Detecting Child Abuse

Child abuse is an action by another person, whether it be an adult or another child, which causes significant harm. It can either be physical, sexual or emotional; neglect can be just as damaging at child abuse (NSPCC, 2016). There are many different types of child abuse; domestic abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, online abuse, physical abuse emotional abuse, child sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, bullying and cyberbullying, child trafficking, grooming and harmful sexual behaviour (NSPCC,

The different forms of child abuse are physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and Shaken Baby Syndrome. Physical abuse is violence directed toward a child by a parent. Emotional abuse is when the victim feels worthless and rejected. Sexual abuse is sexual contact between the child and an adult or even the perpetrator speaks to the child in a sexually explicit way. Neglect is when parents fail to take care of their child’s basic physical, emotional, disciplinary, and educational needs. Shaken Baby Syndrome is a form of child abuse, which occurs with startling

A type of child abuse is Physical abuse, this refers to a violent interaction with a child a parent's in which the parent inflicts bodily harm on to their child. Emotional abuse is abuse in which parents hurt their child’s feeling of rejection, abandonment, belittlement, name-calling, threatening, isolation or exploitation their child. Sexual abuse is when a child has exposed sex-related talk to sex-related actions that inflict some sort of harm on to a child. Neglect is another form of abuse where parents fail to care for their child’s basic needs, fail to provide a decent standard of living for their child and safety.

Child abuse is an issue within society that effects the lives of not only the victims but also the lives of many people in the social order. Child abuse is any mistreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental injury or harm and which cannot be logically explained. There are several forms of abuse and neglect and many state governments have developed their own legal description of what constitutes child maltreatment for the purposes of removing a child and prosecuting a criminal charge. Child abuse consists of different forms of harm including physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect.

          There are many different types of child abuse. There is maltreatment and sexual abuse. Maltreatment is an area that encompasses many different things, such as physical abuse, child neglect, and emotional abuse. Physical abuse may begin with “shaken – baby syndrome” and

Child abuse is epidemic in many countries as well as the United States. It is estimated that every thirteen seconds a child is abused in some manner: physically, sexually, emotionally or by neglect (Friedman). Each year, there are over 3 million reports of child abuse in the United States involving more than 6 million children. Child abuse can be reduced with proper education of the parents and with greater public awareness.

Defining child abuse is a complicated issue. First, currently the United States does not have a standard definition of child abuse because each state has their definition. Definitions are different at the state and federal level. Child welfare agencies also may have different child abuse and neglect definitions. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) define child abuse and neglect as any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker that result in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation; an act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm (Child Abuse and Neglect User Manual, 2003;

Westat found that professionals failed to report many of the children they saw who had signs of child abuse and neglect. It found that in 1986, 56 percent of apparently abused or neglected children, or about 500,000 children, were not reported to the authorities. This figure, however, seems more alarming than it is: Basically, the more serious the case, the more likely the report. For example, the surveyed professionals reported over 85 percent of the fatal or serious physical abuse cases they saw, 72 percent of the sexual abuse cases, and 60 percent of the moderate physical abuse cases. They only reported 15 percent of the educational neglect cases they saw, 24 percent of the emotional neglect cases, and 25 percent of the moderate physical neglect cases.

Child abuse is a very sensitive issue that needs to by carefully handled. Child abuse is defined as a no accidental injury or pattern of injures to a child for which there is no reasonable explanation.

A survey by the Department of Health and Human Services estimated that abuse and neglect doubled in the years from 1986 to 1993. The report estimated that over 2.8 million children were reported as abused in 1998 (Sexual Abuse Statistics, 1996). In 1999 3,244,000 children were reported to CPS as victims of child abuse (Child Abuse Statistics, 1999).

There are variety of factors which would lead to suspicion of child abuse or maltreatment such as physical indicators, Some physical indicators which would lead to suspicion of abuse and maltreatment of a child are Unexplained injuries such as the explanation which the carer or the child is giving about the injury may not match or add up , Bruising is another physical indicator which may have been causes by a child being punched, grabbed , being hit or beaten up ; Some children may have finger marks on them which may have been caused by a child being manhandled in a violent way , or a child being shaken . Soreness is also a physical indicator which can lead to suspicion of abuse , soreness around a Childs genitals or soreness around the anal which is caused by sexual abuse , Infections are another physical indicator infections such as genital infections like

According to statistics 12.4 per 1000 children under the age of 17 have been a victim of child abuse. More than 6 million children are reported as abused in the last year. Sadly the fate of many of these children that live in abusive homes is death. 1.84 per 100,000 was reported to be abused in 2012. The number continued to rise to 1.96 in 2014. In the reported cases both or one parent was the cause of the death 79% of the time. In 16% of the cases a non-parent guardian was the cause of death. 5% of the deaths were caused by an unknown person.

Also, reporting the incident is required if the suspect is dead which should also be included so authorities can decide which action to take. Regardless of federal and state confidentiality laws, a professional is required to report any physical and/or sexual abuse or mental injury of a child. Although, the abuse must be committed by a parent or someone who has custody of the child or by someone who lives in the same household as the child. “Who are the individuals known to be major contributors to the abuse of a child? These individuals vary from parents, either collectively or individually, to other immediate and distant relatives and from trusted individuals to complete strangers. It is not always the case that child abusers act alone, as abuse may occur at the hands of multiple individuals at one time. Within the last decade, approximately 40% of child abuse victims were harmed by mothers acting alone, 18.3% by fathers acting alone, and 17.3% by both parents. Children that were abused by caregivers other than the parents made up 10.7%. These numbers clearly show that it is vital for educators to be trained and prepared to recognize when a child is being abused. For the majority of children, going to school can be a sanctuary and a place where their cries for help are not always vocal or obvious, creating a need for trained observation for

There are generally three types of abuse. They include psychological, sexual, and physical abuse. Child abuse can be described in many different ways. Some people will describe abuse as spanking a child. While others think that abuse only happens when someone uses an instrument to beat a child or inflicts such violence on a child that they end up dying. These are two very different ends of the spectrum. Child abuse is much more than the physical abuse we are often exposed to by the media.

Child abuse consists of any act or failure to act that endangers a child’s physical or emotional health and development. A person caring for a child is abusive if he or she fails to nurture the child, physically injures the child, or relates sexually to the child (Robins). Child abuse is broken down into four major categories: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Aside from the abuse itself, the cost of the tragic events costs the United States billions of dollars each year. Every day, approximately 4 children in the United States die resulting from child abuse and the majority are under 5-years-old (Fromm). There are many organizations that promote preventative measures in reducing child abuse. If nothing is done,