The Abused Child: Problems and Proposals

In 1962 a team of physicians led by Dr. C. Henry Kempe identified problem they called "the battered child syndrome." The Kempe study defined the problem as a clinical condition in young children who have received serious physical abuse from a parent or foster parent. Graham Parker, a student of the syndrome, defined the battered child as "one who has suffered serious physical injury in circumstances which indicate it was caused wilfully [sic] rather than by accident." Later students have distinguished the battered or abused child from the neglected child and have begun to inquire into the psychological condition of the abusing adult as well as the psychological impact of abuse on the child.