Child_abuse22

Introduction

The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) (42 U.S.C.A. § 5106g), as amended by the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010, defines child abuse and neglect at a minimum as:

Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical
or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation.
or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recognizes four types of child abuse and neglect of children under 18 years of age

Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Emotional Abuse
Neglect

Abuse is defined as an act of commission, and negligence is defined as an act of omission in the care leading to potential or actual harm.
https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/fastfact.html

The term maltreatment is a more recent term used to refer to a child whose physical, mental, or emotional condition has been impaired or placed in imminent danger of impairment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines child maltreatment as “all forms of physical and emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, and exploitation that results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, development or dignity (Gonzalez et al., 2022).”

Child maltreatment by state

Child maltreatment varies from state to state. The graph below shows child maltreatment per 1,000 in each US state. The darker the color, the more significant the incidence of maltreatment.

https://nhvrc.org/indicator_chart/child-maltreatment-2021/

Federal and state governments can protect children when parents fail to provide proper care. Specific definitions of abuse and neglect with civil and criminal statutes are found in individual state standards. The following U.S. federal categories of child abuse and neglect refer to children under 18 years of age.

The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System cites the prevalence of the following four categories of child abuse during 2016.

NEGLECT OR DEPRIVATION OF NECESSITIES: A type of maltreatment that refers to the failure by the caregiver to provide needed, age-appropriate care although financially able to do so or offered financial or other means to do so.	74.8%
PHYSICAL ABUSE: Type of maltreatment that refers to physical acts that caused or could have caused physical injury to a child.	18.2%
SEXUAL ABUSE: A type of maltreatment that refers to the involvement of the child in sexual activity to provide sexual gratification or financial benefit to the perpetrator, including contacts for sexual purposes, molestation, statutory rape, prostitution, pornography, exposure, incest, or other sexually exploitative activities.	8.5%
PSYCHOLOGICAL OR EMOTIONAL MALTREATMENT: Acts or omissions—other than physical abuse or sexual abuse—that caused or could have caused—conduct, cognitive, affective, or other behavioral or mental disorders. Frequently occurs as verbal abuse or excessive demands on a child’s performance.	6.9%
(USDHHS, ACF, ACYF, Children’s Bureau, 2018)

The Department of Health & Human Services, in conjunction with the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data system (NCANDS), reports the following incidences of child abuse and neglect from 2019 to 2020

In 2019, 3,476,000 children received a child protective services investigation response. That number decreased to 3,145,000 in 2020. Actual victims of child abuse and neglect in 2019 were 656,000, and in 2020, 618,000.

Incidences of Child abuse and neglect

According to Brown et al. (2022), approximately one in four children experience child abuse or neglect. Of maltreated children

18 percent are abused physically
78 percent are neglected
9 percent are abused sexually
The fatality rate for child maltreatment is 2.2 per 1000 children annually.
Homicide is the second leading cause of death in children younger than age one

This course includes descriptions of four aspects of child abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. The emphasis in this course will be on the nurses assessment and reporting of the following:

detection of abused children
assessment of injuries and signs and symptoms
causes
long term effects
preventive measures
parent education
laws, mechanisms, and the duty of nurses to report child abuse.

Instant Feedback: All states have laws that define child abuse and declare reporting responsibilities.

References

Brown, C.L., Yilanli, M. & Rabbitt, A. (2022). Child physical abuse and neglect. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.

Gonzalez, D., Bethencourt, M. A, McCall, J.D. & Doerr, C. (2022). Child Abuse and Neglect (Nursing).. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.