This reference book is designed to assist professionals in various disciplines, primarily in California, in following basic standards for the identification, assessment, and case management of suspected child abuse and neglect; the information provided will be useful for professionals in the fields of medicine, nursing, social work, and law enforcement. The chapters are divided into 18 parts. Part 1 contains a chapter on warning signs for the risk of child abuse and neglect in caretaker and family history as well as caretaker and child behavior. Part 2 consists of a chapter on child abuse detection and screening, followed by a chapter in Part 3 on interviewing children. Part 4, which contains 15 chapters, focuses on the evaluation of medical signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect. The chapters address the various physical injuries that may suggest that physical abuse/neglect of a child patient has occurred. Conditions in a child that may "mimic" a child abuse injury are also discussed. Part 5 is composed of four chapters on special issues related to child maltreatment, namely, children under 12 years old who sexually molest other children, adolescents as perpetrators of child abuse and neglect, child pornography, and prostituted children. The nine chapters of Part 6 consider concurrent risk factors, such as parental substance abuse, teen pregnancy, woman battering, the abuse of handicapped adults, poverty and homelessness, and parents with serious mental illness. Parts 7 and 8 contain chapters on special risk factors intensified by social isolation and religious issues in child medical neglect. The four chapters of Part 9 focus on the evaluation and treatment of abused/neglected children and their families. The remaining parts of the book contain chapters that address children in and out of home placements; strategies for cultural competency in the child abuse/neglect field; severe and fatal abuse; multidisciplinary teams; laws, the court system, and expert testimony; allied professionals and programs; prevention; administrative issues; and future directions and developments. Most of the chapters contain at least one case vignette relevant to the material of the chapter, along with references and selected readings and resources.