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 Children may manifest abuse via destructive or withdrawn behaviours, developmental delays, injuries or other health problems.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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Context-Informed Perspectives of Child Risk and Protection in Israel

Dorit Roer-Strier & Yochay Nadan, 25 Jul 2020

This volume adopts a context-informed framework exploring risk, maltreatment, well-being and protection of children in diverse groups in Israel.

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Webinar recording: International approaches to the prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

Family for Every Child, 23 Jul 2020

In this How We Care series webinar, Family for Every Child members CPTCSA (Philippines), Paicabi (Chile) and Butterflies (India) come together to discuss the work they are doing to address child sexual abuse in their contexts.

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Because We Matter: Addressing COVID-19 and violence against girls in Asia-Pacific

Save the Children & Plan International, 21 Jul 2020

This thematic policy brief from Save the Children and Plan International aims to seek and secure commitment from regional and national leaders to urgently prioritize and invest consistently in the protection of girls, who are disproportionately exposed to multitude forms of violence and their devastating consequences.

Webinar - Protecção das Crianças contra a Violência, o Abuso e o Eabandono no Contexto da Pandemia

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 15 Jul 2020

Este webinar é destinado aos actores políticos em cargos de tomada de decisão e profissionais da proteção das crianças de países lusófonos e pretende examinar os problemas de protecçao criados pela pandemia COVID-19 e explora estratégias de prevenção e de resposta com vista a fortalecer a proteção da criança.

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Maltreatment and youth self-representations in residential care: The moderating role of individual and placement variables

Maria Manuela Calheiros, Carla Silva, Joana Nunes Patrício - Children and Youth Services Review, 10 Jul 2020

The objective of this study was to explore the effects of previous maltreatment on current self-representations (i.e., the attributes used to describe oneself) of youth in residential care and the moderating role of gender, age, number of previous placements and length of placement in residential care.

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Differences and disparities over time: Black and White families investigated by Ontario’s child welfare system

Kofi Antwi-Boasiako, Bryn King, Barbara Fallon, Nico Trocmé, John Fluke, Martin Chabot, Tonino Esposito - Child Abuse & Neglect, 09 Jul 2020

This paper compares incidence data on Black and White families investigated by Ontario’s child welfare system over a 20-year period.

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Earlier Contact with Child Protection Services Among Children of Parents With Criminal Convictions and Mental Disorders

Tyson Whitten, Kimberlie Dean, Rebecca Li, Kristin R. Laurens, Felicity Harris, Vaughan J. Carr, Melissa J. Green - Child Maltreatment, 03 Jul 2020

In this study the authors examined the relative contributions of maternal versus paternal criminal offending or mental health problems in relation to the time to the offspring’s first report to child protection services, or first placement in out of home care (OOHC), using administrative records for a population sample of 71,661 children.

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COVID-19 Pandemic Lessons from Asia Pacific

Olof Blomqvist, Shaheen Chughtai, and Taskin Rahman - Save the Children, 01 Jul 2020

This report looks at six crucial pathways that can not only help save lives and livelihoods but also lay the foundations for safer, healthier, more sustainable societies and a more promising future for children.

Thirty years of the CRC: Child protection progress, challenges and opportunities

John Tobin & Judy Cashmore - Child Abuse & Neglect, 01 Jul 2020

In this article, the authors outline some of the issues in the implementation and understanding of the Convention and highlight three major international developments over the last decade: the adoption of General Comment No 13, the work of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence Against Children, and the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the UN General Assembly in 2005.

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A cash plus program reduces youth exposure to physical violence in Zimbabwe

Averi Chakrabarti, Sudhanshu Handa, Gustavo Angeles, David Seidenfeld - World Development, 01 Jul 2020

This paper investigates whether the Government of Zimbabwe’s Harmonized Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) Program, which combines cash transfers with complementary services, affects youth exposure to physical violence.

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