This book serves as a comprehensive resource for researchers and regulatory bodies working to establish sound evidence bases through research for the care of children and families affected by abuse. Issues such as consent, anonymous research, and how to interface with the legal system in terms of disclosure and sharing of results are discussed in depth. Ethical Issues in Child Abuse Research also provides insights into questions of ethics in animal research, perpetrator and retrospective research, and balances the necessity of collecting this valuable information while protecting vulnerable populations, and respecting their privacy while interacting in a complex legal system. With input from many leaders in child abuse research, this book fills a critical need, providing readers with a pathway to apply these principles of ethics to their own research in this challenging field.

1. Introduction

2. Animal Research

3. Informed Consent and Deception

4. Disclosure

5. Anonymous Research

6. Obligation to Report and Normal Controls

7. Perpetrator Research

8. Retrospective Research

9. Conclusions