The definition of ‘child abuse and neglect’ or ‘child maltreatment’ varies with place, culture and time. Significant harm is effectively a working definition of whether a child needs protection.
The types of abuse generally recognized14 are:
• physical abuse
• sexual abuse
• neglect
• emotional abuse
• factitious and induced illness (FII; previously called Munchausen syndrome by proxy).
Research from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)15 in 2000 showed that a significant minority
of children suffer serious abuse or neglect at some time during childhood.
• 7% of children experienced serious physical abuse at the hands of their parents or carers during childhood.
• 1% of children experienced sexual abuse by a parent or carer, and another 3% by another relative during childhood; 11% of children experienced sexual abuse by people known but unrelated to them; 5% of children experienced sexual abuse by an adult stranger or someone they had just met.
• 6% of children experienced serious absence of care at home during childhood.
• 6% of children experienced frequent and severe emotional maltreatment during childhood.
All forms of abuse involve some emotional distress to the child:
Emotional abuse occurs in the absence of other physical effects, for instance if the child is:
• excluded
• scapegoated
• verbally abused
• bullied
• racially abused
• involved in inappropriate activities.
The adverse physical and emotional effects of exposure to domestic violence are also increasingly recognized as abusive.