Foreword.

• Author: Lauziere, Marcel

We are very pleased to be able to include in Issue 27 four papers based on keynote addresses to the 10th Australasian Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect (ACCAN), hosted by the Ministry of Social Development, the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services, and the Children's Commissioner. The plenary speakers included here were very generous in submitting their papers far enough in advance so that they could be refereed in time for this issue. We look forward to publishing some more papers based on ACCAN keynote addresses and presentations in Issue 28.

The four ACCAN papers cover many levels of work and understanding of child abuse and neglect. Anna Pinto's paper helps the reader to understand the systemic nature of violence against children. Anne B. Smith surveys the literature on the impact of physical punishment on children. The paper by Charles Waldegrave provides a comparison between the Continental European and Anglo-American approaches to child protection, and explores the implications for practice in New Zealand. Four representatives of the Youth Council of the Care to Independence Programme, Juanita Watts, Renee Kumar, Kenneth Nicholson and Janelle Kumar, draw on their personal experience of the care system to identify key issues for improving it.

Two more papers deal with children and young people. Tim McCreanor, Peter D. Watson and Simon J. Denny discuss their findings on how young Pakeha interact with their families, and the implications for health promotion. The paper by Belinda Reeve explores the split in perspectives on children's accidents--micro-level causes (such as individual behaviour and the immediate environment) and macro-level causes (social structural issues)--and how this influences policy work in the various departments concerned.

Three papers in this issue deal with older people. Judith Davey...