Child-saving movement. Because of the resulting public outcry, concerned citizens eventually
founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 1874 (Pagelow, 1984). This
organization, and the larger child-saving movement of which it was a part, advocated for dramatic
changes in society’s treatment of children. Increasingly, child protection advocates argued
that children need to be loved and nurtured, and if parents fail to protect their children, the
state should intervene. They argued, in effect, that parents should not have complete authority
over their children (Finkelhor, 1996).