child abuse, how teachers can shape the dialogue concerning abuse issues, and how physicians and other professionals can influence positive parenting and prevention efforts. It clearly portrays the responsibility we each have for all the children in our sphere of influence and how we can put that responsibility into action in a variety of contexts. From parents to schools to communities, this book lays out a mandate for protection of children, even as we teach them how to protect themselves. Helping Children Affected by Abuse is a must have for every school and professional library.

As a medical student interested in public health, and specifically in protecting children from violence, I am always searching for resources to effectively educate communities about “helping children affected by abuse.” This book beautifully demonstrates that adults in our society have the responsibility and capacity to protect children. It accomplishes a very important goal of not only outlining different kinds of abuse in a clear and thorough manner, but also providing suggestions of what parents, teachers, and any other adults in a community can do to protect children from the harms of abuse. I think that anyone who interacts with children should have to read Helping Children Affected by Abuse.