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Child Abuse Is The Most Visible Form Of Child Maltreatment

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Child abuse has been a plague on moral consciousness for more than a century. Child abuse is defined as anything that “creates or allows to be created a substantial risk of physical injury to such a child by other than accidental means, and which would be likely to cause death or serious or protracted disfigurement, or protracted impairment of physical or emotional health or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ" (Dickson, 2010). The term “child abuse” only applies to a child under the age of 18 who meets the criteria above. In the United States, roughly more than five children die each day as a result of child abuse or neglect (Promises2Kids, 2012). The four major forms of child abuse are emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and child neglect. In this research, physical child abuse will be the focus. Physical child abuse is the most visible form of child maltreatment. American Humane Association declares that usually physical abuse is a direct result of inappropriate or excessive physical discipline (American Humane, 2007). In most states, perpetrators of child abuse are often revealed as parents and other caregivers such as relatives, babysitters, or foster parents (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services , 2014).
Although attitudes surrounding child abuse constantly evolved, child protection by law was not organized until the 19th century. The New York Society for the Prevention of

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