Recent public inquiries, research and new legislation have all compelled child care professionals to widen their focus beyond the narrow parameters of the physical health of the child. Emotional and psychological health are now rightly regarded as crucial. This text aims to enable practitioners to articulate precisely what is meant by the terms "emotional" and "psychological" abuse; to be able to identify it, and to formulate effective strategies for dealing with it. The author identifies certain categories of parent and parental circumstances which are conducive to the emotional and psychological abuse of children. He makes clear however, that parents are not the only carers who abuse children in this way. He explores such abuse within an historical, global and cultural context, and examines recent inquiry reports which have exposed the emotional and psychological abuse of children within the child care and child protection systems. Numerous case histories are provided, and one is explored in detail within the context of new child care legislation.