Introduction Family Violence: Framing the Issues

Abstract

Over the past twenty-five years increasing numbers of health and social care professionals have been faced with victims of family violence and abuse, victims from all ages across the life-course. Abuse is suspected, discovered and often proven in a multitude of environments and differing social and institutional circumstances. Abuse may reach the attention of professionals in numerous different ways; sometimes the individual professional suspects abuse and after investigation it is proven. This is probably the case most frequently in the domain of child abuse, and of the three areas considered in this text child abuse clearly has the highest index of suspicion.