Poverty and external stress are often emphasized as the primary precipitants of child abuse. Such a perspective does injustice to the complexity of the interactions between parent and child, to the intricacies of human behavior and to the realities of child abuse. Though social, economic and other deprivations influence, develop and exacerbate physical, mental and emotional difficulties, they do not explain sufficiently why some individuals neglect and abuse children, and others in the same situation do not. This paper will develop ideas about stress and empathy as they contribute to the problem.

Recent proposed changes to family welfare legislation in Queensland (Parliamentary White Paper, 1981) include consideration of the extension of the mandatory reporting of cases of suspected child abuse or neglect, to encompass occupational groups other than medical practitioners. At the present time, only medical practitioners are obliged to report cases of abuse or neglect, under Section 76K of the Health Act (1937–1979) and Amendment Act (1980), Division XI B - maltreatment of children.

This paper seeks to describe the development of one Brisbane based programme and its search for appropriate responses to the suffering of contemporary youth. Difficulties associated with drugs and alcohol form its major area of concern. A review of such a programme may be of interest to those who work with troubled youth. Wider interest might be established if some tentative links are established with those processes that have occurred during the past decade through which the sufferings of young people have gradually become more accepted as constituting a public and political issue. An important question emerges as to whether there are tangible signs in our community, beyond the relatively marginal responses of programmes such as “The Haven”, that alienated and troubled youth really matter.

Parents in two families were experiencing difficulties in the management of their children’s behaviour. One particular time of difficulty was at dinner. The specific interventions to decrease this dinnertime difficulty, and the general outline of a behavioural home based approach used with both families are described. Levels of appropriate behaviour increased markedly in both families.