Pursuant to a bill passed by the Iowa legislature requiring training for mandatory reporters of child abuse, this manual addresses the fundamental issues of identifying and reporting child abuse. Chapter 1 is an overview of the history of child abuse and how the current system of reporting has evolved. Chapter 2 is a basic primer on the physical and behavioral identification of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and denial of critical care. The process for documenting child abuse and making a report are reviewed in chapter 3. Chapter 4 summarizes treatment and prevention programs and philosophies. Each chapter has a review case and sample questions for use as study aids. A short quiz is provided at the end of the manual, which prospective reporters of child abuse can submit to the Iowa Child Abuse Research and Education Project in return for feedback and certification. (TE)