Child Abuse in Nova Scotia: A Research Project About Battered and Maternally Deprived Children.

This is an important and timely book. Although the title suggests that the province of Nova Scotia has made a routine review of factors in child abuse, this volume is actually a unique and comprehensive study of an entire protective care system. The authors and their team have undertaken an extensive and critical review of all cases of abuse and maternal deprivation identified in Nova Scotia's hospitals over a five-year period. This case review looked carefully at the children who were presented to and studied in hospitals, examined a number of social factors in their families, and made a careful follow-up of the children's later progress. The case study then proceeds to examine the management of the children by the welfare workers and to review the way in which the courts handled those referred for court action. The review is often critical and points out a number of inadequacies in