Child Abuse

Child Abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment of children.In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.Most child abuse occurs in a child's home, with a smaller amount occurring in the organizations, schools or communities the child interacts with. There are four major categories of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, psychological/emotional abuse, and child sexual abuse.

Different jurisdictions have developed their own definitions of what constitutes child abuse for the purposes of removing a child from his/her family and/or prosecuting a criminal charge. According to the Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect, child abuse is "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, an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm".


Physical abuse

Physical abuse is physical aggression directed at a child by an adult. It can involve punching, striking, kicking, shoving, slapping, burning, bruising, pulling ears or hair, stabbing, choking or shaking a child. Shaking a child can cause shaken baby syndrome, which can lead to intracranial pressure, swelling of the brain, diffuse axonal injury, and oxygen deprivation; which leads to patterns such as failure to thrive, vomiting, lethargy, seizures, bulging or tense fontanels, altered breathing, and dilated pupils. The transmission of toxins to a child through its mother (such as with fetal alcohol syndrome) can also be considered physical abuse in some jurisdictions.

Most nations with child-abuse laws consider the infliction of physical injuries or actions that place the child in obvious risk of serious injury or death to be illegal. Beyond this, there is considerable variation. The distinction between child discipline and abuse is often poorly defined. Cultural norms about what constitutes abuse vary widely: among professionals as well as the wider public, people do not agree on what behaviors constitute abuse.

Some human-service professionals claim that cultural norms that sanction physical punishment are one of the causes of child abuse, and have undertaken campaigns to redefine such norms.

The use of any kind of force against children as a disciplinary measure is illegal in 24 countries around the world,[8] but prevalent and socially accepted in many others. See corporal punishment in the home for more information.


Child sexual abuse


Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent abuses a child for sexual stimulation.[9][10] Forms of CSA include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities (regardless of the outcome), indecent exposure of the genitals to a child, displaying pornography to a child, actual sexual contact against a child, physical contact with the child's genitals, viewing of the child's genitalia without physical contact, or using a child to produce child pornography.

The effects of child sexual abuse include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, propensity to re-victimization in adulthood, and physical injury to the child, among other problems. Sexual abuse by a family member is a form of incest, and can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma, especially in the case of parental incest. Child sexual abuse is also strongly connected to the development of addictive behavior, complex post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder.

Approximately 15% to 25% of women and 5% to 15% of men were sexually abused when they were children.Most sexual abuse offenders are acquainted with their victims; approximately 30% are relatives of the child, most often brothers, fathers, mothers, uncles or cousins; around 60% are other acquaintances such as friends of the family, babysitters, or neighbors; strangers are the offenders in approximately 10% of child sexual abuse cases.[21]


Psychological/emotional abuse

Out of all the possible forms of abuse, emotional abuse is the hardest to define. It could include name-calling, ridicule, degradation, destruction of personal belongings, torture or destruction of a pet, excessive criticism, inappropriate or excessive demands, withholding communication, and routine labeling or humiliation.
Victims of emotional abuse may react by distancing themselves from the abuser, internalizing the abusive words, or fighting back by insulting the abuser. Emotional abuse can result in abnormal or disrupted attachment disorder, a tendency for victims to blame themselves (self-blame) for the abuse, learned helplessness, and overly passive behavior.

Child abuse in india this year

NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has received 75 cases of child abuse, including cases of corporal punishment upto October 31, with the highest number being reported from the national capital and Uttar Pradesh.

While Delhi received 13 complaints of child abuse and 7 cases of corporal punishment, Uttar Pradesh reported six cases of child abuse and 15 cases of corporal punishment.

Gujarat, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh reported no such cases, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

NCPCR has taken up serious cases, including the case of Rouvanjit Rawla, who committed suicide after facing corporal punishment, with concerned authorities

The government proposes to bring in a new law on the protection of children from sexual offences, she said.

Read more: 75 cases of child abuse reported this year - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/75-cases-of-child-abuse-reported-this-year/articleshow/6969299.cms#ixzz17tpuiC9M