OBJECTIVE: present and discuss the potential use of the concept of vulnerability for the development of practices to address violence against children.
METHOD: this is a theoretical study that presents the characteristics of the phenomenon of violence against children, to which the concept of vulnerability is applied.
RESULTS: proposal of a framework for the analysis of violence against children in the perspective of vulnerability, creating individual and collective dimensions. Violence against children, when analyzed in the perspective of this concept, broadens the understanding of this phenomenon, as it exposes aspects and conditions from outside the family that are co-responsible for the occurrence of this phenomenon.
CONCLUSION: developing studies to identify the vulnerability of children to violence is essential for the development of practices to address this issue.