Child Abuse and Neglect

Child abuse includes all forms of physical and emotional mistreatment, sexual abuse, and neglect of a child’s basic needs, which results in actual or potential harm to a child’s physical, mental, and emotional health. Exploitation of children is also a form of abuse and includes trafficking for sexual or economic purposes, and recruitment of children into armed forces.

An abused child may experience many forms of mistreatment in any one incident or over time; for example, emotional harm is a pervading factor in all types of abuse. The abuser may be a family member, a stranger, another child, or someone responsible for a child's well-being, such as a teacher or caretaker.

Children in every society are vulnerable to abuse, gender based violence, and exploitation, however children without parental care and those in high risk environments such as conflict areas, refugee camps, on the street, or in institutions, are particularly exposed to violence, denial of their basic human rights, and deprivation. All abuse has its origins in power imbalance and therefore is typically associated with fear, secrecy, and control. This makes identifying and speaking out about abuse very difficult for children, family members, the community and social services, particularly when it is committed within the privacy of the home.

Child abuse can cause physical and psychosocial problems, including HIV/AIDS infection, and is particularly damaging when repeated over a period of time. Children may manifest abuse via destructive or withdrawn behaviours, developmental delays, injuries or other health problems. The effects of abuse will vary from child to child and depend on the source, type and extent of the abuse, the child’s developmental stage and their disposition or resilience.

The process of identifying and responding to abuse requires skilled interventions in order to prevent further harm to the child, and will typically include police, medical, psychological, and social services in order to address the safety, physical, and emotional needs of the affected children. Any care plan must be in the best interests of the child and protect them and their siblings from harm. This will include consideration of the additional risks of abuse that are present for children in institutions and care placements. Such closed environments are extremely susceptible to abuse since they are frequently isolated, insufficiently regulated, and lacking in adequate supervision and safe reporting procedures. It is the role of social services to screen and monitor all child placements, including institutional, kinship, and foster care, to ensure the child’s safety and well-being.

It is the responsibility of the whole community to protect its children. Education and community awareness for children and adults on the risks, signs of abuse, and responses is vital for children without parental care and those in high risk situations, such as during a conflict or displacement when sexual violence, exploitation, and recruitment into armed forces are prevalent.

The literature in this section describes the types of abuse in more detail, including gender based violence, and provides example child protection procedures, policy papers, and other intervention tools.

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2013 Resource Guide - Preventing Child Maltreatment and Promoting Well-Being: A Network for Action

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013

This Resource Guide was developed to support service providers in the US in their work with parents, caregivers, and their children to prevent child abuse and neglect and promote child and family well-being. The Resource Guide was created primarily to support community-based child abuse prevention professionals who work to prevent child maltreatment and promote well-being. However, others such as policymakers, parent educators, family support workers, health-care providers, program administrators, teachers, child care providers, mentors, and clergy also will find the resources useful.

ChildSafe Traveler Tips: Children Are Not Tourist Attractions

The ChildSafe network, 2013

The ChildSafe network has produced important information for people who might be traveling abroad and can be confronted by situations where children are in distress or at risk of being abused or harmed, including through the practice of "orphan tourism".

Abandoned babies: the Malaysian ‘baby hatch’

Joan Cochrane & Goh Lee Ming - Infant Vol 9 Issue 4, 2013

This article explores the implementation of a system in Malaysia, where mothers or guardians who choose to abandon their baby are enabled to do so anonymously within a safe environment.

Child protection and out of home care: Policy, practice, and research connections Australia and New Zealand

Elizabeth Fernandez, Nicola Atwool, 2013

This article provides an outline of the early development of care and protection in Australia and New Zealand as a backdrop to an overview of child protection systems and policies and the current child protection profile in both countries. An overview of trends in relation to out of home care, including routes into care, care arrangements and permanency policies is provided.

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Child Protection Australia 2011-12

Australian Government - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2013

This document is the 16th annual report on child protection in Australia. The report includes detailed statistical information on child protection services provided on the state and territory level as well as demographic and background information on the children receiving services.

The Child and the Family: Informative Magazine

Partnerships for Every Child, Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family of Moldova, Ministry of Education, USAID, EveryChild, VIITORUL, 2013

This newsletter, translated into English, is the first of three issues produced by the “Protecting children of Moldova from family separation, violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation” project, which is implemented by Partnerships for Every Child, the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family of Moldova, and the Ministry of Education of Moldova.

Neglect and Serious Case Reviews: A report from the University of East Anglia commissioned by NSPCC

Marian Brandon, Sue Bailey, Pippa Belderson and Birgit Larsson, 2013

This study provides a new contribution to our learning about neglect by exploring the circumstances in which neglect can be catastrophic and have a fatal or seriously harmful outcome for a child. It provides a systematic analysis of neglect in serious case reviews in England, between 2003 and 2011.

Chronic Neglect: Bulletin for Professionals

Child Welfare Information Gateway, Caren Kaplan , 2013

This Child Welfare Information Gateway bulletin for professionals in the US discusses what chronic neglect is and reviews ways to work with families experiencing chronic neglect, including critical elements of successful casework practice, examples of what agencies are doing, and ways agencies can integrate child welfare approaches to chronic neglect with prevention and early intervention efforts.

Family stressors and children's outcomes

Elizabeth Jones, Leslie Gutman, and Lucinda Platt , 2013

This new study from the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre, an independent research center with funding from the United Kingdom Department for Education, identifies which family stress factors and parental behaviors are associated with positive and negative outcomes for children at the age of 7 and whether stressful life events experienced in childhood are associated with negative outcomes in adolescence.

A World Wide Web of Unwanted Children: The Practice, the Problem, and the Solution to Private Re-Homing

S. Megan Testerman, 2013

Adoptive families are now using the Internet to give their unwanted adopted children over to complete strangers, some of whom are traffickers, pedophiles, child pornographers, or worse. This practice is known as private rehoming.