Child abuse is often a secret. Since the 1960s, however, Americans have become increasingly aware of the problems of child abuse and neglect (together referred to as child maltreatment). In 1963 some 150,000 young victims of maltreatment were reported to authorities (Juvenile Court Statistics, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Children's Bureau, Washington, DC, 1966). In 20…
Physical abuse is the infliction of physical injury through punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, shaking, or otherwise harming a child. Physical abuse is generally a willful act. There are cases, however, in which the parent or caretaker may not have intended to hurt the child. In such cases, the injury may have resulted from over-discipline or corporal punishment. Nonetheless, if the chil…
Perhaps better than a definition of child abuse is a description of the characteristics likely to be exhibited by abused and/or neglected children. The Department of Health and Human Services indicates that, in general, abused or neglected children are likely to have at least several of the following characteristics: Many of the psychological symptoms of abuse can be contradictory. One child may b…
While it is impossible to determine whether child maltreatment will occur, generally a family may be at risk if the parent is young, has little education, has had several children born within a few years, and is highly dependent on social welfare. According to the Field Guide to Child Welfare (Judith S. Rycus and Ronald C. Hughes, Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America, 1998), a family at…
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