© British Association of Social Workers
Some Characteristics of Abusing Families R
ferred to the NSPCC
Clare Hyman graduated from the London School of Economics in 1947, then trained as a clinical psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry in 1948/9. She completed an M.A. in Psychology in 1952 and her Ph.D. in 1973 with a thesis on Child Abuse. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey in the Department of Human Biology and Health and Consultant Clinical Research Psychologist to the NSPCC's National Advisory Centre on the Battered Child.
Summary
The results from 85 social work schedules completed at a number of NSPCC units for the treatment of non-accidental injury show that there is a decreasing trend in the seriousness of recent referral injuries and confirms the prevalence of facial bruising. Children under four were those most at risk, the mean age of children being 20 months. Early parenthood appears to be a characteristic of these and other families with the likelihood of larger than average families by the time the family is completed. Maternal ill-health, especially psychological ill-health, is a confirmed finding and general family violence rather than the scapegoating of a single child was frequent. Family disruption was high with separation, housing and employment changes, and previous criminality occurring in a disproportionate number of families.