The development of a rural team to deal with child abuse.

In the last ten years teams for dealing with child abuse have become established in many urban centres. More recently rural communities have started similar programs; such a team was established in rural Manitoba in 1976. A series of events since then has improved the operation of the team. Cooperation with an urban team has enhanced the functioning of the rural team. A broad base of community support for this work has been essential. A review of cases seen in the last 18 months indicates 12 cases are physical abuse, nine are sexual, six neglect, and one emotional abuse.