Safeguarding Children

Abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment of a child.  They can be caused by inflicting harm or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting, by those known to them or, much more rarely, by a stranger for example, via the internet. They may be abused by an adult or adults, or another child or children.

 

The following definitions and categories are taken from Chapter 1 of Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2010:

 

Physical Abuse

 

-  Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning,

   burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing

   physical harm to a child.

-  Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer

   fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces illness in a

   child.

 

Emotional Abuse

 

-  Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child

   such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the

   child's emotional development.

-  It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or

   unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the

   needs of another person.

-  It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their

   views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say

   or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally

   inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may

   include interactions that are beyond the child's development

   capability, as well as over protection and limitation of exploration

   and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social

   interaction.

-  It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another.

-  It may involve serious bullying (including cyberbullying) causing

   children to feel frightened or in danger or the exploitation or

   corruption of children. Some level of Emotional Abuse is involved in

   all types of maltreatment of children, though it may occur alone.

 

Sexual Abuse

 

-  Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person

   to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high

   level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is

   happening.

-  The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by

   penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts

   such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of

   clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as

   involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual

   images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave

   in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation

   for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely 

   perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual

   abuse, as can other children.

 

Neglect

 

-  Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child's basic physical

   and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious

   impairment of the child's health and development.

-  Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal

   substance misuse.

-  Once a child is born, Neglect may involve a parent or carer failing

   to:

   -  provide adequate food and clothing, shelter (including exclusion

      from home or abandonment)

   -  protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger

   -  ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate

      care-givers); or

   -  ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment

-  It may also include Neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child's

   basic emotional needs.