Abstract
It is now important to establish where, when, and to whom the problem we now call child abuse was initially discovered. I will attempt to locate the discovery historically and answer a series of interrelated questions: who took the initiative and when? Was there a distinguishable group of moral entrepreneurs? How important were organisational interests? How was the problem defined, conceptualised and explained? What were the recommendations for policy and practice? What was specific to the issue and how was it seen to differ from other children’s problems? If the issue was to be more generally regarded as a problem and the state to take a more active role in doing something about it, the initial concern and discovery had to be shared and made more widespread. Therefore others had to be convinced that the situation was dangerous and important enough to require public attention. What tactics were involved and how did these relate to wider changes in the socio-political environment? I will thus be looking at wider social processes and, more particularly, the role of the media and the state in promoting the problem.
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Notes and References
J. Caffey and W. A. Silverman, ‘Infantile Cortical Hyperostos: Preliminary Report on a New Syndrome’, American Journal of Roentgenology, no. 55, 1945, pp. 1–16;
J. Caffey, ‘Multiple Fractures in the Long Bones of Infants Suffering from Chronic Subdural Hematoma’, American Journal of Roentgenology, no. 56, 1946, pp. 163–73;
J. Caffey, ‘Infantile Hyperostosis’, Journal of Paediatrics, no. 29, 1946, pp. 541–9.
See E. F. Lis and G. S. Frauenberger, ‘Multiple Fractures Associated with Subdural Hematoma in Infancy’, Paediatrics, no. 6, 1950, pp. 890–2;
M. J. Smith, ‘Subdural Hematoma with Multiple Fractures’, American Journal of Roentgenology, no. 6, 1950, pp. 343–4;
H. Bakwin, ‘Roentgenographic Changes in Homes following Trauma’, Journal of Paediatrics, no. 49, 1952, pp. 7–15;
G. H. Barmeyer, L. R. Alderson and W. B. Cox, ‘Traumatic Periostitis in Young Children’, Journal of Paediatrics, no. 38, 1951, pp. 184–90.
See P. V. Woolley Jr and W. A. Evans Jr, ‘Significance of Skeletal Lesions in Infants Resembling those of Traumatic Origin’, Journal of the American Medical Association, no. 181, 1955, pp. 17–24.
S. H. Fisher, ‘Skeletal Manifestations of Parent Induced Trauma in Infants and Children’, 8th Medical Journal, no. 51, 1958, pp. 956–60;
C. H. Kempe and H. K. Silver, ‘The Problem of Parental Criminal Neglect and Severe Abuse in Children’, Journal of Diseases of Children, no. 48, 1959, p. 528;
D. S. Milter, ‘Fractures among Children — 1, Parental Assault as Causative Agent’, Minn. Medicine, no. 42, 1959, pp. 1209–13.
See L. Adelson, ‘Slaughter of the Innocents: A Study of forty six homicides in which the victims were children’, New England Journal of Medicine, no. 246, 1961, pp. 1345–9;
J. L. Gwinn, K. W. Lewin and H. G. Peterson Jr, ‘Roentgenographic Manifestations of Unsuspected Trauma in Infancy: A Problem of Medical, Social and Legal Importance’, Journal of the American Medical Association, no. 176, 1961, pp. 926–29.
See E. Elmer, ‘Abused Young Children seen in Hospitals’, Social Work, no. 5, 1960, pp. 98–102.
Also H. Boardman, ‘A Project to Rescue Children from Inflicted Injuries’, Social Work, no. 7, 1962, pp. 43–51.
See S. Smith, The Battered Child Syndrome (Butterworths, 1976).
The American Humane Association is a private charity dedicated to child and animal protection. However, unlike the prevention societies the AHA did not provide a direct service but undertook research, thus providing research and training materials for paediatric and family-focused social workers.
See V. De Francis, Child Protective Services in the United States: Reporting a Nationwide Survey (Denver Children’s Division, American Humane Association, 1956).
The Federal Children’s Bureau was created by legislation in 1912 to investigate and report upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life among all classes, though it was not to deal with the welfare of individual children.
See G. Y. Steiner, The Children’s Cause (Brookings, 1976) chs 3 and 4;
and B. C. Nelson, ‘Setting the Public Agenda: The Case of Child Abuse’ in J. V. May and A. B. Wildawsky (eds), The Policy Cycle (Sage, 1978).
Dr C. Henry Kempe was a noted paediatrician of Denver General Hospital and the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Earlier in his career he had specialised in immunology, where he developed an interest in the behavioural as well as the microbiological aspects of illness.
See Nelson, ‘Setting the Public Agenda: The Case of Child Abuse’, p. 26.
See C. H. Kempe, F. N. Silverman, B. F. Steele, W. Droegemueller and H. K. Silver, ‘The Battered Child Syndrome’, Journal of the American Medical Association, no. 181, 1962, pp. 17–24.
Kempe, Silverman, Steele, Droegemueller and Silver, ‘The Battered Child Syndrome’, p. 19.
See for example A. F. Philp, Family Failure (Faber, 1963);
A. F. Philp and N. Timms, The Problem of the ‘problem family’, (Family Service Units, 1957).
See for example C. H. Kempe and R. E. Heifer (eds), The Battered Child (Chicago University Press, 1st edn 1968, 2nd edn 1974, 3rd edn 1981);
R. E. Heifer and C. H. Kempe (eds), Child Abuse and Neglect: The Family and the Community (Ballinger, 1976).
For further discussion of how the problem and responses to it have developed subsequently in America see Nelson, ‘Setting the Public Agenda: The Case of Child Abuse’. M. Rosenthal and J. A. Louis, ‘The Law’s Evolving Role in Child Abuse and Neglect’ in L. R. Pelton (ed.), The Social Context of Child Abuse and Neglect (Human Sciences, 1981).
S. Antler, ‘The Re-discovery of Child Abuse’ in Pelton (ed.), The Social Context of Child Abuse and Neglect.
See E. Friedson, Profession of Medicine: A Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1970).
S.J. Pfohl, ‘The “Discovery” of Child Abuse’, Social Problems, vol. 24, no. 3, February 1977, pp. 310–23.
For example there were five doctors credited with the crucial article ‘The Battered Child Syndrome’. Kempe and Silver were respectively heads of the Division of Paediatrics and Radiology at the Children’s Hospital, Denver; Brandt Steele was an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Medical School and on the staff of the Children’s Hospital there; William Droegemueller was a resident in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Colorado and the Children’s Hospital in Denver; Silverman was in the Department of Paediatrics and Radiology of the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati.
See for example R. Astley, ‘Multiple Metaphysical Fractures in Small Children’, British Journal of Radiology, no. 26, 1953, pp. 577–83.
Even though in 1956 Caffey spoke in London of the radiological aspects of the problem in some depth it gave little impetus to the discovery. He went on to suggest that ‘early diagnosis’ was vital if the ‘abused youngsters’ were to be removed from their ‘traumatic environment’ and the wrongdoers ‘punished’. See J. Caffey, ‘Some Traumatic Lesions in Growing Bones other than Fractures and Dislocations: Clinical and Radiological Features’, British Journal of Radiology, no. 30, 1957, pp. 225–38.
See also British Medical Association and the Magistrates Association, Cruel and Neglectful Parents (1956).
Leader, ‘Welfare of Children’, British Medical Journal, vol. 2, 28 September 1963, pp. 761–2.
D. L. Griffiths and F. J. Moynihan, ‘Multiple Epiphyseal Injuries in Babies (“Battered Baby Syndrome”)’, British Medical Journal, no. 11, 1963, pp. 1558–61.
Griffiths and Moynihan, ‘Multiple Epiphyseal Injuries in Babies (“Battered Baby Syndrome”)’, p. 1560.
Leader, ‘Cruelty to Children’, British Medical Journal, no. 11, 21 December 1963, pp. 1544–5.
A personal discussion with Miss Joan Court suggests that Dr Lloyd Griffiths was responsible for coining the label ‘battered baby’. It seems Dr Moynihan first came across the issue at a meeting of the South East Metropolitan Orthopaedic Club, at King’s College Hospital. Baby twins under a year old who had a fairly classical radiological appearance proved difficult to diagnose. This prompted him to search the literature and he came across Caffey’s work. This fostered Dr Moynihan’s interest, especially when shortly afterwards he came across three or four similar cases in Guy’s Hospital and two more in Kent. Whilst in Manchester he met Dr Griffiths who produced a set of X-rays which were typical of the injuries, and it was from this encounter that the article arose.
E. Turner, ‘“Battered Baby” Syndrome’, British Medical Journal correspondence, 1 February 1964, p. 308.
See A. C. Fairburn and A. C. Hunt, ‘Caffey’s “Third Syndrome”: A Critical Evaluation (“The Battered Baby”)’, Medicine, Science and the Law, no. 4, 1964, pp. 123–6;
G. E. Parker, ‘The Battered Child Syndrome’, Medicine, Science and the Law, no. 8, 1965, pp. 160–3.
K. Simpson, ‘Battered Babies: Conviction for Murder’, British Medical Journal, vol. 1, February 1965, p. 393.
Discussion of the ‘syndrome’ was also included in R. Roof, ‘Trauma in Childhood’, British Medical Journal, vol. 1, 12 June, 1965, pp. 1541–3;
and P. A. Russell, ‘Subdural Hematoma in Infancy’, British Medical Journal, 21 August 1965, pp. 446–8.
J. M. Cameron, H. R. Johnson and F. E. Camps, ‘The Battered Child Syndrome’, Medicine, Science and the Law, no. 6, 1966, pp. 2–21.
British Paediatric Association, ‘The Battered Baby: A Memorandum by the Special Standing Committee on Accidents’, British Medical Journal, vol. 1, no. 601, 5 March 1966, pp. 601–3.
Similar arguments were presented by Dr Fleming the following year, who participated in constructing the BPA memorandum. He argued that the problem of child neglect and cruelty cannot be defined separately and that ‘close cooperation between doctors and social agencies is essential at all stages’. It is interesting that Dr Fleming was the Senior Medical Inspector at the Home Office Children’s Department at the time, indicating that even at this time there were links between the interested parties in the medical profession and the State. See G. M. Fleming, ‘Cruelty to Children’, British Medical Journal, no. 11, 13 May 1967, pp. 421–2.
Concrete evidence for this is that the British Medical Journal Index first included a section headed ‘Battered Baby Syndrome’ for the period covering January to June 1966 — the period covering the BPA memorandum.
See K. Bain, ‘The Physically Abused Child’, Paediatrics, no. 31, 1963, p. 895
H. Boardman, ‘A Project to Rescue Children from Inflicted Injury’, Social Work, no. 7, 1962, pp. 43–51.
Elmer, ‘Abused Young Children seen in Hospitals’. V.J. Fontana, ‘The Maltreated Syndrome in Children’, New England Journal of Medicine, no. 269, 1963, pp. 1389–94.
Friedson, Profession of Medicine.
Pfohl, ‘The “Discovery” of Child Abuse’.
See A. Hughes, ‘The Battered Baby Syndrome — A Multi-Disciplinary Problem’, Case Conference, vol. 14, no. 8, 1967, pp. 304–8.
B. Kahan, ‘Battered Babies’, Hospital Journal and Social Services Review, 26 January 1968, p. 169;
C. Walton, ‘The Battered Baby Syndrome’, New Statesman, 9 September 1966;
E. Woolley, ‘The Battered Baby Syndrome’, Nova, October 1967, pp. 78–81;
The Times, 9 July 1966.
See A. Allen and A. Morton, This is Your Child: The Story of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1961). One of the authors, Revd A. Morton, was Director of the Society for most of the post-war period until the late 1970s.
T. Coleman, ‘The NSPCC in need’, The Guardian, 19 February 1965, p. 14.
A. Lapping, ‘What use is the “Cruelty Man”?’, New Society, no. 142, 17 June 1965, pp. 16–17.
A. Shearer, ‘The NSPCC — In Search of a New Identity’, World Medicine, vol. 7, 8 March 1972, pp. 17–20.
For example in 1956 there had been just over 1000 child care officers in England and Wales, by 1962 this had risen to 1500 and by 1970 to 3741. Similarly the work of Children’s Departments grew with the increased emphasis on prevention following the 1963 Children and Young Persons Act. In the year ending March 1967 234 000 children were referred to Children’s Departments of whom 46 000 were admitted to care and 133 000 were helped under Section 1 of the 1963 Children and Young Persons Act. In the year ending 1970 350 000 were referred, 42 000 admitted and 220 000 helped in their own homes. See J. Packman, The Child’s Generation: Child Care Policy from Curtis to Houghton (Blackwell, 1975, 2nd edn 1981), particularly ch. 4.
See Packman, The Child’s Generation.
Lapping, ‘What use is the “Cruelty Man”?’, p. 17.
Much of the information that follows was gained from discussions with Revd Arthur Morton, Miss Joan Court and Mr Ray Castle.
For a recent parallel see H. Sharron, ‘Surviving on Child Abuse’, Social Work Today, vol. 14, no. 37, 7 June 1983, p. 4.
Articles by Joan Court included the following: ‘Battering Parents’, Social Work, January 1969;
‘The Battered Child: (1) Historical and Diagnostic Reflection (2) Reflection on Treatment’, Medical Social Work, no. 22, 1969, pp. 11–20;
‘The Battered Child Research Project’, Child Care News, July 1969;
‘An Historical Review of the American Child Abuse Laws’, Child Care News, November 1969;
‘Battered Babies’, Health Visitor, December 1969;
‘The Need for a Multi-Disciplinary Approach’, Nursing Times, June 1971;
‘Psychosocial Factors in Child Battering’, Journal of the Medical Women’s Federation, April 1970;
(with C. Okell), ‘An Emergent Programme to Protect the Battered Child and his Family’, Intervention (Association of Professional Social Workers) Spring 1970;
(with W. Robinson), ‘The Battered Child Syndrome’, Midwives Chronicle and Nursing Notes, July 1970;
(with A. Kerr), ‘The Battered Child Syndrome — a Preventable Disease’, Nursing Times, June 1971.
Articles written by other members of the unit included C. Okell, ‘The Battered Child — A Tragic Breakdown in Parental Care?’, Midwife and Health Visitor, vol. 5, June 1969;
C. Okell and C. H. H. Butcher, ‘The Battered Child Syndrome’, Law Society Gazette, no. 66, 1969, p. 9;
C. Okell, ‘Childhood Accidents and Child Abuse’, Community Medicine, no. 128, 1971, p. 8.
A. Kerr and J. Court, ‘Battered Babies’, London Doctor, no. 3, 1972, p. 2;
R. A. Jones, ‘Parental Anguish and Child Abuse’, Practice Team, no. 11, April 1972, pp. 22–4;
C. Okell, ‘The Battered Child Syndrome — Recent Research and Implications for Treatment’, Royal Society of Health Congress at Eastbourne, April 1972, pp. 24–8;
R. A. Jones, ‘Battering Families’, Health and Social Services Journal, no. 83, 1973, pp. 13–14.
See for example A. K. Skinner and R. L. Castle, 78 Battered Children: A Retrospective Study (NSPCC, 1969).
R. Castle, ‘Providing a Service’, in A. W. Franklin (ed.), Concerning Child Abuse (Churchill-Livingstone, 1975).
Okell, ‘The Battered Child Syndrome — Recent Research and Implications for Treatment’.
See Okell and Butcher, ‘The Battered Child Syndrome’.
See Court, ‘The Battered Child: (1) Historical and Diagnostic Reflection (2) Reflection on Treatment’.
Skinner and Castle, 78 Battered Children; R. L. Castle and A. M. Kerr, A Study of Suspected Child Abuse (NSPCC, 1972).
For example the British Humanities Index lists only nine articles under either ‘children battered’ or ‘infants battered’ between 1968 and 1972. See for example The Observer, ‘Parents who batter their babies’, 17 May 1968, p. 6; The Observer, ‘My baby cried, so I hit him’, 16 June 1968, p. 7; Ruth Ingles, ‘Why Parents Batter Babies’, The Observer, 14 September 1969.
See report in The Times, 1 October 1969, of the Council of Europe Consultative Assembly in Strasburg which passed a resolution urging governments to take steps to ‘curb the ill-treatment of children’.
See for example A. N. Guthkelch, ‘Infantile Subdural Hematoma and its relationship to Whiplash Injuries’, British Medical Journal, no. 7, 1971, p. 430;
A. S. Mushin, ‘Ocular Damage in the Battered Baby Syndrome’, British Medical Journal, no. 3, 1971, pp. 402–4;
B. Harcourt and D. Hopkins, ‘Opthalmic Manifestations of the Battered Baby Syndrome’, British Medical Journal, 14 August 1971;
G. Jackson, ‘Child Abuse Syndrome: The cases we miss’, British Medical Journal, vol. 2, 24 June 1972, pp. 756–7.
S. Isaacs, ‘Neglect, Cruelty and Battering’, British Medical Journal, vol. 3, 22 July 1972, pp. 224–6.
See articles from: (1) child guidance, N. Lukianowicz, ‘Parental Maltreatment of Children’, British Journal of Social Psychology, no. 3, 1968, pp. 189–95;
(2) a solicitor, C. Low, ‘The Battering Parent, the Community and the Law’, Applied Social Studies, no. 3, 1971, pp. 65–80;
(3) the police, H. Davies, ‘Maltreated Children: Early Warning System and Follow-up Scheme’, The Police Journal, vol. liv, no. 3, 1971, pp. 193–6.
Davies, ‘Maltreated Children: Early Warning System and Follow-up Scheme’; W. H. Parry and M. W. Seymour, ‘Epidemiology of Battered Babies in Nottingham’, Community Medicine, vol. 126, no. 8, 1971, pp. 121–3.
See J. M. Cameron, ‘The Battered Baby’, British Journal of Hospital Medicine, no. 4, 1970, pp. 769–77.
For example, in 1970 Henry Kempe delivered the Windermere Lecture to the NSPCC which demonstrates the similarities and links, C. H. Kempe, ‘Paediatric Implications of the Battered Baby Syndrome’, Archives of Disease of Childhood, no. 46, 1971, pp. 28–37.
T. C. N. Gibbens and A. Walker, Cruel Parents — Case Studies of Prisoners convicted of violence towards Children (Institute for the Study and Treatment of Delinquency, 1956).
T. C. N. Gibbens, ‘Violence to Children’, Howard Journal of Penology and Crime Prevention, vol. 13, no. 3, 1972, pp. 212–20.
The only mention of the ‘Battered Child’ in Social Work Today, the journal of the British Association of Social Workers, was in relation to the dismissal of Miss Joan Court as head of the NSPCC Battered Child Research Unit in 1971. (See Social Work Today, 21 October 1971, 18 November 1971, 13 January 1972 and 27 January 1972). This dismissal seems to reflect in part the clash of perspectives, between the fast developing professional social work approach, as epitomised by the Research Unit, and the more traditional inspectorial roles in the NSPCC.
See Davies, ‘Maltreated Children: Early Warning System and Follow-up Scheme’; and Parry and Seymour, ‘Epidemiology of Battered Babies in Nottingham’.
DHSS, The Battered Baby, CM02/70 (1970);
DHSS, Battered Babies, LASSL 26/72 (1972).
Skinner and Castle, 78 Battered Children.
DHSS. The Battered Baby.
In a personal communication Miss Court has said she spent a great deal of her time initially helping to increase awareness of the problem within DHSS.
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© 1985 Nigel Parton
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Parton, N. (1985). The Discovery of the ‘Battered Baby’. In: The Politics of Child Abuse. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17830-8_3
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