Many abusive parents were victims of child abuse. Their normal cycle of development was interrupted by conflict and trauma that left them unable to make normal adult adjustments to the parent role. While some abusive parents report feelings of discomfort with their violent behavior and anger toward their children, many others do not realize their violence is a problem until a child is seriously injured or they are involved in a review mandated by the court. Treatment must be supportive to ease the fear and discomfort and be educational to teach the impact of child abuse. The psychoeducational outpatient treatment model focuses on a teaching/learning approach to working with abusive parents. The model contains a parent education component to help parents learn about the relationship between child developmental stages and expected associated behaviors. The educational component also provides information about family violence so that abusive parents can begin to understand how their childhood experience affected them and that the cycle will continue if it is not interrupted by behavior change. The model also includes group counseling to help abusive parents understand their personal problems and manage their emotional relationships with children. An appendix lists goals and intervention strategies of the outpatient treatment model. 11 references.