ABSTRACT
Child abuse exists in all cultures across the world. In the modern era there is general international agreement that child maltreatment is morally wrong, requiring active prevention and punitive measures by governments. In child protection there is an emphasis on the importance of multi-agency information sharing and communication along with early intervention. A child may be resilient against abuse taking place, and when children are abused, some will have more resilience in terms of the outcomes. Evidence is increasingly moving away from the idea of certain injuries being classical or pathognomic of child abuse. The distribution of accidental bruising varies with the developmental age of the child: crawling babies typically injure their chin, nose and forehead, while older children have bruises to their knees and shins. Injury to the head is the most common cause of death in abused children, as well as having serious long-term consequences in children who survive.
