Human Services for the Child Victims: Care of Somatic and Mental Disorders and Rehabilitation

Abstract

Providing services for the child victims is the responsibility of the exo- and macro-systems: the community and the governments. The sheer numbers of clients for treatment, however, appear to be beyond the capacity of all existing health care systems. The service needs for the victims are not only for acute problems, but also for long-term chronic disorders (Felitti et al., 1991, 1998), and for psychosocial support and rehabilitation programmes. The term ‘human services’ is employed here to indicate the wide range and inclusive nature of the interventions required. One group of US paediatricians (Adams et al., 2007), for example, has issued guidelines for the medical care of children who may have been sexually abused.