'The bones tell a story the child is too young or too frightened to tell': The Battered Child Syndrome in Post-war Britain and America.

Jennifer Crane

doi:10.1093/shm/hkv040

Abstract

This article traces the emergence of child abuse as a medical concern in post-war Britain and America. In the early 1960s American paediatricians and radiologists defined the ‘battered child syndrome’ to characterise infants subjected to serious physical abuse. In the British context, paediatricians and radiologists, but also dermatologists and ophthalmologists, drew upon this work and sought to identify clear diagnostic signs of child maltreatment. For a time, the x-ray seemed to provide a reliable and objective visualisation of child maltreatment. By 1970, however, medical professionals began to invite social workers and policy makers to aid them in the diagnosis and management of child abuse. Discourse around the ‘battered child syndrome’, specifically, faded away, whilst concerns around child abuse grew. The battered child syndrome was a brief phenomenon of the 1960s, examination of which can inform the histories of medical authority, radiology and secrecy and privacy in the post-war period.

Highlights

Jennifer Crane*In this article I will highlight the role of medicine and radiology in facilitating the emergence of social and political concern around child abuse in post-war Britain and America
This article traces the emergence of child abuse as a medical concern in post-war Britain and America
By 1970, medical professionals began to invite social workers and policy makers to aid them in the diagnosis and management of child abuse

Summary

Jennifer Crane*

In this article I will highlight the role of medicine and radiology in facilitating the emergence of social and political concern around child abuse in post-war Britain and America. Kempe’s work quickly influenced a number of physicians from a range of fields, including radiologists and paediatricians and dermatologists and ophthalmologists These actors sought to further characterise the battered child syndrome. Much academic attention has been paid by media theorists to various ‘moral panics’ around child abuse, for example the 1980s satanic ritual abuse scandals, and the Cleveland crisis of 1987.19 Further research has approached child abuse from a social policy perspective, including the work of Parton, Ferguson and Hendrick, or as a concern for contemporary social workers.20 These authors have not yet fully interrogated the role and significance of medicine, and x-rays, in facilitating the early awareness of child abuse.

The History of the Battered Child Syndrome

The Syndrome in Britain

Account of the Work of the Battered Child Research

Conclusion