Society guideline links: Child abuse and neglect

Introduction — 

This topic includes links to society and government-sponsored guidelines from selected countries and regions around the world. We will update these links periodically; newer versions of some guidelines may be available on each society's website. Some societies may require users to log in to access their guidelines.

The recommendations in the following guidelines may vary from those that appear in UpToDate topic reviews. Readers who are looking for UpToDate topic reviews should use the UpToDate search box to find the relevant content.

Links to related guidelines are provided separately. (See "Society guideline links: Medical child abuse (Munchausen by proxy)".)

International

●World Health Organization (WHO): Guidelines on parenting interventions to prevent maltreatment and enhance parent-child relationships with children aged 0-17 years (2023)

●WHO: Responding to child maltreatment – A clinical handbook for health professionals (2022)

●WHO: Guidelines for the health sector response to child maltreatment (2019)

●WHO: Toolkit on mapping legal, health and social services responses to child maltreatment (2015)

Canada

●Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS): Position statement on medical neglect – Working with children, youth, and families (2022)

●CPS: Practice point on the medical assessment of fractures in suspected child maltreatment – Infants and young children with skeletal injury (2018)

●CPS: Practice point on the medical assessment of bruising in suspected child maltreatment cases – A clinical perspective (2013, reaffirmed 2017)

United States

●American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): Clinical report on evaluating young children with fractures for child abuse (2025)

●AAP: Technical report on abusive head trauma in infants and children (2025)

●AAP: Clinical report on oral and dental aspects of child abuse and neglect (2024)

●AAP: Clinical report on the pediatrician's role in preventing child maltreatment (2024)

●US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF): Final recommendation statement for prevention of child maltreatment – Primary care interventions (2024)

●American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC): Practice guidelines for the forensic interviewing of children (2023)

●AAP: Clinical report on the evaluation for bleeding disorders in suspected child abuse (2022)

●AAP: Technical report for evaluating for suspected child abuse – Conditions that predispose to bleeding (2022)

●AAP: Clinical report for the evaluation of suspected child physical abuse (2015, reaffirmed 2021)

●American College of Radiology (ACR) and Society for Pediatric Radiology (SPR): Practice parameter for the performance and interpretation of skeletal surveys in children (revised 2021)

●Pediatric Trauma Society (PTS), Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), and Ray E. Helfer Society: Identifying maltreatment in infants and young children presenting with fractures – Does age matter? (2021)

●AAP: Policy statement on abusive head trauma in infants and children (2020)

●American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC): Practice guidelines – The investigation and determination of suspected psychological maltreatment of children and adolescents (2019)

●ACR: ACR Appropriateness Criteria on suspected physical abuse – Child (revised 2016)

●APSAC: Practice guidelines – Integrating prevention into the work of child maltreatment professionals (2010)

●AAP: Statement on the diagnostic imaging of child abuse (2009)

●APSAC: Practice guidelines – Challenges in the evaluation of child neglect (2008)

Europe

●World Health Organization for Europe (WHO/Europe): European status report on preventing child maltreatment (2021)

United Kingdom

●The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth): Clinical guideline on abusive head trauma and the eye (2024)

●National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE): Quality standard on child abuse and neglect (2019)

●The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) and Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR): The radiological investigation of suspected physical abuse in children, revised first edition (2018)

●NICE: Guideline on child abuse and neglect (2017)

●NICE: Guideline on child maltreatment – When to suspect maltreatment in under 18s (2009, updated 2017)

Australia–New Zealand

●Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM): Policy for the child at risk (2024)

●Australian Paediatric Society (APS): Position statement on the abuse of children in detention (2015)