Confronting Cruelty: Historical Perspectives on Child Abuse

The problem of child abuse seems to have escalated in recent years. Were there any ’battered babies’ before the 1960s? Is the sexual abuse of children a recent phenomenon? The subject is often discussed in the media with little or no awareness that it has a long history. Confronting Cruelty examines our changing understanding of what cruelty is, the continuing neglect and abuse of children in our society, and the struggle between philanthropists, social workers and other professional groups for the right to identify and treat the children who are abused. Through the rich case records of the Children’s Protection Society, Dorothy Scott and Shurlee Swain document a hundred years of child abuse, and explore how the community has responded to this ever-present social problem.

Dr Dorothy Scott is Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Melbourne. She is a leading figure in the field of child protection in Australia, and is well known to ABC radio listeners for her contributions on child abuse and neglect.Dr Shurlee Swain is a Senior Lecturer in History at the Australian Catholic University and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of History at the University of Melbourne. She has published widely in social welfare history.