The Child Protection Centres are concerned with all forms of child abuse. Their work is based on the following definition of child abuse:

Child abuse (maltreatment) is a non-accidental, violent psychic and/or physical interference or neglect of children by parents/legal guardians or third parties that harms children, hurts them, represses their development or puts them to death.

This definition includes neglect, psychic, emotional, physical and sexual violence of different severity.

Different forms of violence are often connected with each other. But violence against children is not a definable element of an offence. The extents of the damage of violent actions depend on the context in which they occur. Depending on how strongly, how often and it what age, for how long and by which person they are committed and what the attachment quality between the child and the adult is like. Apart from that the degree of severity of harm for the children is to be taken into account by including factors as e.g. their living conditions, quality of life, their other important relations with people, circle of friends etc.

The main focus of work of the Child Protection Centres is not detecting an offence but rather the protection of the child and support for mothers and fathers.

Many factors influence this process. The Child Protection Centres understand violent relations in families as the expression of failure; of failure of a single person, of social relations as well as the family and society system. It is part of the self-conception of work to take these diversities into account and act according to them.