This paper is based upon the experience of a multidisciplinary team of health professionals of the Instituto de Puericultura e Pediatria Martagão Gesteira - the pediatric hospital of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. It reports some of the aspects related to the complexity of a hospital-based approach to children victims of violence and their families. The objective of this article is to discuss some of the issues involved in the target public characterization, in the way families deal with violence and in how they report such conditions to health services. The limitations of such practice by the multidisciplinary team are also presented. The influence of family's social conditions in the follow-up of those children and some aspects related to the report of cases to child protection agencies are also considered. On such basis, the authors discuss some of the proceedings adopted by the "Outpatient Family Clinics" that are accounted for tertiary prevention of violence against children.
Violence; Child; Outpatient Care; Prevention