The first step in helping abused or neglected children is learning to recognize the signs of child abuse and neglect.
If the abuse is a life-threatening emergency, call 911.
Child abuse is both shocking and commonplace. Child abusers inflict physical, sexual, and emotional trauma on defenseless children every day. The scars can be deep and long-lasting. Unfortunately, the more subtle forms of child abuse such as neglect and emotional abuse can be even more traumatizing than violent physical abuse.
What is child abuse?
Child abuse consists of any act, or failure to act, that endangers a child's physical or emotional health and development. Someone is abusive if he or she fails to nurture the child, physically injures the child, or relates sexually to the child.
What are the types of child abuse?
The four major types of child abuse are:
Physical abuse
Sexual abuse
Emotional abuse
Neglect
What is physical child abuse?
Physical child abuse is an injury resulting from physical aggression. Even if the injury was not intended, the act is considered physical abuse.
The injury from physical child abuse may be the result of:
Beating, slapping, or hitting.
Pushing, shaking, kicking, or throwing.
Pinching, biting, choking, or hair-pulling.
Burning with cigarettes, scalding water, or other hot objects.
Severe physical punishment.
Is Physical Punishment the Same As Physical Abuse?
Physical abuse is an injury resulting from physical aggression. Physical punishment is the use of physical force with the intent of inflicting bodily pain, but not injury, for the purpose of correction or control. As you can see, physical punishment can easily get out of control and become physical abuse.
Some other specific types of physical child abuse are:
Shaken Baby Syndrome – Shaking a baby or toddler can cause serious head injuries.
Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome - Inducing medical illness in a child or wrongly convincing others that a child is sick is both dangerous and abusive.
Drug use during pregnancy – Drug and alcohol use during pregnancy or lactation can be harmful to your child, leading to problems such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Hundreds of thousands of children are physically abused each year by someone close to them, and thousands of children die from the injuries. For those who survive, the emotional scars are deeper than the physical scars.
What is sexual child abuse?
Sexual abuse of a child is any sexual act between an adult and a child, including penetration, intercourse, incest, rape, oral sex, and sodomy. Other examples include:
Fondling – Touching or kissing a child's genitals, making a child fondle an adult's genitals.
Violations of bodily privacy – Forcing a child to undress, spying on a child in the bathroom or bedroom.
Exposing children to adult sexuality – Performing sexual acts in front of a child, exposing genitals, telling "dirty" stories, showing pornography to a child.
Commercial exploitation – Sexual exploitation through child prostitution or child pornography.
Regardless of the child's behavior or reactions, it is the responsibility of the adult not to engage in sexual acts with children. Sexual abuse is never the child's fault.
Sexual child abusers can be:
Fathers, mothers, siblings, or other relatives.
Childcare professionals or babysitters.
Clergy, teachers, or athletic coaches.
Foster parents or host families of foreign-exchange students.
Neighbors or friends.
Strangers
What is emotional child abuse?
Emotional child abuse is any attitude, behavior, or failure to act that interferes with a child's mental health or social development. It can range from a simple verbal insult to an extreme form of punishment. Emotional abuse is almost always present when another form of abuse is found. Surprisingly, emotional abuse can have more long-lasting negative psychiatric effects than either physical abuse or sexual abuse.
Other names for emotional abuse are:
Verbal abuse
Mental abuse
Psychological maltreatment or psychological abuse
Examples of Emotional Child Abuse
Intimidation
Yelling, screaming, threatening, frightening, or bullying.
Belitting or shaming
Humiliating the child, name-calling, making negative comparisons to others. Telling the child he or she is “no good," "worthless," "bad," or "a mistake."
Lack of affection and warmth
Showing little to no physical affection (such as hugs) or words of affection (praise, saying “I love you.”)
Habitual blaming
Telling the child that everything is his or her fault.
Ignoring or rejecting
Withdrawing attention, giving “the cold shoulder,” disregarding
Extreme punishment
Confinement to a closet or dark room, tying to a chair for long periods of time, or terrorizing a child.
Exposure to violence
Witnessing violent behavior, including the physical abuse of others.
Child exploitation
Taking advantage of a child, including child labor.
Child abduction
The trauma of being kidnapped, including kidnapping by a parent, amounts to abuse.
Emotional child abuse can come from adults or from other children:
Parents or caregivers
Teachers or athletic coaches
Siblings
Bullies at school or elsewhere
Middle- and high-school girls in social cliques
What is neglect?
Neglect is a very common type of child abuse. According to Child Welfare Information Gateway, more children suffer from neglect than from physical and sexual abuse combined. Yet victims are not often identified, primarily because neglect is a type of child abuse that is an act of omission — of not doing something.
Some overlap exists between the definitions of emotional abuse and emotional neglect. However, neglect is a pattern of failing to provide for a child's basic needs. A single act of neglect might not be considered child abuse, but repeated neglect is definitely child abuse. There are three basic types of neglect; physical neglect, educational neglect, and emotional neglect.
Types of Neglect
Physical Neglect
Failure to provide food, clothing appropriate for the weather, supervision, a home that is hygienic and safe, and/or medical care, as needed.
Educational Neglect
Failure to enroll a school-age child in school or to provide necessary special education. This includes allowing excessive absences from school.
Emotional Neglect
Failure to provide emotional support, love, and affection. This includes neglect of the child’s emotional needs and failure to provide psychological care, as needed.
What are the warning signs and symptoms of child abuse?
If you suspect child abuse, always report it, for the sake of the child. Call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-CHILD. For more information, see How do I report suspected child abuse?.
To recognize child abuse, look for clusters of the following physical and behavioral symptoms:
Some signs of physical child abuse:
Burns, bite marks, cuts, bruises, or welts in the shape of an object.
Resistance to going home.
Fear of adults.
Some signs of emotional child abuse:
Apathy, depression.
Hostility.
Difficulty concentrating.
Some signs of sexual child abuse:
Inappropriate interest in or knowledge of sexual acts.
Seductiveness.
Avoidance of things related to sexuality, or rejection of own genitals or body.
Either overcompliance or excessive aggression.
Fear of a particular person or family member.
Warning Signs of Online Sexual Child Abuse
Your child spends large amounts of time online, especially at night.
You find pornography on your child's computer.
Your child receives phone calls from men you don't know, or is making calls, sometimes long distance, to numbers you don't recognize.
Your child receives mail, gifts, or packages from someone you don't know.
Your child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen on the monitor when you come into the room.
Your child becomes withdrawn from the family.
Your child is using an online account belonging to someone else.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Some signs of child neglect:
Clothing unsuited to the weather.
Being dirty or unbathed.
Extreme hunger.
Apparent lack of supervision.
For more detail on recognizing the warning signs and symptoms of the various types of child abuse, see Recognizing Child Abuse: What Parents Should Know.
What are the causes of child abuse?
Why would someone abuse a defenseless child? What kind of person abuses a child? Not all child abuse is deliberate or intended. Several factors in a person's life may combine to cause them to abuse a child:
Stress, including the stress of caring for children, or the stress of caring for a child with a disability, special needs, or difficult behaviors.
Lack of nurturing qualities necessary for caring for a child.
Difficulty controlling anger.
Personal history of being abused.
Isolation from the family or community.
Physical or mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety.
Alcohol or drug abuse.
Personal problems such as marital conflict, unemployment, or financial difficulties.
No one has been able to predict which of these factors will cause someone to abuse a child. A significant factor is that abuse tends to be intergenerational – those who were abused as children are more likely to repeat the act when they become parents or caretakers.
In addition, many forms of child abuse arise from ignorance, isolation, or benign neglect. Sometimes a cultural tradition leads to abuse. For example, such beliefs as:
Children are property.
Parents (especially males) have the right to control their children in any way they wish.
Children need to be toughened up to face the hardships of life.
Girls need to be genitally mutilated to assure virginity and later marriage.
What are the results of child abuse?
Child abuse can have dire consequences, during both childhood and adulthood. The effects of being abused as a child vary according to the severity of the abuse and the surrounding environment of the child. If the family or school environment is nurturing and supportive, the child will probably have a healthier outcome.
Negative Consequences of Child Abuse
Emotional Effects
Low self-esteem
Depression and anxiety
Eating disorders
Relationship difficulties
Alienation and withdrawal
Personality disorders
Physical Effects
Injury
Death
Lifelong health problems
Cognitive difficulties
Behavioral Effects
Problems in school and work
Delinquency
Teen pregnancy
Suicide attempts
Criminal or antisocial behavior
Substance abuse
Aggressive behavior
Spousal and child abuse
For more details on the results of child abuse, see the Long-term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect, from the Child Welfare Information Gateway of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
How can I get help for child abuse?
If you are in an emergency situation, call 911.
To get help in the U.S., call:
1-800-4-A-CHILD (Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline)
The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline can help:
Victims: children and teens who have been abused
Survivors of child abuse
Abusers: people who have abused a child or who are afraid that they may abuse a child
Witnesses to child abuse
For more resources, see Helpguide's telephone hotlines and online help below.
How do I report suspected child abuse?
To report suspected child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453).
Childhelp cannot make a report of child abuse for you, but they can help you report it by setting up a three-way call with your local enforcement agency. You can also call your local enforcement agency directly to report child abuse. Childhelp has a list of local phone numbers you can call for your county or state in the U.S.
You may be afraid to report child abuse because of possible repercussions to the child or yourself. You probably will be relieved to know that:
The child abuse will be confirmed before the child is removed from the home. The authorities will investigate, and if your suspicions of abuse are correct, the child will then be removed from the home and placed in safe care.
Reporting is anonymous. In most states, you do not have to give your name when you report child abuse. The child abuser cannot find out who made the report of child abuse.
Remember that suspected child abuse is sufficient reason to make a report to authorities. You do not need proof. Your call may save the life of a child.
Child abuse tends to be cyclical, repeated generation after generation. A child who has experienced the trauma of child abuse may repeat the pattern by growing into an adult who delivers abuse to the next generation. The only way to stop such a cycle is to work with parents, prospective parents, and other caregivers who seek help or who are referred for help.
Mental health professionals and others can prevent child abuse by:
Establishing educational programs to teach caregivers good parenting and coping skills.
Making people aware of alternatives to abusive behaviors so that they seek help for their own abusive tendencies.
Educating the public about abuse so that people report abuse early enough for intervention.
Establishing relationships of trust with children so that they feel comfortable disclosing abuse. Then someone can intervene early on.
