Every nurse who provides care to children and their families should include assessment for child abuse and neglect. Particular attention should be paid to certain warning signs indicating potential or actual abuse. Diagnosis is based on the specific needs of the child and his or her family. Planning requires the development of goals and appropriate interventions. Primary prevention may include providing prenatal information and care, supporting new parents and encouraging contact with the newborn infant in the hospital, providing sex education and child development courses to adolescents, counseling pregnant teenagers, and helping families to assess their strengths and resources. In addition, nurses can intervene at the social policy level. Secondary prevention involves active casefinding both in the hospital setting and in the home and collaboration with other helping professionals, either as a multidisciplinary team member or through referral to other community services and resources. Tertiary prevention takes place after the damage of child abuse and neglect has been done. Its aim is the rehabilitation of the child victim to the maximum level of psychological, social, and developmental functioning. The final step of the nursing process is evaluation of changes that have occurred based upon identified goals. A sample nursing process is provided to illustrate the four steps of assessment, goal setting, planning, and evaluation. Tables and 40 notes are supplied.