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What is Child Abuse and Neglect?
‘Child abuse and neglect’, also known as ‘child maltreatment’ is the broad term for the acts or behaviour of parents, caregivers and others that endanger a child or young person's physical or emotional health or development. Child maltreatment can be a single incident, but it is usually a pattern of behaviour that takes place over time. How communities or countries define child abuse and neglect is dependent, in part, on cultural values and beliefs about what is appropriate childrearing and parenting. As a result what is considered to be an appropriate standard of care can vary between, and within, communities. Child maltreatment is commonly classified into four main types: It is important to note that children often do not just experience just one form of maltreatment, often they experience different forms of maltreatment in combination. Physical abuse Physical abuse may be occurring if a child:
Emotional abuse (also known as ‘psychological maltreatment’ or ‘psychological abuse’) is a pattern of behaviour by a person having the care of a child which results in damage to a child’s self-esteem or causes the child to suffering some form of significant emotional deprivation or trauma. Emotional abuse is based around verbal rather than physical harm. It includes patterns of ridiculing, denigrating, or scapegoating a child; threatening, or scaring; rejecting or ignoring a child; isolating a child from normal social contacts; and involving a child in antisocial or inappropriate behaviour, such as crime, violence or substance abuse. These days, children’s experiences living in a household where there is domestic violence (violence between parents or intimate partners) is often considered as a form of emotional abuse as a child may be emotionally harmed even when that have not directly witnessed the violence. There are few physical indicators of emotional harm. In severe cases, emotional abuse may cause delays in physical, emotional or mental development, such as speech disorders, self-harm, depression and failure to thrive. A child experiencing emotional abuse may:
Neglect
Neglect is the failure by a person having the care of a child to provide the conditions that are essential for the healthy physical and emotional development of that child. A person is neglectful if, taking account of the resources that are available to the family or caretakers, they act, or fail to act, to ensure a child’s physical health, education, emotional development, nutrition, shelter, and safe living conditions, This includes the failure to properly supervise and protect children from dangerous activities. In severe cases a child may present as hungry and underweight, malnourished, developmentally delayed, dirty and not clothed appropriately for the weather conditions, left unsupervised for long periods and/or in unsafe circumstances. Possible indicators include where the child or young person:
Child sexual abuse is the involvement of a child in sexual activity that she or he does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent, or that violate the laws or social taboos of society. Child sexual abuse is defined as sexual activity between a child and an adult, or between a child and an older child, who is in a relationship of responsibility, trust or power, with the activity being intended to gratify or satisfy the needs of the other person. It may include fondling of the child’s genitals (or getting the child tofondle the perpetrator’s genitals); masturbation (with the child aseither observer or participant); oral sex; vaginal or anal penetration by a penis, finger, or any other object; voyeurism (regular observation of the child) or exhibitionism. It can also include exposing the child to pornography, using the internet to encourage them to view pornography or as a way of meeting children to abuse them, or using the child for the purposes of pornography or prostitution. Other terms for child sexual abuse include child sexual assault, child sexual victimisation, child exploitation, child sexual misuse, child molestation, child sexual maltreatment, child rape or incest (when a child is sexually abused by a family member). Children may be sexually abused by family members, people they know, or by strangers. Children are most likely to be sexually abused by someone who is known to them, such as a father, stepfather, uncle, older sibling, grandparent, friend of the family, teacher, sports coach or neighbour. It is important to note that:
Physical indicators of sexual abuse include:
Possible behavioural indicators include where the child or young person:
How do I know if a child is being abused? MORE What causes child abuse? MORE What are the effects of child abuse? MORE How can I help prevent child abuse and neglect? MORE What is Mandatory Reporting? MORE What to do if you or someone you know is being abused? MORE
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