When to suspect child maltreatment: summary of NICE guidance

doi:10.1136/bmj.b2689

Published 22 July 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b2689
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b2689

Practice

Guidelines

When to suspect child maltreatment: summary of NICE guidance

Julia Saperia, lead research fellow¹, Monica Lakhanpaul, clinical co-director, senior lecturer child health¹^,2, Alison Kemp, professor of child health³, Danya Glaser, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist⁴, on behalf of the Guideline Development Group and Technical Team.

¹ National Collaborating Centre for Women’s and Children’s Health, London W1T 2QA, ² University of Leicester, Department of Medical Education and Social Care, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester, ³ School of Medicine, Cardiff University, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff CF14 4XN, ⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London WC1N 3JH

Correspondence to: D Glaser dglaser@ich.ucl.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Maltreatment of children is common, with 538 500 reported referralsto social services departments in England¹ and 43 411 in Wales²in the year ending 31 March 2008, although these probably underestimatethe true scale of the problem. Child maltreatment includes neglect;physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; and fabricated or inducedillness. It may present in various ways to different healthcareprofessionals, who have a "duty . . . to be proactive in safeguardingchildren"³ but often find it difficult to act on what they find.

Child maltreatment has short and long term harmful effects ona child’s health and wellbeing; emotional, interpersonaldevelopment; and behaviour; and in extreme circumstances itmay lead to death. Children may present with both physical andpsychological symptoms and signs that constitute alerting featuresof one or more types of maltreatment, which may also be observedas part of the interaction between the parent . . . [Full text of this article]

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