Social workers need to recognize that child abuse investigations markedly disrupt the child's life and have considerable impacts. When working with offenders, they need to develop expertise in elucidating the totality of the child's abusive experiences to ensure the maximum award. A detailed application may prevent the need for an oral hearing; nevertheless, an oral hearing may be necessary. Social workers should to take full advantage at the hearing of the opportunity to support an application verbally and strive to do justice to the task of being the child's voice. They can also enhance thorough assessments and detailed descriptions by referring to pertinent clinical research that focuses on causality. They should not underestimate the importance of making claims on behalf of children, because money can help relieve the child's suffering. 15 references