The Negative Effects Of Child Abuse In Education

“ The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) … defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum: "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."” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and Administration for Children & Families, "Definitions of Child Abuse

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act or CAPTA, dictates that child abuse is defined as failure by a parent or caregiver that can cause a result of imminent risk of serious harm, death, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or exploitation of a child under the age of 18 years (Paulk, 1999).

“The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act” states’ that “child abuse is the leading cause of death in children under the age of eighteen.” Child abuse occurs when adults inflict violence and cruelty upon children. Abuse is any willful act that results in physical, mental, or sexual injury that causes or is likely to cause the child to be physically, mental, or emotionally impaired. Abuse happens to children of any age, sex, race, religion, and social status.

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.

What is child abuse? From the word “abuse” we can understand that it is some sort of a maltreatment of a child, causing harm and damage both to his physical and psychological well-being. At the Federal level, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) describes child abuse and neglect 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.” Child abuse is a very substantial and widely spread problem in U.S. affecting children of any age, gender, race, background or income, with more than 1.8 million investigations done every year and on average, killing more than 5 children every day. The main issue of child abuse is that the abuser is usually someone a child loves or depends on (a parent, sibling, coach, neighbor, etc.), who violates child’s trust putting personal interests first, therefore official numbers of how many children suffer maltreatment might be not accurate enough as remarkable amount of these cases go unreported. Each case of child abuse is unique, with a lot of individual factors involved, nevertheless, we can distinguish some of the common causes, such as poverty, lack of education, depression, mental or physical health

Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, through action or failure to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. According to The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, as amended by the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010, at a minimum, child abuse and neglect is defined 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 (Children 's Bureau, 2010)." The law recognizes a child as being any person who is under the age of 18. The law is broken into 2 sections, and each section treats the idea of child maltreatment in different ways. Criminally, those who abuse children are able to be arrested and prosecuted in court. Civil statutes say that people who suspect a child of being abused are mandated to identify and report it.

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;

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. (as cited in ?The Child Abuse,? 2010, p. 6)

The civil definitions used in child and family law are defined in the Children Act 1989 as significant harm to a child. Emotional abuse includes the failure of a caregiver to provide an appropriate and supportive environment. It includes acts that have an adverse effect of the emotional health and development of a child, e.g. ridiculing, threatening, intimidating and discriminating. Examples of emotional abuse are ignoring the child’s need to interact, failing to express positive feelings to a child, showing no emotion. Denying the child opportunities for interacting and communication with others, also bullying or frightening a child, persistently telling them that they are useless (World health organisation) Physical abuse is defined in Working together 2015 as: A form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may be caused when a parent/carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child. Sexual abuse is defined by

According to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act, child abuse is “the physical or mental injury, sexual

Boden, Horwood, and Fergusson (2007) examined the correlation between the child physical abuse and the education achievements later in childhood. Boden et al. (2007) found that due to injuries sustained during the incidents of abuse, physically abused children had lowered reading ability, had lower IQ scores, and did not complete a higher level of education (1111). This study illuminates the fact that the physical abuse not only affects the child at the moment the abuse happens, but has long lasting negative consequences. There is no telling if these children could have completed higher levels of education if they were not physically abused.

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

Child maltreatment: “Federal law defines child abuse and neglect as any recent act, or failure to act, on the part of a parent or caretaker that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm to a child” (“Child Abuse and Maltreatment,”

Child abuse is at its peak in today's world. It has multiple forms. It is usually referred as physical, sexual or emotional exploitation or negligence of a child. Department for Children And Families (DCF) define child abuse as acts of commission parent or other guardian that consequences in damage, probability for destruction, or risk of harm to a child. Child abuse can occur at many places like child's home, organizations, schools or publics the child interacts or communicates with

According to Pecora, Sanders, Wilson, English, Puckett & Rudlang-Perman (2014), “Every year in the USA, about 695,000 unique children are confirmed as victims of child maltreatment (US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau 2011) (p. 321). Such startling statistics suggest that child abuse is not just a public health issue; it is an epidemic. However, research reveals that prevention is possible through a collaborative effort made by parents, schools, the government, social services, and the