Confronting Cruelty

Confronting Cruelty investigates the history of the detection and treatment of child abuse in Australia through the lens of the Victorian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children - now the Children's Protection Society (CPS) - from 1896 to the end of the 20th century. This book explores the inner world of a child protection agency within the outer world of the broader historical context and changes in both child protection policy and the social constructions of child abuse.