CASE HISTORY KEVIN FELL OFF HIS RAZOR Kevin was placed in foster care because his com- munity's Child Protective Services (CPS) depart- ment determined that his family was in conflict. The placement was made after 10-year-old Kevin was seen at the local hospital's emergency room for bruises, welts, and cuts on his back. Accord- ing to his mother's report to emergency room personnel, the boy fell off of his Razor (scooter) while riding down a hill near the family home. Kevin was very quiet during the visit, never speaking but occasionally nodding his head in affirmation of his mother's report. The attending physician, however, believed that Kevin's injuries were unlikely to have occurred as the result of such a fall. Rather, they appeared consistent with the kinds of injuries a child might have from being slapped repeatedly or possibly whipped with a belt or another object. Initially, Kevin's mother persisted in her story that Kevin had fallen from his Razor, but after the doctor told her that the injuries could not have resulted from such an accident, she confessed that her boyfriend, Sam, had some strong opin- ions about how children should behave and how they should be disciplined. She reported that Sam had a short temper when it came to diffi- cult behavior in children and that he sometimes "lost his cool" in disciplining Kevin. She also mentioned that Sam had been depressed for the past several months because of their difficult financial circumstances. She wondered if these circumstances might have contributed to Sam's violence but also suggested that Kevin's behavior could often be very difficult to control. She said that Kevin had numerous problems, including difficulties in school (e.g., trouble with reading) and with peers (e.g., physically fighting with other children); she described both acting-out behav- iors (e.g., setting fire to objects, torturing and killing small animals, stealing) and oppositional behaviors (e.g., skipping school, refusing to do homework, breaking curfew, being noncompliant with requests). In interviews with a CPS worker, Kevin revealed that he was, in fact, experiencing physical abuse inflicted by his mother's boyfriend. Kevin reluctantly acknowledged that Sam frequently disciplined him by repeatedly slapping (Continued) in Intimate Relationships (Continued) a belt across his back. Kevin reported that on these occasions he tried hard not to cry but often the whippings hurt so much that he couldn't help himself. He also talked about an incident that had taken place when he was several years younger. He had been playing with some baby ducks that lived in the pond in his backyard, trying to teach the ducks to swim underwater. When Sam saw Kevin submerging the ducklings' heads under the water, he became very angry and "taught Kevin a lesson" by holding Kevin's head underwater repeatedly. Kevin was tearful as he told this story and stated that, at the time, he thought he was going to drown. Kevin also mentioned that he was worried about Sam's violence toward his mother, reporting that Sam would angrily slap and kick his mother after having been out drinking with his buddies. After Kevin had been in foster care for several weeks, his foster mother indicated that he was doing very well and described him as a remark- ably adaptive child. She said she found him to be a "warm, loving kid," and he had not exhibited "any behavior problems other than what you might expect from a 10-year-old boy." She reported also that Kevin "hoped to go home soon" because obedient toward his mother and her boyfriend he missed his mother and Sam. He believed that he was placed in foster care because he was dis- and because he hadn't been doing well in school.