In the 20th century, evidence began to accumulate from pathology and paediatric radiology, particularly in relation to chronic subdural haematoma and limb fractures: subdural haematoma had a curious bimodal distribution, idiopathic in infants and traumatic in adults, while unexplained ossifying periostitis of the long bones was similar to that occurring after breech extractions. In 1946, John Caffey, the American founder of paediatric radiology, drew attention to the association of long bone fractures and chronic subdural haematoma, and, in 1955, it was noticed that infants removed from the care of aggressive, immature and emotionally ill parents developed no new lesions.As a result, professional inquiry into the topic began again in the 1960s. The July 1962 publication of the paper "The Battered Child-Syndrome" authored principally by a pediatric psychiatrist C. Henry Kempe and published in The Journal of the American Medical Association represents the moment that child maltreatment entered mainstream awareness. Before the articles publication, injuries to children—even repeated bone fractures—were not commonly recognized as the results of intentional trauma. Instead, physicians often looked for undiagnosed bone diseases or accepted parents accounts of accidental mishaps such as falls or assaults by neighborhood bullies. : 100–103 The study of child abuse emerged as an academic discipline in the early 1970s in the United States.
Studies show that if health and medical care personnel in a structured way ask parents about important psychosocial risk factors in connection with visiting pediatric primary care and, if necessary, offering the parent help may help prevent child maltreatment.Childrens school programs regarding "good touch … bad touch" can provide children with a forum in which to role-play and learn to avoid potentially harmful scenarios. Pediatricians can help identify children at risk of maltreatment and intervene with the aid of a social worker or provide access to treatment that addresses potential risk factors such as maternal depression. Videoconferencing has also been used to diagnose child abuse in remote emergency departments and clinics. Unintended conception increases the risk of subsequent child abuse, and large family size increases the risk of child neglect. Thus, a comprehensive study for the National Academy of Sciences concluded that affordable contraceptive services should form the basis for child abuse prevention. "The starting point for effective child abuse programming is pregnancy planning," according to an analysis for US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.Findings from research published in 2016 support the importance of family relationships in the trajectory of a childs life: family-targeted interventions are important for improving long-term health, particularly in communities that are socioeconomically disadvantaged.Resources for child-protection services are sometimes limited. According to Hosin (2007), "a considerable number of traumatized abused children do not gain access to protective child-protection strategies."