Reporting Child Abuse

According to childwelfare.gov, although any of the forms of child maltreatment may be found separately, they often occur in combination. In many States, abandonment and parental substance abuse are also defined as forms of child abuse or neglect.

Neglect is the failure of a parent, guardian, or caretaker to provide for the child’s basic needs and proper level of care.  It is important to distinguish between willful neglect and a parent or caretaker’s only being able to provide a reduced standard of life due to poverty or cultural norms.

Types of neglect include:

FOOD – failure to provide sufficient food.

Example: a child is forced to eat old rotten food or is given portions too small to satisfy their hunger.

CLOTHING – failure to provide clothing adequate for the season.

Example: a child is given no socks or sweater in cold weather.

SHELTER – failure to provide a clean, hazard-free place to live.

Example: the house has garbage and excrement on the floor; exposed electrical wires; is insect and rodent-infested.

MEDICAL – refusal or delay in seeking necessary medical care.

HYGIENE – failure to keep the child clean and tidy.

SUPERVISION – failure to watch that the child is safe according to their developmental abilities.

Example: A teacher fails to protect the child even though the child has informed the teacher that they are being harmed by older children at school.

Example: Caregiver leaves a 5-year-old child alone sleeping while they go out; parent lets 3-year-old roam around a parking lot unsupervised.

EDUCATION – permitting chronic truancy, failure to enroll or provide home schooling (where legally permissible) to a child of mandatory school age; inattention to a special educational need.

Example: an 8-year-old child receives no schooling.

EMOTIONAL – failure to provide a climate that emotionally nourishes the child.

These situations do not always mean a child is neglected. Sometimes cultural values, the standards of care in the community, and poverty may be contributing factors, indicating the family is in need of information or assistance. When a family fails to use information and resources, and the child’s health or safety is at risk, then child welfare intervention may be required. In addition, many States provide an exception to the definition of neglect for parents who choose not to seek medical care for their children due to religious beliefs that may prohibit medical intervention.

Many States consider this a form of neglect. Generally, a child is considered to be abandoned when the parent/caretaker’s identity or whereabouts are unknown; the child has been left alone in circumstances where the child suffers serious harm; the parent/ caretaker has failed to maintain contact with the child or provide reasonable support for a specified period of time.

Forms of physical abuse include: punching, beating, shaking, hitting (with a hand, stick, strap or other objects), caning, burning, slapping, biting, kicking, ear twisting, throwing, stabbing, choking, or otherwise harming a child.

Example: a student is whipped to the point of leaving marks; a caretaker slaps a child and leaves marks; an infant is shaken so hard that brain damage occurs; a parent spanks a child under 2 years old.

Corporeal punishment can also be considered abusive if, although no single incident leaves a mark or results in an injury, the frequent and chronic use of such has a deleterious cumulative effect. In a published study on spanking, researchers found that the more frequently spanking was used as a method of punishment ( three or more times per week ) the more antisocial behaviors the child developed.

Example: A child is spanked for every minor infraction; several times a week.

According to Child Welfare, “Substance Abuse is an element of the definition of child abuse or neglect in many States. Circumstances that are considered abuse or neglect in some States include prenatal exposure of a child to harm due to the mother’s use of an illegal drug or other substance; manufacture of methamphetamine in the presence of a child; selling, distributing, or giving illegal drugs or alcohol to a child; use of a controlled substance by a caregiver that impairs the caregiver’s ability to adequately care for the child.”