ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the factors which play a role in the failure of professional help and in the decision to take measures to protect a child. According to Herrenkohl et al.15 and Cohn, recurrences are more likely the younger the child is; according to N. Ferleger et al., the reverse is true. On the one hand, the younger the child, the more he or she demands of those raising him or her and the more vulnerable he or she is; on the other hand, effective help can be more difficult the more the problems have already existed for a long time and, therefore, the older the child is. Research has been carried out on the characteristics of the family, the parent and the child which increase the chance of child protective measures being taken. Some theoretical perspectives on the aetiology of child abuse and neglect focus strongly on features of the parents, while other models emphasize characteristics of the environment.
