Children Who Witness Violence

To the Editor. —Groves et al1have done a good service in bringing the needs of children who witness violence to the attention of clinicians. Their suggestions for intervention in such cases, unfortunately, depend for their efficacy on matters of fact that may simply not obtain. The most important observation that must be made in this context is that parents of children who witness violence may not be reliable sources of either information about what has happened to the child, or of help in protecting the child from further trauma. Indeed, such parents may be actively perpetrating violence in and around the home—in response to economic pressures, substance abuse, environmental crime, or other factors. It is a serious mistake to assume that parents attempting to function in such circumstances will easily meet the expectations of physicians who assume that parents are uniformly benign, or even capable of considering the