The maltreatment syndrome of children

The child abuse problem in this country with all its complexities and variations cannot be solved by any one single approach since we are dealing not only with a complex problem but with a multiplicity of human personalities and motivations; just as there is not one cause of child abuse, there certainly cannot be one treatment. We will need every social, medical and governmental resource working collectively in the future if we are to control the child abuse problem effectively in any community and, for that matter, in this country. To achieve any amount of success, massive programs on parenting and family care, standardized in quality with emphasis on prevention and early detection, must be effectively developed by the medical-social disciplines responsible for child welfare in this country. The fact that we do not have definitive answers to child abuse control is one of the depressing aspects of the problem today. However, clues to the prevention and control of this social-medical disease which appear to be increasing in epidemic proportions are beginning to surface and will become available to us in the very near future. Instead of believing that we always will be limited by the knowledge we now possess we should involve ourselves; we should engage in an all-out effort to recognize, report and protect the maltreated child while at the same time offering help to the parents. The task is before us, as physicians. We need all the help we can get from social workers, health professionals, teachers, psychologists, sociologists, academicians, and government.