A developmental framework is used to present a broadened view of abuse that emphasizes targets for intervention that both reduce aversive parental behavior and increase behaviors that lead to more optimal child outcome. In considering behavioral interventions with abusive parents, the discussion addresses the three major phases of children's lives: infancy and toddlerhood, middle childhood, and adolescence. The focus is on the tasks required of parents, skills that reduce risk of abuse and enhance children's development, and strategies that combat the unique demands of children's behavior present at each stage of development. The review of the treatment literature suggests several pressing issues: a lack of empirically demonstrated ways of dealing with the obstacles to working with parents who physically abuse their children, the absence of treatment outcome work with parents of infants and teenagers, and the strong need for early identification and for primary prevention. 70 references (Author abstract modified)