Interventions must often be brief due to the limits on the number of sessions clinicians may offer, the family members they may see, and the compromising circumstances of child care and housing arrangements affecting the safety and welfare of the children referred for treatment. By focusing on the essentials of mastery, empathy, and growth, those who work briefly can nevertheless have an impact even with sexually abused and abuse- reactive children. A focused assessment of the child's development, including delays, distortions, and accelerations related to child abuse and neglect, is crucial. If the therapist has access to adults significant to the child and can include them in the forward-looking plan, a progressive structure can be designed that will encourage the child's continuing development, skill, and concern for others. Even when that is not possible, the therapist can facilitate the child's experience of mastery, empathy, and growth and hope that the multifaceted intervention will lead to generalization to other settings. Case examples involving perpetrators ages 4 and 11 and 12 references (Author abstract modified)