Hendrika Bestebreurtje Cantwell (born May 3, 1925) is a German-born American retired physician, professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver, advocate for abused and neglected children, and parenting educator.
She was one of the first physicians in the United States to work for a child protection agency, serving with the Denver Department of Social Services from 1975 to 1989.
An author of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and teaching manuals on the detection and treatment of child abuse, she has also conducted workshops and training programs for professionals throughout Colorado.
They booked passage on a Portuguese ship built to hold 300, which departed with 1,000 passengers and arrived in New York City in April 1941.
from Barnard College in 1944 at the age of 19,[2][3] and enrolled at the University of Rochester Medical School, planning to specialize in pediatrics.
Following her internship, in 1952 she and her husband William Cantwell relocated to Denver, Colorado, attracted by the nearby skiing opportunities.
[4] Cantwell became one of the first physicians in the country to work for a child protection agency when she was hired by the Denver Department of Social Services (DDSS) in 1975.
Under Cantwell's direction, the DDSS opened a Family Crisis Center on its premises, to which parents could bring children suspected of being abused for interviews with physicians and social workers.
[7] In her 14 years of work with the DDSS, Cantwell came in contact with an estimated 30,000 cases of suspected child abuse and neglect.
[9] Her 1983 study of normal hymenal openings in young girls, published in Child Abuse & Neglect, was often cited as a determinant of whether sexual penetration had taken place.
[12] She was the subject of the television documentary Dr. Hendrika Cantwell, produced by the British Film Institute and aired on July 28, 1988, by BBC One.