What is Child Abuse? | Role of Abuse in Custody battle
Child abuse facts and statistics.
The child protection agencies receive more than 3.6 million referrals every year. These referrals involve more than 6.6 million children who are victims of child abuse.
Unfortunately, the United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations. We lose an average of four to seven children every day to child abuse and neglect.
As if these numbers are not staggering enough,one-year-old children have the highest rate of victimization.
Learn what child abuse is.
WHAT IS CHILD ABUSE? To help prevent child abuse, you need to understand what it is. Let’s look at the definition. It is any mistreatment of a child that results in harm or injury.
There are four basic types of child abuse, though children often experience more than one kind of abuse.
PHYSICAL ABUSE
Physical abuse includes actions such as beating, burning, or punching a child.
EMOTIONAL ABUSE
Emotional abuse may involve criticizing, insulting, rejecting, or withholding love from a child.
SEXUAL ABUSE
Sexual abuse includes rape, touching or fondling, or involving a child in pornography.
NEGLECT
Neglect includes failure to provide for a child’s basic physical, medical, or emotional needs. Leaving a young child home alone or failing to provide needed medical care may also be considered neglect.
Do you know which type of abuse is most common? It is neglect.
Abuse includes acts or omission by a person. It is mental or emotional injury to a child. Also, abuse may result in impairment of a child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning.
It can cause a child to even have bruises, wounds, and injury too.
Failure to make reasonable effort to prevent an action by someone else that can result in injury to a child is abuse.
A person’s refusal to stop someone else from sexual conduct harmful to a child is abuse.
You are required to report abuse to local authorities. If someone you know or loved one – even neighbor is abusing a child, report it to state or local enforcement agency. This includes neglect for a child’s care, custody, or welfare.
Examples include: not feed a child, clothing a child, or failing to attend to a child’s personal hygiene.
You need to talk to an attorney about child custody. One of the problems that parents face is determining which parent is primary.
A parent who is abusive to his or her child has a lower chance of being awarded primary custody of the child. A party can ask the court to issue a restraining order against an abuser. The goal is the safety and well-being of the child.
It is important to have legal representation and know your rights.
Contact one of our staff for an evaluation of your case. We also provide un-bundled legal services for low-income families.
Source: TCCWB Organization; National Children’s Alliance.