Helping child abuse victims receive the mental health treatment they need is an important component of victim advocacy with children, and benefits both the children and the criminal justice system. As part of this work, the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina and the Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress at the Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington conducted a collaborative project with the Office for Victims of Crime to develop guidelines for the mental health assessment and treatment of child victims of sexual and physical abuse and their families. The primary purpose of this project was to encourage the use of mental health treatment protocols and procedures that have a sound theoretical basis, a good clinical-anecdotal literature, high acceptance among practitioners in the child abuse field, a low chance for causing harm, and empirical support for their utility with victims of abuse. These Guidelines seek to present the best available information about the mental health treatment of cases of physical and sexual abuse in a concise and consistent format that can be easily used by practitioners and other interested professionals. The Guidelines seek to cover the most common approaches, the protocols with the most empirical support, theoretically sound and promising treatments that may not have been tested empirically, and some practices that raise concern. By providing practitioners with clear and succinct information and directions for how to obtain more detailed knowledge, they will be better equipped to work with these child abuse victims and their families. (Contains 310 references.) (GCP)