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Child Abuse Prevention And Treatment Act

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The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was originally enacted on January 31 1974(US Government 2011). The act has been amended several time throughout history. It was recently amended on December 20 2010 (US Government 2011). The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act is also abbreviated as CAPTA. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act provides federal funding to states for the support of prevention, assessment, investigation, prosecution, and treatment activities (US Government 2011). It also helps provides grants to public agencies and nonprofit organizations. CAPTA also sets a definition of child abuse and neglect. Child abuse is defined by both state and federal laws. CAPTA defines child abuse as “ Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm” (State Statues 2014). CAPTA is very important because it is the first comprehensive legislation on child abuse and prevention. In the state of Alabama physical abuse is defined as Abuse’ means harm or threatened harm to the health or welfare of a child through: Non-accidental physical injury, Sexual abuse or attempted sexual abuse and Sexual exploitation or attempted sexual exploitation. This is defined by the Ala. Code 26-14-1(1)-(3). The definition of abuse differs from state to state. Different states have different ways

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