The Tender Years : Oxford University Press : 9780195114539 : 0195114531 : 30 Mar 2000 : The first few years of life are a time of unparalleled physical, intellectual, and emotional development. But they can also be a time of neglect and abuse: this is the period when children are most likely to suffer mistreatment by their parents, and most likely to be placed in foster care. Today most children entering the child welfare system are very young, and, in most large states, infants are the largest group of children entering foster care each year. Social service systems are typically not designed for very young children, however, and therefore fail to serve their special needs. This shortcoming is significant because protecting very young children from physical harm is not enough; they must also be protected from developmental harm. The Tender Years is the first textbook to address this critical situation. Beginning with an overview of child development theory, it examines child abus