Study Urges Efforts to Target Fathers in Child-Abuse Education

A new study published in Child Abuse and Neglect has found that fathers are far more likely than mothers to break or fracture their children’s bones, and that young infants are often the target of this type of abuse. According to Suzanne Starling, a forensic pediatrician for the Child Abuse Program at Children’s Hospitals of the King’s Daughters, Norfolk, Virginia, "If prevention efforts remain targeted primarily at women, a large proportion of perpetrators will not be reached. Alternative prevention efforts must be sought." Broken and fractured bones are the second most common physical symptom of child abuse in the United States. [More]