The Effects of Domestic Violence on Children
             Domestic violence, also referred to as family violence, has been around for a long time. It is not something that has recently developed. According to author Gilda Berger, "for hundreds of years, people were unconcerned about family violence, though the problem surely existed." (Violence and the Family 25).
             "As early as the 17th century, there were stubborn child laws that gave Puritan fathers the right to put unruly children to death. American wives were not permitted to own property. Husbands could collect their wives' wages and could punish wives who displeased them. Generally speaking, men considered themselves their wives' and children's' superiors and masters."
             Unfortunately, the barbaric and disturbing attitudes toward domestic violence were seen as normal. The Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was the first social agency created during the 1870s to address the problems of domestic violence. Its original focus was on child abuse, but it evolved into an agency that eventually focused on domestic violence.
             Between 1910 and 1930 domestic violence case were incorporated into professional social work. Child-protectors of the agencies became child welfare workers and control of the problem was brought under the authority of the states. Child abuse was recognized as a national problem in the early 1960s, largely because of the publication of sociologist/physician C. Henry Kempe's book, The Battered Child Syndrome.
             According to the author Berger, California passed the first child abuse law in 1963, with other states that also passed similar laws. The first national child abuse prevention and treatment law was passed by Congress in 1973, with the creation of the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1974. By 1985, Children's Trust Funds were created in 30 states for the protecti...