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The Causes And Effects Of Child Abuse In Australia

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Child abuse is one of Australia’s biggest and most misunderstood social problems. Despite being under-reported, Australian authorities confirmed 42,457 children were abused or neglected in one year alone.
That’s one child every 13 minutes suffering physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect, often by someone they know and should be able to trust; most often in their own home. Thousands more cases go unreported, and the number of children and young people in out-of-home care is increasing.
When people think of child abuse they often think of severe beatings or sexual abuse, however emotional abuse (43%) and neglect (26%) are more common and the impacts are just as damaging to a child. Each state and territory has different definitions, and not all child abuse is a crime.
It can be a single incident, or a number of incidents that occur over time. It doesn’t matter how much a child has been harmed, but whether they have been harmed, are being harmed, or are at risk of physical, psychological or emotional harm.
The effects of child abuse and neglect can be significant and lead to lifelong problems. It can impact a child’s brain development, how they feel and think about themselves, how successful they are at school, even their physical development and skills. In the long term it can lead to drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, difficulty developing and maintaining good relationships, unemployment and all sorts of social disadvantage – all due to their childhood experiences,
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