Because successful child abuse intervention requires multiple health disciplines and multiagency networking, the paper highlights the pivotal role of a local child abuse council. An outline of the goals for a diagnostic and treatment center cautions against the use of overly orthodox, conservative, and inflexible professional staff. Other issues that a center must address are identified, such as home visits, appropriate therapies, selecting staff who can handle the pain and sadness inherent in domestic violence cases, and removing children from the home. Other essential components of the community-based program examined are group homes for abused children and family crisis centers that provide shelter and other emergency services to victims. The author discusses issues that agencies working in black, Asian, and culturally mixed communities must consider. Much literature on group therapy has focused on Caucasian populations and is not appropriate for other ethnic groups. Therapeutic techniques that have been effective in dealing with Asians and Hispanics are explored. Other services recommended for inclusion in a community program are parenting classes and home visits by mental health workers. Finally, the paper focuses on religion as a meaningful part of the therapeutic process, latent suicidal behavior in abused children, and the place of a client's silence in therapy.