child abuse essays

Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect (1993)

Chapter: 1 introduction, 1 introduction.

Child maltreatment is a devastating social problem in American society. In 1990, over 2 million cases of child abuse and neglect were reported to social service agencies. In the period 1979 through 1988, about 2,000 child deaths (ages 0-17) were recorded annually as a result of abuse and neglect (McClain et al., 1993), and an additional 160,000 cases resulted in serious injuries in 1990 alone (Daro and McCurdy, 1991). However tragic and sensational, the counts of deaths and serious injuries provide limited insight into the pervasive long-term social, behavioral, and cognitive consequences of child abuse and neglect. Reports of child maltreatment alone also reveal little about the interactions among individuals, families, communities, and society that lead to such incidents.

American society has not yet recognized the complex origins or the profound consequences of child victimization. The services required for children who have been abused or neglected, including medical care, family counseling, foster care, and specialized education, are expensive and are often subsidized by governmental funds. The General Accounting Office (1991) has estimated that these services cost more than $500 million annually. Equally disturbing, research suggests that child maltreatment cases are highly related to social problems such as juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, and violence, which require additional services and severely affect the quality of life for many American families.

The Importance Of Child Maltreatment Research

The challenges of conducting research in the field of child maltreatment are enormous. Although we understand comparatively little about the causes, definitions, treatment, and prevention of child abuse and neglect, we do know enough to recognize that the origins and consequences of child victimization are not confined to the months or years in which reported incidents actually occurred. For those who survive, the long-term consequences of child maltreatment appear to be more damaging to victims and their families, and more costly for society, than the immediate or acute injuries themselves. Yet little is invested in understanding the factors that predispose, mitigate, or prevent the behavioral and social consequences of child maltreatment.

The panel has identified five key reasons why child maltreatment research should be viewed as a central nexus of more comprehensive research activity.

Research On Child Maltreatment Is Currently Undervalued And Undeveloped

Research in the field of child maltreatment studies is relatively undeveloped when compared with related fields such as child development, so-

cial welfare, and criminal violence. Although no specific theory about the causes of child abuse and neglect has been substantially replicated across studies, significant progress has been gained in the past few decades in identifying the dimensions of complex phenomena that contribute to the origins of child maltreatment.

Efforts to improve the quality of research on any group of children are dependent on the value that society assigns to the potential inherent in young lives. Although more adults are available in American society today as service providers to care for children than was the case in 1960, a disturbing number of recent reports have concluded that American children are in trouble (Fuchs and Reklis, 1992; National Commission on Children, 1991; Children's Defense Fund, 1991).

Efforts to encourage greater investments in research on children will be futile unless broader structural and social issues can be addressed within our society. Research on general problems of violence, substance addiction, social inequality, unemployment, poor education, and the treatment of children in the social services system is incomplete without attention to child maltreatment issues. Research on child maltreatment can play a key role in informing major social policy decisions concerning the services that should be made available to children, especially children in families or neighborhoods that experience significant stress and violence.

As a nation, we already have developed laws and regulatory approaches to reduce and prevent childhood injuries and deaths through actions such as restricting hot water temperatures and requiring mandatory child restraints in automobiles. These important precedents suggest how research on risk factors can provide informed guidance for social efforts to protect all of America's children in both familial and other settings.

Not only has our society invested relatively little in research on children, but we also have invested even less in research on children whose families are characterized by multiple problems, such as poverty, substance abuse, violence, welfare dependency, and child maltreatment. In part, this slower development is influenced by the complexities of research on major social problems. But the state of research on this topic could be advanced more rapidly with increased investment of funds. In the competition for scarce research funds, the underinvestment in child maltreatment research needs to be understood in the context of bias, prejudice, and the lack of a clear political constituency for children in general and disadvantaged children in particular (Children's Defense Fund, 1991; National Commission on Children, 1991). Factors such as racism, ethnic discrimination, sexism, class bias, institutional and professional jealousies, and social inequities influence the development of our national research agenda (Bell, 1992, Huston, 1991).

The evolving research agenda has also struggled with limitations im-

posed by attempting to transfer the results of sample-specific studies to diverse groups of individuals. The roles of culture, ethnic values, and economic factors pervade the development of parenting practices and family dynamics. In setting a research agenda for this field, ethnic diversity and multiple cultural perspectives are essential to improve the quality of the research program and to overcome systematic biases that have restricted its development.

Researchers must address ethical and legal issues that present unique obligations and dilemmas regarding selection of subjects, provision of services, and disclosure of data. For example, researchers who discover an undetected incident of child abuse in the course of an interview are required by state laws to disclose the identities of the victim and offender(s), if known, to appropriate child welfare officials. These mandatory reporting requirements, adopted in the interests of protecting children, may actually cause long-term damage to children by restricting the scope of research studies and discouraging scientists from developing the knowledge base necessary to guide social interventions.

Substantial efforts are now required to reach beyond the limitations of current knowledge and to gain new insights that can improve the quality of social service efforts and public policy decisions affecting the health and welfare of abused and neglected children and their families. Most important, collaborative long-term research ventures are necessary to diminish social, professional, and institutional prejudices that have restricted the development of a comprehensive knowledge base that can improve understanding of, and response to, child maltreatment.

Dimensions Of Child Abuse And Neglect

The human dimensions of child maltreatment are enormous and tragic. The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect has called the problem of child maltreatment ''an epidemic" in American society, one that requires a critical national emergency response.

The scale and severity of child abuse and neglect has caused various public and private organizations to mobilize efforts to raise public awareness of individual cases and societal trends, to improve the reporting and tracking of child maltreatment cases, to strengthen the responses of social service systems, and to develop an effective and fair system for protecting and offering services to victims while also punishing adults who deliberately harm children or place them in danger. Over the past several decades, a growing number of state and federal funding programs, governmental reports, specialized journals, and research centers, as well as national and international societies and conferences, have examined various dimensions of the problem of child maltreatment.

The results of these efforts have been inconsistent and uneven. In addressing aspects of each new revelation of abuse or each promising new intervention, research efforts often have become diffuse, fragmented, specific, and narrow. What is lacking is a coordinated approach and a general conceptual framework that can add new depth to our understanding of child maltreatment. A coordinated approach can accommodate diverse perspectives while providing direction and guidance in establishing research priorities and synthesizing research knowledge. Organizational mechanisms are also needed to facilitate the application and integration of research on child maltreatment in related areas such as child development, family violence, substance abuse, and juvenile delinquency.

Child maltreatment is not a new problem, yet concerted service, research, and policy attention toward it is just beginning. Although isolated studies of child maltreatment appeared in the medical and sociological literature in the first half of the twentieth century, the publication of "The Battered Child Syndrome" by C. Henry Kempe and associates (1962) is generally considered the first definitive paper in the field in the United States. The efforts of Kempe and others to publicize disturbing medical experience with child abuse and neglect led to the passage of the first Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act in 1974 (P.L. 93-247). The act, which has been amended several times (most recently in 1992), established a governmental program designed to guide and consolidate national and state data collection efforts regarding reports of child abuse and neglect, conduct national surveys of household violence, and sponsor research and demonstration programs to prevent, identify, and treat child abuse and neglect.

However, the federal government's leadership role in building a research base in this area has been complicated by changes and inconsistencies in research plans and priorities, limited funding, politicized peer review, fragmentation of effort among various federal agencies, poorly scheduled proposal review deadlines, and bias introduced by competing institutional objectives. 1 The lack of comprehensive, long-term planning for a research base has resulted in a field characterized by contradictions, conflict, and fragmentation. The role of the National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect as the lead federal agency in supporting research in this field has been sharply criticized (U.S. Advisory Board, 1991). Many observers believe that the federal government lacks leadership, funding, and an effective research program for studies on child maltreatment.

The Complexity Of Child Maltreatment

Child maltreatment was originally seen in the form of "the battered child," often portrayed in terms of physical abuse. Today, four general categories of child maltreatment are generally recognized: (1) physical

abuse, (2) sexual abuse, (3) neglect, and (4) emotional maltreatment. Each category covers a range of behaviors, as discussed in Chapter 2.

These four categories have become the focus of separate studies of incidence and prevalence, etiology, prevention, consequences, and treatment, with uneven development of research within each area and poor integration of knowledge across areas. Each category has developed its own typology and framework of reference terms, revealing certain similarities (such as the importance of developmental perspectives in considering the consequences of maltreatment) but also important differences (such as the predatory behavior associated with some forms of sexual abuse that do not appear in the etiology of other forms of child maltreatment).

In addition to the category of child maltreatment, the duration, source, intensity, timing, and situational context of incidents of child victimization are now recognized as important factors in studying the origin and consequences of child maltreatment. Yet information about these factors is rarely requested or recorded by social agencies or health professionals in the process of identifying or documenting reports of child maltreatment. Furthermore, research is often weakened by variation in research definitions of child maltreatment, bias in the recruitment of research subjects, the absence of information regarding circumstances surrounding maltreatment reports, the absence of measures to assess selected variables under study, and the absence of a developmental perspective in many research studies.

The co-occurrence of different forms of child maltreatment has been examined only to a limited extent. Relatively little is known about areas of similarity and differences in terms of causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of selected types of child abuse and neglect. Inconsistencies in definitions often preclude comparative analyses of clinical studies. For example, studies of sexual abuse have indicated wide variations in its prevalence, often as a result of differences in the types of behavior that might be included in the definition adopted by each research investigator. Emotional abuse is also a matter of controversy in some quarters, primarily because of broad variations in its definition.

Research on child maltreatment is also complicated by the fragmentation of services and responses by which our society addresses specific reports of child maltreatment. Cases may involve children who are victims or witnesses to single or repeated incidents of child abuse and neglect. Sadly, child maltreatment often involves various family members, relatives, or other individuals who reside in the homes or neighborhoods of the affected children. Adult figures may be perpetrators of offensive incidents or mediators in intervention or prevention efforts.

The importance of the social ecological framework of the child has only recently been recognized in studies of maltreatment. Responses to child abuse and neglect involve a variety of social institutions, including commu-

nities, schools, hospitals, churches, youth associations, the media, and other social structures that provide services for children. Such groups and organizations present special intervention opportunities to reduce the scale and scope of the problem of child maltreatment, but their activities are often poorly documented and uncoordinated. Finally, governmental offices at the local, state, and federal levels have legal and social obligations to develop programs and resources to address child maltreatment, and their role is critical in developing a research agenda for this field.

In the past, the research agenda has been determined predominantly by pragmatic needs in the development and delivery of treatment and prevention services rather than by theoretical paradigms, a process that facilitates short-term studies of specialized research priorities but impedes the development of a well-organized, coherent body of scientific knowledge that can contribute over time to understanding fundamental principles and issues. As a result, the research in this field has been generally viewed by the scientific community as fragmented, diffuse, decentralized, and of poor quality.

Selection of Research Studies

The research literature in the field of child maltreatment is immense—over 2000 items are included in the panel's research bibliography, a portion of which is referenced in this report. Despite this quantity of literature, researchers generally agree that the quality of research on child maltreatment is relatively weak in comparison to health and social science research studies in areas such as family systems and child development. Only a few prospective studies of child maltreatment have been undertaken, and most studies rely on the use of clinical samples (which may exclude important segments of the research population) or adult memories. Both types of samples are problematic and can produce biased results. Clinical samples may not be representative of all cases of child maltreatment. For example, we know from epidemiologic studies of disease of cases that were derived from hospital records that, unless the phenomenon of interest always comes to a service provider for treatment, there exist undetected and untreated cases in the general population that are often quite different from those who have sought treatment. Similarly, when studies rely on adult memories of childhood experiences, recall bias is always an issue. Longitudinal studies are quite rare, and some studies that are described as longitudinal actually consist of hybrid designs followed over time.

To ensure some measure of quality, the panel relied largely on studies that had been published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. More rigorous scientific criteria (such as the use of appropriate theory and methodology in the conduct of the study) were considered by the panel, but were not adopted because little of the existing work would meet such selection

criteria. Given the early stage of development of this field of research, the panel believes that even weak studies contain some useful information, especially when they suggest clinical insights, a new perspective, or a point of departure from commonly held assumptions. Thus, the report draws out issues based on clinical studies or studies that lack sufficient control samples, but the panel refrains from drawing inferences based on this literature.

The panel believes that future research reviews of the child maltreatment literature would benefit from the identification of explicit criteria that could guide the selection of exemplary research studies, such as the following:

For the most part, only a few studies will score well in each of the above categories. It becomes problematic, therefore, to rate the value of studies which may score high in one category but not in others.

The panel has relied primarily on studies conducted in the past decade, since earlier research work may not meet contemporary standards of methodological rigor. However, citations to earlier studies are included in this report where they are thought to be particularly useful and when research investigators provided careful assessments and analysis of issues such as definition, interrelationships of various types of abuse, and the social context of child maltreatment.

A Comparison With Other Fields of Family and Child Research

A comparison with the field of studies on family functioning may illustrate another point about the status of the studies on child maltreatment. The literature on normal family functioning or socialization effects differs in many respects from the literature on child abuse and neglect. Family sociology research has a coherent body of literature and reasonable consensus about what constitutes high-quality parenting in middle-class, predominantly White populations. Family functioning studies have focused predominantly on large, nonclinical populations, exploring styles of parenting and parenting practices that generate different kinds and levels of competence, mental health, and character in children. Studies of family functioning have tended to follow cohorts of subjects over long periods to identify the effects of variations in childrearing practices and patterns on children's

competence and adjustment that are not a function of social class and circumstances.

By contrast, the vast and burgeoning literature on child abuse and neglect is applied research concerned largely with the adverse effects of personal and social pathology on children. The research is often derived from very small samples selected by clinicians and case workers. Research is generally cross-sectional, and almost without exception the samples use impoverished families characterized by multiple problems, including substance abuse, unemployment, transient housing, and so forth. Until recently, researchers demonstrated little regard for incorporating appropriate ethnic and cultural variables in comparison and control groups. In the past decade, significant improvements have occurred in the development of child maltreatment research, but key problems remain in the area of definitions, study designs, and the use of instrumentation.

As the nature of research on child abuse and neglect has evolved over time, scientists and practitioners have likewise changed. The psychopathologic model of child maltreatment has been expanded to include models that stress the interactions of individual, family, neighborhood, and larger social systems. The role of ethnic and cultural issues are acquiring an emerging importance in formulating parent-child and family-community relationships. Earlier simplistic conceptionalizations of perpetrator-victim relationships are evolving into multiple-focus research projects that examine antecedents in family histories, current situational relationships, ecological and neighborhood issues, and interactional qualities of relationships between parent-child and offender-victim. In addition, emphases in treatment, social service, and legal programs combine aspects of both law enforcement and therapy, reflecting an international trend away from punishment, toward assistance, for families in trouble.

Charge To The Panel

The commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requested that the National Academy of Sciences convene a study panel to undertake a comprehensive examination of the theoretical and pragmatic research needs in the area of child maltreatment. The Panel on Research on Child Abuse and Neglect was asked specifically to:

The report resulting from this study provides recommendations for allocating existing research funds and also suggests funding mechanisms and topic areas to which new resources could be allocated or enhanced resources could be redirected. By focusing this report on research priorities and the needs of the research community, the panel's efforts were distinguished from related activities, such as the reports of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, which concentrate on the policy issues in the field of child maltreatment.

The request for recommendations for research priorities recognizes that existing studies on child maltreatment require careful evaluation to improve the evolution of the field and to build appropriate levels of human and financial resources for these complex research problems. Through this review, the panel has examined the strengths and weaknesses of past research and identified areas of knowledge that represent the greatest promise for advancing understanding of, and dealing more effectively with, the problem of child maltreatment.

In conducting this review, the panel has recognized the special status of studies of child maltreatment. The experience of child abuse or neglect from any perspective, including victim, perpetrator, professional, or witness, elicits strong emotions that may distort the design, interpretation, or support of empirical studies. The role of the media in dramatizing selected cases of child maltreatment has increased public awareness, but it has also produced a climate in which scientific objectivity may be sacrificed in the name of urgency or humane service. Many concerned citizens, legislators, child advocates, and others think we already know enough to address the root causes of child maltreatment. Critical evaluations of treatment and prevention services are not supported due to both a lack of funding and a lack of appreciation for the role that scientific analysis can play in improving the quality of existing services and identifying new opportunities for interventions. The existing research base is small in volume and spread over a wide variety of topics. The contrast between the importance of the problem and the difficulty of approaching it has encouraged the panel to proceed carefully, thoroughly distinguishing suppositions from facts when they appear.

Research on child maltreatment is at a crossroads—we are now in a position to merge this research field with others to incorporate multiple perspectives, broaden research samples, and focus on fundamental issues that have the potential to strengthen, reform, or replace existing public policy and social programs. We have arrived at a point where we can

recognize the complex interplay of forces in the origins and consequences of child abuse and neglect. We also recognize the limitations of our knowledge about the effects of different forms of social interventions (e.g., home visitations, foster care, family treatment programs) for changing the developmental pathways of abuse victims and their families.

The Importance Of A Child-Oriented Framework

The field of child maltreatment studies has often divided research into the types of child maltreatment under consideration (such as physical and sexual abuse, child neglect, and emotional maltreatment). Within each category, researchers and practitioners have examined underlying causes or etiology, consequences, forms of treatment or other interventions, and prevention programs. Each category has developed its own typology and framework of reference terms, and researchers within each category often publish in separate journals and attend separate professional meetings.

Over a decade ago, the National Research Council Committee on Child Development Research and Public Policy published a report titled Services for Children: An Agenda for Research (1981). Commenting on the development of various government services for children, the report noted that observations of children's needs were increasingly distorted by the "unmanageably complex, expensive, and confusing" categorical service structure that had produced fragmented and sometimes contradictory programs to address child health and nutrition requirements (p. 15-16). The committee concluded that the actual experiences of children and their families in different segments of society and the conditions of their homes, neighborhoods, and communities needed more systematic study. The report further noted that we need to learn more about who are the important people in children's lives, including parents, siblings, extended family, friends, and caretakers outside the family, and what these people do for children, when, and where.

These same conclusions can be applied to studies of child maltreatment. Our panel considered, but did not endorse, a framework that would emphasize differences in the categories of child abuse or neglect. We also considered a framework that would highlight differences in the current system of detecting, investigating, or responding to child maltreatment. In contrast to conceptualizing this report in terms of categories of maltreatment or responses of the social system to child maltreatment, the panel presents a child-oriented research agenda that emphasizes the importance of knowing more about the backgrounds and experiences of developing children and their families, within a broader social context that includes their friends, neighborhoods, and communities. This framework stresses the importance of knowing more about the qualitative differences between children who suffer episodic experiences of abuse or neglect and those for whom mal-

treatment is a chronic part of their lives. And this approach highlights the need to know more about circumstances that affect the consequences, and therefore the treatment, of child maltreatment, especially circumstances that may be affected by family, cultural, or ethnic factors that often remain hidden in small, isolated studies.

An Ecological Developmental Perspective

The panel has adopted an ecological developmental perspective to examine factors in the child, family, or society that can exacerbate or mitigate the incidence and destructive consequences of child maltreatment. In the panel's view, this perspective reflects the understanding that development is a process involving transactions between the growing child and the social environment or ecology in which development takes place. Positive and negative factors merit attention in shaping a research agenda on child maltreatment. We have adopted a perspective that recognizes that dysfunctional families are often part of a dysfunctional environment.

The relevance of child maltreatment research to child development studies and other research fields is only now being examined. New methodologies and new theories of child maltreatment that incorporate a developmental perspective can provide opportunities for researchers to consider the interaction of multiple factors, rather than focusing on single causes or short-term effects. What is required is the mobilization of new structures of support and resources to concentrate research efforts on significant areas that offer the greatest promise of improving our understanding of, and our responses to, child abuse and neglect.

Our report extends beyond what is, to what could be, in a society that fosters healthy development in children and families. We cannot simply build a research agenda for the existing social system; we need to develop one that independently challenges the system to adapt to new perspectives, new insights, and new discoveries.

The fundamental theme of the report is the recognition that research efforts to address child maltreatment should be enhanced and incorporated into a long-term plan to improve the quality of children's lives and the lives of their families. By placing maltreatment within the framework of healthy development, for example, we can identify unique sources of intervention for infants, preschool children, school-age children, and adolescents.

Each stage of development presents challenges that must be resolved in order for a child to achieve productive forms of thinking, perceiving, and behaving as an adult. The special needs of a newborn infant significantly differ from those of a toddler or preschool child. Children in the early years of elementary school have different skills and distinct experiential levels from those of preadolescent years. Adolescent boys and girls demon-

strate a range of awkward and exploratory behaviors as they acquire basic social skills necessary to move forward into adult life. Most important, developmental research has identified the significant influences of family, schools, peers, neighborhoods, and the broader society in supporting or constricting child development.

Understanding the phenomenon of child abuse and neglect within a developmental perspective poses special challenges. As noted earlier, research literature on child abuse and neglect is generally organized by the category or type of maltreatment; integrated efforts have not yet been achieved. For example, research has not yet compared and contrasted the causes of physical and sexual abuse of a preschool child or the differences between emotional maltreatment of toddlers and adolescents, although all these examples fall within the domain of child maltreatment. A broader conceptual framework for research will elicit data that can facilitate such comparative analyses.

By placing research in the framework of factors that foster healthy development, the ecological developmental perspective can enhance understanding of the research agenda for child abuse and neglect. The developmental perspective can improve the quality of treatment and prevention programs, which often focus on particular groups, such as young mothers who demonstrate risk factors for abuse of newborns, or sexual offenders who molest children. There has been little effort to cut across the categorical lines established within these studies to understand points of convergence or divergence in studies on child abuse and neglect.

The ecological developmental perspective can also improve our understanding of the consequences of child abuse and neglect, which may occur with increased or diminished intensity over a developmental cycle, or in different settings such as the family or the school. Initial effects may be easily identified and addressed if the abuse is detected early in the child's development, and medical and psychological services are available for the victim and the family. Undetected incidents, or childhood experiences discovered later in adult life, require different forms of treatment and intervention. In many cases, incidents of abuse and neglect may go undetected and unreported, yet the child victim may display aggression, delinquency, substance addiction, or other problem behaviors that stimulate responses within the social system.

Finally, an ecological developmental perspective can enhance intervention and prevention programs by identifying different requirements and potential effects for different age groups. Children at separate stages of their developmental cycle have special coping mechanisms that present barriers to—and opportunities for—the treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect. Intervention programs need to consider the extent to which children may have already experienced some form of maltreatment in order to

evaluate successful outcomes. In addition, the perspective facilitates evaluation of which settings are the most promising locus for interventions.

Previous Reports

A series of national reports associated with the health and welfare of children have been published in the past decade, many of which have identified the issue of child abuse and neglect as one that deserves sustained attention and creative programmatic solutions. In their 1991 report, Beyond Rhetoric , the National Commission on Children noted that the fragmentation of social services has resulted in the nation's children being served on the basis of their most obvious condition or problem rather than being served on the basis of multiple needs. Although the needs of these children are often the same and are often broader than the mission of any single agency emotionally disturbed children are often served by the mental health system, delinquent children by the juvenile justice system, and abused or neglected children by the protective services system (National Commission on Children, 1991). In their report, the commission called for the protection of abused and neglected children through more comprehensive child protective services, with a strong emphasis on efforts to keep children with their families or to provide permanent placement for those removed from their homes.

In setting health goals for the year 2000, the Public Health Service recognized the problem of child maltreatment and recommended improvements in reporting and diagnostic services, and prevention and educational interventions (U.S. Public Health Service, 1990). For example, the report, Health People 2000 , described the four types of child maltreatment and recommended that the rising incidence (identified as 25.2 per 1,000 in 1986) should be reversed to less than 25.2 in the year 2000. These public health targets are stated as reversing increasing trends rather than achieving specific reductions because of difficulties in obtaining valid and reliable measures of child maltreatment. The report also included recommendations to expand the implementation of state level review systems for unexplained child deaths, and to increase the number of states in which at least 50 percent of children who are victims of physical or sexual abuse receive appropriate treatment and follow-up evaluations as a means of breaking the intergenerational cycle of abuse.

The U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect issued reports in 1990 and 1991 which include national policy and research recommendations. The 1991 report presented a range of research options for action, highlighting the following priorities (U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1991:110-113):

This report differs from those described above because its primary focus is on establishing a research agenda for the field of studies on child abuse and neglect. In contrast to the mandate of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, the panel was not asked to prepare policy recommendations for federal and state governments in developing child maltreatment legislation and programs. The panel is clearly aware of the need for services for abused and neglected children and of the difficult policy issues that must be considered by the Congress, the federal government, the states, and municipal governments in responding to the distress of children and families in crisis. The charge to this panel was to design a research agenda that would foster the development of scientific knowledge that would provide fundamental insights into the causes, identification, incidence, consequences, treatment, and prevention of child maltreatment. This knowledge can enable public and private officials to execute their responsibilities more effectively, more equitably, and more compassionately and empower families and communities to resolve their problems and conflicts in a manner that strengthens their internal resources and reduces the need for external interventions.

Report Overview

Early studies on child abuse and neglect evolved from a medical or pathogenic model, and research focused on specific contributing factors or causal sources within the individual offender to be discovered, addressed, and prevented. With the development of research on child maltreatment over the past several decades, however, the complexity of the phenomena encompassed by the terms child abuse and neglect or child maltreatment has become apparent. Clinical studies that began with small sample sizes and weak methodological designs have gradually evolved into larger and longer-term projects with hundreds of research subjects and sound instrumentation.

Although the pathogenic model remains popular among the general public in explaining the sources of child maltreatment, it is limited by its primary focus on risk and protective factors within the individual. Research investigators now recognize that individual behaviors are often influenced by factors in the family, community, and society as a whole. Elements from these systems are now being integrated into more complex theories that analyze the roles of interacting risk and protective factors to explain and understand the phenomena associated with child maltreatment.

In the past, research on child abuse and neglect has developed within a categorical framework that classifies the research by the type of maltreatment typically as reported in administrative records. Although the quality of research within different categories of child abuse and neglect is uneven and problems of definitions, data collection, and study design continue to characterize much research in this field, the panel concluded that enough progress has been achieved to integrate the four categories of maltreatment into a child-oriented framework that could analyze the similarities and differences of research findings. Rather than encouraging the continuation of a categorical approach that would separate research on physical or sexual abuse, for example, the panel sought to develop for research sponsors and the research community a set of priorities that would foster the integration of scientific findings, encourage the development of comparative analyses, and also distinguish key research themes in such areas as identification, incidence, etiology, prevention, consequences, and treatment. This approach recognizes the need for the construction of collaborative, long-term efforts between public and private research sponsors and research investigators to strengthen the knowledge base, to integrate studies that have evolved for different types of child maltreatment, and eventually to reduce the problem of child maltreatment. This approach also highlights the connections that need to be made between research on the causes and the prevention of child maltreatment, for the more we learn about the origins of child abuse and neglect, the more effective we can be in seeking to prevent it. In the same manner, the report emphasises the connections that need to be made between research on the consequences and treatment of child maltreatment, for knowledge about the effects of child abuse and neglect can guide the development of interventions to address these effects.

In constructing this report, the panel has considered eight broad areas: Identification and definitions of child abuse and neglect (Chapter 2) Incidence: The scope of the problem (Chapter 3) Etiology of child maltreatment (Chapter 4) Prevention of child maltreatment (Chapter 5) Consequences of child maltreatment (Chapter 6) Treatment of child maltreatment (Chapter 7)

Human resources, instrumentation, and research infrastructure (Chapter 8) Ethical and legal issue in child maltreatment research (Chapter 9)

Each chapter includes key research recommendations within the topic under review. The final chapter of the report (Chapter 10) establishes a framework of research priorities derived by the panel from these recommendations. The four main categories identified within this framework—research on the nature and scope of child maltreatment; research on the origins and consequences of child maltreatment; research on the strengths and limitations of existing interventions; and the need for a science policy for child maltreatment research—provide the priorities that the panel has selected as the most important to address in the decade ahead.

1. The panel received an anecdotal report, for example, that one federal research agency systematically changed titles of its research awards over a decade ago, replacing phrases such as child abuse with references to maternal and child health care, after political sensitivities developed regarding the appropriateness of its research program in this area.

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McClain, P.W., J.J. Sacks, R.G. Froehlke, and B.G. Ewigman 1993 Estimates of fatal child abuse and neglect, United States, 1979 through 1988. Pediatrics 91(2):338-343.

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U.S. Public Health Service 1990 Violent and abusive behavior. Pp. 226-247 (Chapter 7) in Healthy People 2000 Report . Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The tragedy of child abuse and neglect is in the forefront of public attention. Yet, without a conceptual framework, research in this area has been highly fragmented. Understanding the broad dimensions of this crisis has suffered as a result.

This new volume provides a comprehensive, integrated, child-oriented research agenda for the nation. The committee presents an overview of three major areas:

• Definitions and scope —exploring standardized classifications, analysis of incidence and prevalence trends, and more.
• Etiology, consequences, treatment, and prevention —analyzing relationships between cause and effect, reviewing prevention research with a unique systems approach, looking at short- and long-term consequences of abuse, and evaluating interventions.
• Infrastructure and ethics —including a review of current research efforts, ways to strengthen human resources and research tools, and guidance on sensitive ethical and legal issues.

This volume will be useful to organizations involved in research, social service agencies, child advocacy groups, and researchers.

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Child Abuse and Neglect

This essay will provide an in-depth look at child abuse and neglect. It will discuss the various forms of abuse, indicators of neglect, the long-term consequences for children, and strategies for intervention and prevention. Moreover, at PapersOwl, there are additional free essay samples connected to Abuse.

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English Composition Final Proposal Essay: Child Abuse and Neglect

There have been countless studies focused around how the mind of a child is warped when transitioning into their adulthood after experiencing neglect and abuse. It’s evidently very difficult for a victim of this certain issue to forget their traumatic experiences, ultimately impacting their physiological and physical health. Child abuse and neglect refer to any harmful behavior by caregivers, parents, legal guardians, and other adults that is outside the norms of conduct and entails substantial risk of causing physical or emotional harm to a child or young adult(Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2014).

Child abuse can include physical, sexual, or emotional maltreatment, and it’s deeply painful to hear that at least one in four children have experienced this(Violence Prevention, 2018). An estimated number of 676,000 children were confirmed by child protective services as being victims of abuse and neglect in 2016(Violence Prevention 2018), and this number seems to be growing exponentially year by year. Within these children, 74.8% were neglected, 18.2% were physically abused, 8.5% were sexually abused, and 6.9% were psychologically maltreated(Child Abuse Statistics).

The effects child abuse has on children and young adults seem to vary by each individual, some experience less trauma while others go through deep pain and a long time of recovery. The factors that may come into how an individual may react to child abuse or neglect include, the frequency of such maltreatment or how long this treatment lasted for a certain individual, the type of maltreatment(physical, sexual, or emotional), and the relationship between the child and perpetuator(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Researchers also have started to investigate on how the resilience of each victim varies. Resilience is not an inherent trait in children but results from a mixture of both risk and protective factors that cause a child’s positive or negative reaction to adverse experiences(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Positive factors, such as high self esteem and intelligence contribute to a victim’s resilience.

Research suggests that the types of maltreatment are interrelated, in which a large portion of those who experience child abuse or neglect are exposed to multiple types of abuse: multi-type maltreatment(Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2014). There have been studies to show that certain acts like bullying, may occur to those experiencing multi-type maltreatment more frequently than those who are not. Additionally, those who experience multi-type maltreatment are likely to be exposed to high levels of trauma and worse outcomes, than those exposed to no maltreatment or one type of maltreatment(Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2014).

In addition to high levels of trauma caused by multi-type maltreatment, other psychological consequences of general child abuse include difficulties during infancy, poor mental and emotional health, cognitive, and social difficulties. Experiencing such trauma at a very young age could definitely contribute to depression, anxiety, personality or other psychiatric disorders later on in the young adulthood. To be more specific, a study showed that roughly 54% of cases of depression and 58% of suicide attempts in women were connected to adverse childhood experiences(Felitti, V.J., & Anda, R., 2009).

Child abuse and maltreatment can also affect the victims’ mental and emotional health, since it negatively influences their development of emotion regulation, which is a process that continues throughout their adulthood. Regarding social and cognitive difficulties, children are more likely to grow antisocial traits as they mature, and neglect also influences personality disorders and inappropriate behavior(Perry, 2012).

Along with psychological consequences of child abuse come physical consequences. Some of these include abusive head trauma, impaired brain development, and poor physical health(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Firstly, abusive head trauma is caused by injuries such as damage to the neck and spinal cord; they also usually are not immediately noticeable. Injuries such as these that lead to abusive head trauma can affect the development of the brain. Secondly, impaired brain development refers to the failure of the brain to grow properly. This can ultimately lead to consequences such as academic disabilities and mental health disorders(Tarullo, 2012). Lastly regarding poor physical health, studies have shown that victims of child maltreatment are very likely to suffer from heart conditions later on in their lives(Felitti & Anda, 2009).

It seems that the physical health type correlates to the maltreatment type of the victim. For instance, a study showed that children who experienced neglect were at risk for diabetes and malnutrition(Widom, Czaja, Bentley, & Johnson, 2012). Although the physical and psychological sides carry heavy and negative consequences, there are also behavioral consequences that contribute to the outcome of child abuse and neglect. Some of these include alcohol and drug abuse, juvenile delinquency and adult criminality, difficulties during adolescence, and abusive behavior. It is common knowledge at this point that there is always new research reflecting on the significant increase of child abuse or neglect victims abusing drugs or alcohol in their lives.

Specifically, child abuse and neglect victims are more than 4,000% likely to use drugs later in their lives(Felitti & Anda, 2009). Additionally, there is a correlation between child abuse or neglect and criminality, according to many studies. One study showed that children who have experienced child abuse or neglect are nine times more likely to be involved in criminal activities(Gold, Wolan Sullivan, & Lewis, 2011). Regarding difficulties during adolescence, many studies have shown that victims of child abuse or neglect are more likely to engage in sexual risk-taking as they become adults, ultimately increasing their likelihood of contracting a sexually transmitted disease(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013).

According to another study, these victims are also are at a higher risk for rape in their adulthood, and the rate of risk increases depending on the severity of the sexual experiences(Felitti & Anda, 2009). Finally, abusive behavior is one of the most impactful behavioral consequences. For instance, a study showed that girls who have experienced childhood physical abuse were one to seven percent more likely to become perpetrators of youth violence(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013).

To prevent child abuse and neglect there are potential solutions to help make this come to an end, along with past actions that were taken to solve this issue. In the past, the Federal Government made an investment in research on child abuse and neglect and its consequences. Some of these include the ACE Study, LONGSCAN, and NSCAW(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Firstly, the ACE study, short for Adverse Childhood Experiences, is the largest ongoing examination of the correlation between childhood maltreatment and adult health. Their data is collected through participants that volunteer for health screenings, ultimately providing information about childhood experiences, regarding abuse and neglect(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Next, the LONGSCAN, short for Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect, consists of researchers who examine the impact of maltreatment of victims and also evaluates the effectiveness of child protection(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013).

Finally, NSCAW, short for National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, is a project in which survey data are collected from reports of children and parents, and continues to gather other data about measures of child well-being. Then, this data ultimately provides an understanding of outcomes for children and their families involved with child welfare(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2013). Along with these research investments, the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-422-4453) has been available, staffed with professional counselors who can offer resource and service for those in need(Child Abuse Prevention, 2018). In the past, in attempt to see the end of child abuse, every state and the District of Columbia enacted laws regarding the referral of suspected cases of child abuse or neglect to a public agency.

In addition to this, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act in 1974 authorized Federal funds to improve State responses to child abuse(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2017). In 1966, The Children’s bureau within the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, explored the causes of child maltreatment and attempted to find prevention for it. They had home visitation programs, to educate parents and help them bond with their children(Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2017). There were several programs to seek to end child abuse and neglect, but evidently enough, none of them seem to have worked.

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Essays on Child Abuse

Child abuse essay covers a topic that is brutal but needs to be written about. Criminal behavior poses a threat to society, and it's especially devastating when directed towards children. This painful subject is getting a lot of public attention in the past years, and writing child abuse essays are a way of shining light on this issue. While researching for your essay you will discover heartbreaking statistics – about 1 billion children were abused within the past year. The numbers and facts you will come across are unsettling. child abuse essay samples below will help you gather information for your essays and offer some guidelines when exploring this topic. Writing essays on child abuse is challenging in many ways, so it’s understandable if you need assistance, which we can provide you with.

This project aims to assess whether the primary schools in the UK implemented Eileen Munro’s Recommendations. It critically analyses the effectiveness of child protection in UK’s primary schools. The report advocates for review on child protection targets which enable both children and social workers a freedom to apply judgment as...

The discussion section elaborates the argument on whether any of Eileen Munro’s recommendations were implemented. To begin with, let us briefly review some of the endorsements. The Munro report changes the current child protection approach that is extremely rigid and incomprehensible because of the bureaucratic procedures that leave professionals glued...

Words: 1932

Putting up child protection ensures the safeguard of children from varying harmful activities that they are exposed to from their parents or the environment they live in. It is important to address issues that affect the children as a can severely impact the young ones both psychologically and also physically....

Words: 1200

Child Protection is a fundamental issue that has been addressed at various levels of governance. The United Kingdom is one of the many countries that are still grappling with how best to protect a child from any dangerous exposure. Prof Eileen Munro was tasked to come up with a report...

Words: 1648

Sexual assault is defined as an infringement of a person's sexual space by sexual touch without consent by coercion or physical force to engage in a sexual act against the person's will. It ranges from verbal sexual insults to the physical acts such as groping, rape, and sodomy and child...

Words: 1622

An Assessment of the Brothers` ACE Score and ACE that Might Indicate Future-Offending Behaviour ACE, also known as Adverse Childhood Experiences denotes to the stressful situations that young children encounter as they grow. The child can be either directly hurt through abuse or indirectly regarding the environment, which they are situated...

Words: 3789

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In today’s world, cases of child abuse are on the raising trend globally. It’s a matter of great concern when people close to the children; physically, emotionally or sexually abuse them. In most occasions, guardians who are mentally stable and highly conscious of their actions continually and methodically abuse their...

Words: 1410

Child abuse has become a severe social and public health problem and many studies have revealed the alarming number of child abuse cases all over the world. The diverging parenting norms and standards of different cultures has made it difficult to arrive at an agreement on the definition of child...

Words: 1081

The article Preventing Child Sexual Abuse, What Parents Know? analyzes the out parental information with regards to the prevention of child abuse in Saudi Arabia. The study begins with a definition of a sexual offense which is regarded as the engagement of a child in sexual activities without...

Words: 1113

Child Abuse and Neglect Child abuse is any action performed by a parent, guardian, or caregiver that cause serious physical, sexual or emotional harm to a child. On the other hand, child neglect refers to maltreatment of a child due to failure by parent, guardian or caregiver to provide needed care....

Words: 1643

It is universally agreed among scientist, sociologist, physiologist, criminologist and other interested scholars that youths in the adolescence stage are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviors.  However, numerous studies are concerned with activities that teens are more apt to participate in the adolescent stage such as substance abuse and...

Words: 1363

Over the years elderly mistreatment has been recognized as a social problem that has affected the society at large. The magnitude of the problem is uncertain but it is increasing in the United States and other countries in the world. Elderly abuse can be referred to as an intentional act...

Words: 1001

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Child Abuse: History and Causes Essay

Works cited.

“Abuse” is a popular word these days. The contemporary culture contains thousands of books, films, songs, photographs, and paintings raising awareness of the abuse of men, women, children and animals. Yet, nothing speaks louder than facts. Statistically, since 2003 approximately four to six thousands of cases of child abuse per year had been registered by the police in Wales and England.

The period from 2013 to 2014 turned out to be a peak of this activity as the number of registered child abuse cases over that time reached nearly eight thousand (Number of police recorded ‘cruelty to children/young persons’ in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2013/14* par. 1). The purpose of this paper is to explore the history, and causes of child abuse as well as the legislation implemented to address its cases. The paper reveals shocking examples of child abuse from earlier times as well as present days and explores the ways the modern society employs to deal with this appalling practice that assumingly has been going on ever since the beginning of time.

Child abuse has a very long history. For generations, cruelty towards children had been viewed as an appropriate way to discipline them and teach valuable lessons. Uneven power relationships between adults and children have been practiced for centuries. The laws designed to protect children did not exist in the earlier society simply because child abuse had never been viewed as an issue. In fact, children were considered as parts of property of their fathers, which seems like a natural belief for a patriarchal society of the past.

During the Victorian Era the heavy exploitation of child labor had been a normal practice. Children from the poor families would start to be viewed as suppliers at the age of seven or eight. The occupations young children performed during the Victorian times included coal mining, pottery, farming, laundry, matchmaking, and sales. Children also were employed at textile mills, ship yards, and rail stations. They worked as servants, rat catchers, chimney sweepers, and prostitutes. Average work shifts of children could last twelve or even eighteen hours. It goes without saying that hard physical labor and absence of appropriate care resulted in multiple health problems and injuries, some of which led to early death of young workers.

The first laws regarding cruelty and abuse appeared in England after 1866 and initially were directed at the protection of animals, but eventually started to include children. In the late 1800s the British crown began to enforce the principle called parens patriae, which obliged the state to care about the weak and vulnerable groups of population including children. Since that time the attitude towards the issue of child abuse has been changing year after year in favour of child protection.

Today, the society is wiser and it practices upstream approach concerning the issue of child abuse. Along with handling its consequences, the experts of various fields are trying to identify and address its causes. The contemporary sociologists, psychologists and anthropologists are aware of a number of causes that compose the basis for child abuse.

Among the general causes that may lead people to their breaking point are emotional immaturity, psychological and financial issues, unrealistic expectations, depression, lack of experience and knowledge concerning parenting, and mental disorders. Normally, an abusive person has a combination of these risk factors, but some causes are much more popular than others.

The main factors leading to child abuse are drugs and domestic violence. A household where violent attitudes frequently occur between the spouses is an ultimate risk place for a child. Often, the outbreaks of rage and aggression in adults occur due to a number of frustrating factors such as unemployment, financial crisis, and difficult living conditions. When such outbreaks are heated up by an intoxication they tend to go out of control and affect everyone around. Young children are especially vulnerable in such situations.

One of the worst child abuse cases ever registered in Britain resulted in life imprisonment for a couple who starved and beat a young boy to death. The boy’s mother Magdelena Luczak aged 27 and her boyfriend Marius Krezolek aged 34 were arrested for systematic child abuse in a form of starving and physical violence (Couple jailed for life in one of Britain’s worst child abuse cases par. 1).

The adults captured in 2013 had been torturing the boy since 2011 locking him in a room without windows, withdrawing food from him and beating him up severely. After the situation turned fatal, the couple failed to report it within 33 hours. Both Madgalena and Marius were heavy alcohol and drug abusers with criminal background and inclination to violence. Unfortunately, a number of couples matching this description is large not only in Britain but all around the world, which puts their children in need for legal protection.

In legislation child abuse includes sexual, physical and emotional aspects. A child abuser is a parent or caretaker who fails to meet the most basic needs of a child including the need for food, home, and care adequate for the child’s age, who ignores the child’s need for health care, who cannot provide education a child requires, or who deprives a child of love and emotional support (Report child abuse par. 1).

One of the frequently discussed contemporary legal aspects of child abuse is a policy concerning obligatory report of a suspected abuse in the UK. Such policy is employed in the United States, but the British legislators have been reluctant about this issue. The abovementioned case of a young boy starved to death by his own mother and her boyfriend is a demonstration of the importance of mandatory report policy as the boy continued going to school while being starved and abused, but teachers, along with neighbors and friends of the boy failed to inform the police or child protection services about the problem.

The argument against the implementation of mandatory child abuse report is the fact that it may lead to fewer children receiving protection. The Home Secretary Theresa May is convinced that once such policy is implemented, organisations such as hospitals, schools and kindergartens would start feeling pressured to report all kinds of suspicions and file multiple false reports leading to confusion of law enforcement (Hope par. 8).

To conclude, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) reports that in 2013 they have processed 18887 reports concerning suspected child abuse, provided protection to 790 children, sent out 2866 overseas reports about individuals suspected to be involved in child abuse, and captured 192 suspects (Annual Review 2012-2013 & Centre Plan 2013-2014 7).

Child abuse is not a new issue for our society, it has existed for centuries. Today, we are aware of the problem, its causes and outcomes. Hundreds of professionals are focused on identification and elimination of child abuse in the UK. A number of services are determined to work with individuals assisting the government in abuse prevention and child protection. Reporting suspected abuse is not mandatory, yet it is a moral obligation for everyone because picking up a phone and informing the professionals may save a life of a child.

Annual Review 2012-2013 & Centre Plan 2013-2014. CEOP . 2014. Web.

Couple jailed for life in one of Britain’s worst child abuse cases . ABC . 2013. Web.

Hope, Christopher. Mandatory reporting of child abuse could put more children at risk, warns Theresa May. 2014. Web.

Number of police recorded ‘cruelty to children/young persons’ in England and Wales from 2002/03 to 2013/14*. The Statistics Portal . 2014. Web.

Report child abuse . GOV.UK . 2014. Web.

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Essay on Child Abuse

Students are often asked to write an essay on Child Abuse in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Child Abuse

Understanding child abuse.

Child abuse refers to harmful actions against children. It can be physical, emotional, or sexual in nature. It’s a serious issue that affects many children worldwide.

Types of Child Abuse

Physical abuse involves causing physical harm. Emotional abuse includes actions that harm a child’s mental well-being. Sexual abuse involves sexual exploitation.

The Impact of Child Abuse

Child abuse can lead to serious problems, like mental health issues and difficulty in social interactions. It’s important to protect children from such harm.

Preventing Child Abuse

Everyone can help prevent child abuse. If you see signs of abuse, it’s crucial to report it to authorities. Education and awareness are key.

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250 Words Essay on Child Abuse

Introduction.

Child abuse, a grave societal issue, is an act that inflicts physical, sexual, or emotional harm or neglect upon children. This pervasive problem transcends geographical boundaries, socio-economic statuses, and cultures, having long-term detrimental effects on the individual’s life and society.

Child abuse manifests in various forms: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Physical abuse involves deliberate actions causing injuries or harm to a child, while sexual abuse pertains to any sexual activity involving a child. Emotional abuse is the continual emotional mistreatment, and neglect is the consistent failure to meet a child’s basic needs.

Consequences of Child Abuse

The impact of child abuse is profound and long-lasting. Victims often experience cognitive difficulties, emotional instability, and behavioral issues. The psychological trauma can lead to mental health disorders, substance abuse, and even suicide in severe cases.

Prevention and Intervention

Preventing child abuse requires collective societal effort. It involves improving parenting skills, providing family support, and increasing public awareness. Intervention strategies include therapy, counseling, and legal action. Schools and communities play a crucial role in identifying and reporting suspected abuse.

In conclusion, child abuse is a pressing issue that requires immediate attention. Understanding its forms and consequences is the first step towards prevention. Society’s collective effort is crucial in creating a safe environment for children, thus ensuring their healthy development and well-being.

500 Words Essay on Child Abuse

Introduction to child abuse.

Child abuse, a critical social issue, encompasses a wide range of harmful actions towards children, including physical, sexual, and emotional maltreatment, as well as neglect. It is a global concern that transcends cultural, social, and economic boundaries, affecting millions of children worldwide.

The Different Forms of Child Abuse

Child abuse manifests in various forms, each with its profound impact on a child’s mental and physical development. Physical abuse involves the deliberate use of force against a child, leading to potential bodily harm. Sexual abuse encompasses any sexual activity involving a child, where they are incapable of giving informed consent. Emotional abuse involves persistent negative behavior towards a child, such as belittling, humiliation, or rejection. Lastly, neglect is the failure to provide for a child’s basic needs, including food, shelter, education, and medical care.

Impact of Child Abuse

Child abuse has devastating consequences on the victims, their families, and society at large. Abused children often suffer from physical injuries, psychological disorders, and impaired social development. They may experience difficulties in school, struggle with interpersonal relationships, and are at a higher risk of developing mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Moreover, the cycle of abuse often continues into adulthood, with victims more likely to become perpetrators themselves.

The Role of Society and Institutions

Society and institutions play a crucial role in preventing child abuse and mitigating its effects. Schools, healthcare providers, and social services should be equipped with the necessary resources to identify and respond to cases of child abuse. Public awareness campaigns can help educate the community about the signs of abuse and how to report suspected cases. Laws and policies should also be in place to protect children, punish perpetrators, and provide support for victims.

Conclusion: Towards a Safer Future for Children

Child abuse is a pervasive issue that demands urgent attention and action. It is essential to foster a culture of respect and protection for children’s rights, where every child can grow up in a safe and nurturing environment. This involves a collective effort from individuals, communities, and governments to recognize, address, and prevent child abuse. By doing so, we can break the cycle of abuse and pave the way for a safer, healthier future for our children.

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106 Child Abuse Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on child abuse, ✍️ child abuse essay topics for college, 🎓 most interesting child abuse research titles, 💡 simple child abuse essay ideas, ❓ child abuse research questions.

• Child Abuse: Risks, Causes, Effects, Treatment
• Child Abuse and the Minimalist and Maximalist Perspectives
• Problem of Child Abuse in Modern Society
• Child Abuse and Neglect in Ukraine
• The Portrayal of Child Abuse and Neglect in Media
• Child Abuse and Family Violence: A Personal Response
• Causes and Results of Child Abuse
• Identifying Child Abuse Scenario It is essential to differentiate between child neglect and child abuse. The World Health Organization puts them under an umbrella term “child maltreatment.”
• Different Types of Child Abuse There are different types of child abuse. Only half of all cases are associated with physical violence. Neglect, beatings, and rape are the most common types.
• Child Abuse Management: Multidisciplinary Approach This paper investigates the efficacy of multidisciplinary and non-multidisciplinary approaches in child abuse management.
• Medical Examination for Children with Allegations of Child Abuse There are several functions of medical examination. They include collecting and documenting physical evidence of child abuse.
• Impact of Child Abuse and Neglect on Perception of Reality in Adulthood Child abuse is a serious societal issue in the present socioeconomic situation of the majority of households worldwide.
• Child Abuse and Its Impact on Society One of the most pressing issues affecting children worldwide is child abuse, which has garnered the attention of countries internationally.
• Child Abuse or a Parental Discipline According to the state laws within the United States, physical discipline is recommended if it is solely for discipline and does not lead to the injury of a child.
• The Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse Preventing child abuse or addressing it promptly is much more efficient than handling the consequences which find their way into adulthood.
• Mandatory Reporting in Child Abuse and Neglect Mandatory reporting is the responsibility given to specific individuals in different states in the United States to report cases of child abuse and neglect to the responsible governmental bodies.
• Child Abuse in the Clothing Production Bangladesh’s garment production is projected to quadruple over the next twenty years, which means that millions of new women, young and old, will enter the garment industry.
• Child Abuse Problem Overview According to social statistics that focus on child abuse and neglect rates in the United States based on victims’ race and ethnicity, it is possible to notice huge disparities.
• Child Abuse Problem and Perspectives on Child Abuse The abuse can be emotional, physical, or sexual. It can be an act of omission or commission that results in harm, potential for harm or threat of harm to a child.
• Child Abuse, Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence The paper analyzes three types of victimization: child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence. It gives definitions, describes causes and effects of these crimes.
• The Problem of Child Abuse A practical approach to dealing with child abuse is to tackle the social, economic, and human factors that contribute to its prevalence.
• Advocacy for Negligence and Child Abuse Amongst Black Teenagers Negligence and abuse amongst black teenagers require rehabilitation therapy and parental counseling to prevent further negative effects.
• Child Abuse: Keep Kids Safe Child abuse is a case when a parent or guardian, regardless of whether through activity or neglecting to act, causes injury, intended damage, or danger of genuine mischief.
• Child Abuse and Ways for Its Elimination This paper will discuss the problems of violence in various forms of manifestation to find the causes of their occurrence and a solution for them.
• Shaken Baby Syndrome and Child Abuse The attention of the world was first drawn to the shaken baby syndrome in the widely covered trial of Louse Woodward, a British nanny accused of killing Matthew Eappen, her charge.
• Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect In this paper, attention is paid to Brandon, a 12-year-old boy who survived his father’s sexual abuse at the age of 6 and experiences post-traumatic stress disorder at the moment.
• Different Factors and Approaches of Child Abuse and Neglect The discussion centers on the 5 articles cited that relate to child abuse and neglect. Important points are provided to identify the ideas of the reporters in the articles accordingly.
• Child Abuse and Health of Nation: Cause and Effect The fact is that today, regardless of multiple attempts to create a beneficial environment for children, many of them experience various forms of domestic violence.
• Child Abuse: Physical, Emotional, Social Effects The effect of child abuse and abandonment is repeatedly debated in regards to physical, emotional, interactive, and social significances.
• Health Data Reporting: Child Abuse and Security Breaches The healthcare organization at times are obliged to report not only information related to the health status of a population but also to the security of healthcare data.
• Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect Child abuse can be manifested in different forms; however, the most common forms are physical, emotional, and sexual harassment.
• Adverse Effects and Prevention of Child Abuse
• Child Abuse and Its Effects on Thousands of Children in the United States and Around the World
• Behind Closed Doors: The Correlation Between Multiple Personality Disorder and Child Abuse
• Child Abuse and Its Role in “Bastard Out of Carolina” by Dorothy Allison
• Approaching Child Abuse From a Multi-Dimensional Perspective
• Child Abuse and Lack of Communication in Marriages – The Main Factors of Failed Family
• How Child Abuse Affects a Hero, a God, and a Monster in Greek Mythology
• Child Abuse and Neglect Is Not About Being Psychical
• Physical and Emotional Child Abuse and Neglect: The Effect on Physical, Emotional, and Social Development
• Defining Child Abuse and Its Different Forms in the 21st Century
• Child Abuse and Neglect: Recognizing the Signs and Symptoms
• Localities, Social Services, and Child Abuse: The Role of Community Characteristics in Social Services Allocation and Child Abuse Reporting
• Promoting Help for Victims of Child Abuse: Which Emotions Are Most Appropriate to Motivate Donation Behavior
• Child Abuse and the Importance of Belonging Discussed in David Pelzer’s “A Child Called It”
• How Child Abuse Has Been Conceptualized and Addressed in Terms of Policy and Law Since 1945
• When Child Abuse Overlaps With Domestic Violence: The Factors That Influence Child Protection Workers’ Beliefs
• The Developments, Forms, and Perception of Physical Child Abuse Through History
• Mass Media’s Role and Possible Solutions to Child Abuse in the Philippines
• Child Abuse: Cause and Effect on the Rest of Their Lives
• Risk Factors for Child Abuse and Neglect Among Former TANF Families: Do Later Leavers Experience Greater Risk?
• Child Abuse Prevention and Control: Can Physical, Sexual or Psychological Abuse Be Controlled Within the Household?
• The Impact and Consequences of Child Abuse and Its Portrayal in Mark Twain’s Novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
• The Social Worker’s Role in Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect
• Child Abuse: Too Much or Too Little Emphasis in Today’s Society
• How the United States Is Dealing With Child Abuse Problem
• Causes and Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect
• Neighborhood Poverty and Child Abuse and Neglect: The Mediating Role of Social Cohesion
• Child Abuse and How It Relates to the Developmental Stages of Erickson
• Dealing With the Effects of Child Abuse, Overcoming Obstacles, and Friendship in Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Bean Trees”
• Neo-Liberal and Neo-Conservative Perspectives on Child Abuse
• Child Abuse and Neglect of a County Welfare Department
• The Gap Between Child Abuse and Parental Discipline
• Child Abuse and Neglect: The Need for Change
• Exposing Child Abuse and Neglect – Physical Violence Against Kids
• Child Abuse and Its Effects on the Physical, Mental, and Emotional State of a Child
• The Effect of Child Abuse and Neglect in an Urban Community
• Child Abuse and Neglect: A Social and Public Health Concern Worldwide
• Physical and Behavioral Indicators of Possible Child Abuse
• Homosexual: Child Abuse and Sexual Identity
• Child Abuse: Protecting Children From Abuse and Neglect
• Protecting Our Children From Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
• How Sexual Child Abuse Can Affect the Child’s Psychological Development
• Child Abuse: Saddest and Most Tragic Problem Today
• Juvenile Who Commit Homicide or Parricide and the Presence of Child Abuse
• Child Abuse: The Four Major Types of Abuse, Statistics, Prevention, and Treatment
• Relationship Between Domestic Violence and Child Abuse and How to Protect the Children From It
• How the Government and Society Have a Responsibility to Help Child Abuse Victims
• Child Abuse Victims and Whether or Not They Become Abusers in Adulthood
• Modern Beliefs Regarding the Treatment of Child Abuse Victims
• Children Are Suffering From a Hidden Epidemic of Child Abuse
• Does Child Abuse and Neglect Lead to Bullying?
• What Are the Negative Effects of Child Abuse?
• Is There Correlation Between Child Abuse and Schizophrenia?
• How Can Spanking Lead to Child Abuse?
• Are Recovered Memories From Child Abuse Reliable?
• What Are the Types of Child Abuse and How to Prevent Them?
• Does Child Abuse Cause Crime?
• What Does Victimology Say About Child Abuse?
• How Can the Community Stop Child Abuse and Neglect?
• Are There Any Biomarkers for Pedophilia and Sexual Child Abuse?
• What Are the Devastating Clinical Consequences of Child Abuse?
• Does Child Abuse Create a Psychopath?
• How Do Child Abuse and Neglect Affect Childhood?
• Why Should Child Abuse Be Addressed as a Social Problem?
• How Does Child Abuse Affect Student’s Education?
• What Are the Signs or Symptoms of Child Abuse?
• How Do Children Carry the Weight of Child Abuse?
• Is There a Link Between Child Abuse and Sexual Identity?
• What Are the Effects of Child Abuse?
• How Can Therapy Help Victims of Child Abuse?
• Does Good Child Abuse Lead to Anxiety and Social Disorders?
• What Are the Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect?
• Is There the Gap Between Health Care and Child Abuse?
• How Can Child Abuse Be Prevented?
• What Is the Connection Between Child Abuse and Delinquency?

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StudyCorgi . "106 Child Abuse Essay Topics." July 14, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/child-abuse-essay-topics/.

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I want to keep my child safe from abuse − but research tells me I’m doing it wrong

Founder and Executive Director, Center for Violence Prevention Research; Affiliate Faculty with the Crimes Against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire

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Melissa Bright receives funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Childhood Foundation (via work with Stop it Now!).

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Child sexual abuse is uncomfortable to think about, much less talk about. The idea of an adult engaging in sexual behaviors with a child feels sickening. It’s easiest to believe that it rarely happens, and when it does, that it’s only to children whose parents aren’t protecting them.

This belief stayed with me during my early days as a parent. I kept an eye out for creepy men at the playground and was skeptical of men who worked with young children, such as teachers and coaches. When my kids were old enough, I taught them what a “good touch” was, like a hug from a family member, and what a “bad touch” was, like someone touching their private parts.

But after nearly a quarter-century of conducting research – 15 years on family violence, another eight on child abuse prevention, including sexual abuse – I realized that many people, including me, were using antiquated strategies to protect our children .

As the founder of the Center for Violence Prevention Research , I work with organizations that educate their communities and provide direct services to survivors of child sexual abuse. From them, I have learned much about the everyday actions all of us can take to help keep our children safe. Some of it may surprise you.

Wrong assumptions

First, my view of what constitutes child sexual abuse was too narrow. Certainly, all sexual activities between adults and children are a form of abuse.

But child sexual abuse also includes nonconsensual sexual contact between two children. It includes noncontact offenses such as sexual harassment, exhibitionism and using children to produce imagery of sexual abuse. Technology-based child sexual abuse is rising quickly with the rapid evolution of internet-based games, social media, and content generated by artificial intelligence. Reports to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children of online enticements increased 300% from 2021 to 2023 .

My assumption that child sexual abuse didn’t happen in my community was wrong too. The latest data shows that at least 1 in 10 children, but likely closer to 1 in 5, experience sexual abuse . Statistically, that’s at least two children in my son’s kindergarten class.

Child sexual abuse happens across all ethnoracial groups, socioeconomic statuses and all gender identities. Reports of female victims outnumber males , but male victimization is likely underreported because of stigma and cultural norms about masculinity .

I’ve learned that identifying the “creepy man” at the playground is not an effective strategy. At least 90% of child sexual abusers know their victims or the victims’ family prior to offending. Usually, the abuser is a trusted member of the community; sometimes, it’s a family member .

In other words, rather than search for a predator in the park, parents need to look at the circle of people they invite into their home.

To be clear, abuse by strangers does happen, and teaching our kids to be wary of strangers is necessary. But it’s the exception, not the norm , for child sexual abuse offenses.

Most of the time, it’s not even adults causing the harm. The latest data shows more than 70% of self-reported child sexual abuse is committed by other juveniles . Nearly 1 in 10 young people say they caused some type of sexual harm to another child . Their average age at the time of causing harm is between 14 and 16.

Now for a bit of good news: The belief that people who sexually abuse children are innately evil is an oversimplification. In reality, only about 13% of adults and approximately 5% of adolescents who sexually harm children commit another sexual offense after five years . The recidivism rate is even lower for those who receive therapeutic help .

By contrast, approximately 44% of adults who commit a felony of any kind will commit another offense within a year of prison release .

What parents can do

The latest research says uncomfortable conversations are necessary to keep kids safe. Here are some recommended strategies:

Avoid confusing language. “Good touches” and “bad touches” are no longer appropriate descriptors of abuse . Harmful touches can feel physically good, rather than painful or “bad.” Abusers can also manipulate children to believe their touches are acts of love.

The research shows that it’s better to talk to children about touches that are “OK” or “not OK,” based on who does the touching and where they touch. This dissipates the confusion of something being bad but feeling good.

These conversations require clear identification of all body parts, from head and shoulders to penis and vagina. Using accurate anatomical labels teaches children that all body parts can be discussed openly with safe adults. Also, when children use accurate labels to disclose abuse, they are more likely to be understood and believed.

Encourage bodily autonomy. Telling my children that hugs from family members were universally good touches was also wrong . If children think they have to give hugs on demand, it conveys the message they do not have authority over their body.

Instead, I watch when my child is asked for a hug at family gatherings – if he hesitates, I advocate for him. I tell family members that physical touch is not mandatory and explain why – something like: “He prefers a bit more personal space, and we’re working on teaching him that he can decide who touches him and when. He really likes to give high-fives to show affection.” A heads-up: Often, the adults are put off, at least initially.

In my family, we also don’t allow the use of guilt to encourage affection. That includes phrases like: “You’ll make me sad if you don’t give me a hug.”

Promote empowerment. Research on adult sexual offenders found the greatest deterrence to completing the act was a vocal child – one who expressed their desire to stop, or said they would tell others.

Monitor your child’s social media. Multiple studies show that monitoring guards against sexting or viewing of pornography , both of which are risk factors for child sexual abuse. Monitoring can also reveal permissive or dangerous sexual attitudes the child might have.

Talk to the adults in your circle. Ask those watching your child how they plan to keep your child safe when in their care. Admittedly, this can be an awkward conversation. I might say, “Hey, I have a few questions that might sound weird, but I think they’re important for parents to ask. I’m sure my child will be safe with you, but I’m trying to talk about these things regularly, so this is good practice for me.” You may need to educate them on what the research shows.

Ask your child’s school what they’re doing to educate students and staff about child sexual abuse. Many states require schools to provide prevention education; recent research suggests these programs help children protect themselves from sexual abuse .

Talk to your child’s sports or activity organization. Ask what procedures are in place to keep children safe . This includes their screening and hiring practices, how they train and educate staff, and their guidelines for reporting abuse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides a guide for organizations on keeping children safe .

Rely on updated research. Finally, when searching online for information, look for research that’s relatively recent – dated within the past five years. These studies should be published in peer-reviewed journals .

And then be prepared for a jolt. You may discover the conventional wisdom you’ve clung to all these years may be based on outdated – and even harmful – information.

• Child sexual abuse
• Child sexual abuse prevention
• Child safety

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• About Child Abuse and Neglect
• Risk and Protective Factors
• Public Health Strategy
• Essentials for Childhood Framework
• Child abuse and neglect are serious public health problems.
• Child abuse and neglect can have long-term impacts on health, opportunity, and well-being.

What are child abuse and neglect?

Child abuse and neglect includes all types of abuse and neglect of a child under the age of 18 by a parent, caregiver, or another person in a custodial role (e.g., a religious leader, a coach, or a teacher) that results in harm, the potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.

There are four common types of abuse and neglect:

• Physical abuse is the intentional use of physical force that can result in physical injury. Examples include hitting, kicking, shaking, or other shows of force against a child. 1
• Sexual abuse involves pressuring or forcing a child to engage in sexual acts. Examples include fondling, penetration, and exposing a child to other sexual activities. 1 Read more information about child sexual abuse .
• Emotional abuse refers to behaviors that harm a child's self-worth or emotional well-being. Examples include name-calling, shaming, rejecting, and withholding love. 1
• Neglect is the failure to meet a child's basic physical and emotional needs. These needs include housing, food, clothing, education, access to medical care, and having feelings validated and appropriately responded to. 1 2

For more information about child abuse and neglect definitions please see Child Maltreatment Surveillance: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements [4.12 MB, 148 Pages, 508] .

Quick facts and stats

Child abuse and neglect are common. At least one in seven children experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year in the United States. 3 This is likely an underestimate because many cases are unreported. In 2021, 1,820 children died of abuse and neglect in the United States. 4

Children living in poverty experience more abuse and neglect. Experiencing poverty can place a lot of stress on families, which may increase the risk for child abuse and neglect. Rates of child abuse and neglect are five times higher for children in families with low socioeconomic status compared to families with a higher socioeconomic status. 1

Child maltreatment is costly. In the United States, the total lifetime economic burden associated with child abuse and neglect was about $592 billion in 2018. 5 This economic burden rivals the cost of other high-profile public health problems, such as heart disease and diabetes. 6

Children who are abused or neglected may suffer immediate physical injuries such as cuts, bruises, or broken bones. They may also have emotional and psychological problems, such as anxiety or posttraumatic stress. 1

Over the long term, children who are abused or neglected are also at increased risk for experiencing future violence victimization and perpetration, substance abuse, sexually transmitted infections, delayed brain development, lower educational attainment, and limited employment opportunities. 1

Abuse and neglect may result in toxic stress, which can change brain development and increase the risk for problems like posttraumatic stress disorder and learning, attention, and memory difficulties. 7

Child abuse and neglect can be prevented. Certain factors may increase or decrease the risk of perpetrating or experiencing child abuse and neglect.

Preventing child abuse and neglect requires understanding and addressing the factors that put people at risk for or protect them from violence. 8

Everyone benefits when children have safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. We all have role to play.

• Fortson, B. L., Klevens, J., Merrick, M. T., Gilbert, L. K., & Alexander, S. P. (2016). Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Resource for Action: A Compilation of the Best Available Evidence. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Note: The title of this document was changed in July 2023 to align with other Prevention Resources being developed by CDC's Injury Center. The document was previously cited as "Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect: A Technical Package for Policy, Norm, and Programmatic Activities".
• Leeb RT, Paulozzi L, Melanson C, Simon T, Arias I. Child Maltreatment Surveillance: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements, Version 1.0. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; 2008.
• Finkelhor D, Turner HA, Shattuck A, Hamby SL. Prevalence of Childhood Exposure to Violence, Crime, and Abuse: Results from the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence. JAMA Pediatr. 2015;169(8):746–754. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0676
• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau. (2023). Child Maltreatment 2021. Available from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/data-research/child-maltreatment.
• Klika JB, Rosenzweig J, Merrick M. Economic burden of known cases of child maltreatment from 2018 in each state. Child and adolescent social work journal. 2020 Jun;37(3):227-34.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.(2022). Health and Economic Costs of Chronic Diseases. Available from https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/costs/index.htm
• Shonkoff J, Garner A, & Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, Committee on Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care, and Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. (2012). The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics, 129(1), e232-e246.
• Preventing Multiple Forms of Violence: A Strategic Vision for Connecting the Dots. (2016). Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention

Child abuse and neglect can have long-term impact on health, opportunity, and well-being. CDC works to understand the problems of child abuse and neglect and prevent them.

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Opinion: I want to keep my child safe from abuse—but research tells me I'm doing it wrong

by Melissa Bright, The Conversation

Child sexual abuse is uncomfortable to think about, much less talk about. The idea of an adult engaging in sexual behaviors with a child feels sickening. It's easiest to believe that it rarely happens, and when it does, that it's only to children whose parents aren't protecting them.

This belief stayed with me during my early days as a parent. I kept an eye out for creepy men at the playground and was skeptical of men who worked with young children , such as teachers and coaches. When my kids were old enough, I taught them what a "good touch" was, like a hug from a family member, and what a "bad touch" was, like someone touching their private parts.

But after nearly a quarter-century of conducting research —15 years on family violence , another eight on child abuse prevention, including sexual abuse—I realized that many people, including me, were using antiquated strategies to protect our children .

As the founder of the Center for Violence Prevention Research , I work with organizations that educate their communities and provide direct services to survivors of child sexual abuse. From them, I have learned much about the everyday actions all of us can take to help keep our children safe. Some of it may surprise you.

Wrong assumptions

First, my view of what constitutes child sexual abuse was too narrow. Certainly, all sexual activities between adults and children are a form of abuse.

But child sexual abuse also includes nonconsensual sexual contact between two children. It includes noncontact offenses such as sexual harassment , exhibitionism and using children to produce imagery of sexual abuse. Technology-based child sexual abuse is rising quickly with the rapid evolution of internet-based games, social media, and content generated by artificial intelligence. Reports to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children of online enticements increased 300% from 2021 to 2023 .

My assumption that child sexual abuse didn't happen in my community was wrong too. The latest data shows that at least 1 in 10 children, but likely closer to 1 in 5, experience sexual abuse . Statistically, that's at least two children in my son's kindergarten class.

Child sexual abuse happens across all ethnoracial groups, socioeconomic statuses and all gender identities. Reports of female victims outnumber males , but male victimization is likely underreported because of stigma and cultural norms about masculinity .

I've learned that identifying the "creepy man" at the playground is not an effective strategy. At least 90% of child sexual abusers know their victims or the victims' family prior to offending. Usually, the abuser is a trusted member of the community; sometimes, it's a family member .

In other words, rather than search for a predator in the park, parents need to look at the circle of people they invite into their home.

To be clear, abuse by strangers does happen, and teaching our kids to be wary of strangers is necessary. But it's the exception, not the norm , for child sexual abuse offenses.

Most of the time, it's not even adults causing the harm. The latest data shows more than 70% of self-reported child sexual abuse is committed by other juveniles . Nearly 1 in 10 young people say they caused some type of sexual harm to another child . Their average age at the time of causing harm is between 14 and 16.

Now for a bit of good news: The belief that people who sexually abuse children are innately evil is an oversimplification. In reality, only about 13% of adults and approximately 5% of adolescents who sexually harm children commit another sexual offense after five years . The recidivism rate is even lower for those who receive therapeutic help .

By contrast, approximately 44% of adults who commit a felony of any kind will commit another offense within a year of prison release .

What parents can do

The latest research says uncomfortable conversations are necessary to keep kids safe. Here are some recommended strategies:

Avoid confusing language. "Good touches" and "bad touches" are no longer appropriate descriptors of abuse . Harmful touches can feel physically good, rather than painful or "bad." Abusers can also manipulate children to believe their touches are acts of love.

The research shows that it's better to talk to children about touches that are "OK" or "not OK," based on who does the touching and where they touch. This dissipates the confusion of something being bad but feeling good.

These conversations require clear identification of all body parts, from head and shoulders to penis and vagina. Using accurate anatomical labels teaches children that all body parts can be discussed openly with safe adults. Also, when children use accurate labels to disclose abuse, they are more likely to be understood and believed.

Encourage bodily autonomy. Telling my children that hugs from family members were universally good touches was also wrong . If children think they have to give hugs on demand, it conveys the message they do not have authority over their body.

Instead, I watch when my child is asked for a hug at family gatherings—if he hesitates, I advocate for him. I tell family members that physical touch is not mandatory and explain why—something like: "He prefers a bit more personal space, and we're working on teaching him that he can decide who touches him and when. He really likes to give high-fives to show affection." A heads-up: Often, the adults are put off, at least initially.

In my family, we also don't allow the use of guilt to encourage affection. That includes phrases like: "You'll make me sad if you don't give me a hug."

Promote empowerment. Research on adult sexual offenders found the greatest deterrence to completing the act was a vocal child —one who expressed their desire to stop, or said they would tell others.

Monitor your child's social media. Multiple studies show that monitoring guards against sexting or viewing of pornography , both of which are risk factors for child sexual abuse. Monitoring can also reveal permissive or dangerous sexual attitudes the child might have.

Talk to the adults in your circle. Ask those watching your child how they plan to keep your child safe when in their care. Admittedly, this can be an awkward conversation. I might say, "Hey, I have a few questions that might sound weird, but I think they're important for parents to ask. I'm sure my child will be safe with you, but I'm trying to talk about these things regularly, so this is good practice for me." You may need to educate them on what the research shows.

Ask your child's school what they're doing to educate students and staff about child sexual abuse . Many states require schools to provide prevention education; recent research suggests these programs help children protect themselves from sexual abuse .

Talk to your child's sports or activity organization. Ask what procedures are in place to keep children safe . This includes their screening and hiring practices, how they train and educate staff, and their guidelines for reporting abuse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides a guide for organizations on keeping children safe .

Rely on updated research. Finally, when searching online for information, look for research that's relatively recent—dated within the past five years. These studies should be published in peer-reviewed journals.

And then be prepared for a jolt. You may discover the conventional wisdom you've clung to all these years may be based on outdated—and even harmful—information.

Provided by The Conversation

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My Family’s Experiment in Extreme Schooling

An education, three american siblings attend an experimental school in moscow where instruction is only in russian and classes are videotaped to improve teaching..

Danya: It was definitely very very hard when I was first plopped into a Russian school. I was old enough that I kind of prepared myself for it. It was like “Ok, you’re not going to know what is going on... just sit there and do nothing. It doesn’t matter.” And, that’s pretty much what I did. If I didn’t know what was going on, I just sat there and did nothing. Arden: The only things that I knew about Russia was that it had a lot of snow, they speak a different language and they have Matryoshka dolls. That’s literally all I knew. Emmett: [In Russian] It was very difficult to speak Russian. But, now I speak fluently. It is easy for me to speak. TITLE: AN EDUCATION: FOUR YEARS IN A PROGRESSIVE RUSSIAN SCHOOL Bogin: Comrades! Are you ready to start the day? Arden: We moved to Moscow because of my dad’s work. He’s a journalist for The New York Times. Cliff: Say hello on the first day of school Kids: Hello. Arden: My family decided that we would all the kids go to Russian schools because we really wanted to live in the culture and get to know it. Danya: So, I didn’t know that much about Soviet schools. All I knew was that all the kids had to sit there very straight and they had to put one arm up when they want to raise their hand and it’s all very strict and the teachers were not nice and they would yell at the kids and call them stupid. I did know that I didn’t want to go to a school like that. Bogin: Soviet school was the school where there were only two opinions. The opinion of teacher which was the right one and all the others which were wrong. My vision was this school to be quite different. And the children must be taught to think. SLATE: IN 2007, THE LEVY CHILDREN WERE THE FIRST NON-RUSSIAN SPEAKING STUDENTS TO ATTEND THE SCHOOL. Bogin: They were put in a very very difficult situation because they were not prepared for learning in Russian. The methods are different. Everything is different and I had a lot of doubts. Arden: It was hard especially in the first year, there were times when I was like “Omigod get me out of here.” Julie: She’s not happy. Cliff: It’s alright. She’ll be fine. Arden: I was actually excited about learning Russian before I learned how it’s actually very hard to learn a different language. // I learned not to beat myself up for not being as good as the other kids because there was really nothing I could do about it. I just didn’t speak Russian and they did. Danya: Russian is a very hard language. People think that for kids it’s so easy to learn a language which is true to a certain extent. But I was 9, when I started learning the language and it was really hard. // After 4 months when I didn’t really speak the language... It was very frustrating because if you wanted to say something and you can’t it’s very annoying. // My brother Emmett who was 4,5 had a very different experience than I did because I don’t think he even noticed he was somewhere else besides the fact that people were speaking in a strange language he didn’t understand. Emmett: Sometimes I actually didn’t understand what I had to do. // I feel like don’t know this. I can’t do this. What is this for? Sometimes I’d just get frustrated. Danya: My parents were worried that it’d be too stressful for us. Arden: We came here from going to PS 321 a Brooklyn public elementary school. At PS 321, it was like, everyone’s a winner. The most important thing is to have fun, everybody plays, there’s no like first, second or third place. Here it’s like a different planet. Bogin: Out of 18 points. Here’s what you got. Danya: Here they send an entirely different message to the kids. They’re like “learning is hard. But, you have to do it. You have to get good grades, that’s just what you have to do.” Arden: In the hallway, they hang up the rating for the entire school to see and there’s like different groups. There’s the best, then the middle then the worst and then the “omigod, you’re really bad.”

By Clifford J. Levy

• Sept. 15, 2011

The phone rang, and my stomach clenched when I heard her voice. “Daddy? I want to go home,” said my 8-year-old daughter, Arden. Two hours earlier, I dropped Arden and her two siblings off at their new school in a squat building in a forest of Soviet-era apartment blocks on Krasnoarmeyskaya (Red Army) Street in Moscow. They hugged me goodbye, clinging a little too long, and as I rode the metro to my office, I said a kind of silent prayer to myself that they would get through the day without falling apart.

But Arden had just spent the minutes between class periods hiding in the bathroom so no one would see her crying. Finally, she composed herself, found her teacher and pantomimed that she needed to talk to me. “I don’t understand . . . anything,” she told me. I tried to respond with soothing words, but I had no idea what to do. You can tell your kid to tough it out when she transfers from one school to another in your hometown. This was different.

My three children once were among the coddled offspring of Park Slope, Brooklyn. But when I became a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, my wife and I decided that we wanted to immerse them in life abroad. No international schools where the instruction is in English. Ours would go to a local one, with real Russians. When we told friends in Brooklyn of our plans, they tended to say things like, Wow, you’re so brave. But we knew what they were really thinking: What are you, crazy? It was bad enough that we were abandoning beloved Park Slope, with its brownstones and organic coffee bars, for a country still often seen in the American imagination as callous and forbidding. To throw our kids into a Russian school — that seemed like child abuse.

Most foreign correspondents, like expatriates in general, place their children in international schools. Yet it seemed to us like an inspiring idea. After all, children supposedly pick up language quickly. So what if mine did not speak a word of Russian and could not find Russia on a map. They were clever and resilient. They would adapt, become fluent and penetrate Russia — land of Dostoyevsky and Tchaikovsky, the Bolshoi Ballet and the Hermitage Museum — in ways all but impossible for foreigners.

But the fantasy of creating bilingual prodigies immediately collided with reality. My children — Danya (fifth grade), Arden (third grade) and Emmett (kindergarten) — were among the first foreigners to attend Novaya Gumanitarnaya Shkola, the New Humanitarian School. All instruction was in Russian. No translators, no hand-holding. And so on that morning, as on so many days that autumn of 2007, I feared that I was subjecting them to a cross-cultural experiment that would scar them forever.

I told Arden that I would call her back, and then I called my wife, Julie Dressner. “What should we do?” I asked. We had decided together on a Russian school, but it would become a source of tension between us. Our children were miserable, which caused us to doubt moving abroad — and to sometimes turn on each other. I wanted to give the school more time and not demand more from the teachers. Julie was alarmed and thought that we had to do something. But Julie was frustrated by our options, short of pulling them out. At one point, after a lengthy discussion with several of the teachers, she walked out of the school nearly in tears. She was studying Russian, but she realized that she had missed much of what had been said. How can you help your children when you can barely communicate with their teachers?

Julie and I talked. I wondered whether it might be better if I went to the school and persuaded Arden to stay until the end of the day, if only in a quiet room, reading a book in English. Julie wanted her picked up, reasoning that it would be smarter to start fresh tomorrow. I didn’t want to argue about it. When I found her at school, she brightened. It was as if she were being rescued. I held her hand as we walked to the metro, and I told her that I recognized that what she was doing was hard. I gently added that it would be nice if this were the last time that she left school early because she was upset. I suspected that it wouldn’t be.

When we started searching for schools, we assumed that a large public one in Moscow would be too daunting. Julie stumbled upon the Web site of New Humanitarian, a private school with 150 or so pupils and small classes. It promised an enlightened and innovative interpretation of the classic Soviet education — all the rigor, without the suffocating conformity. Moscow progressives! Maybe the transition wouldn’t be too rocky.

We were, of course, naïve. New Humanitarian, which runs kindergarten through high school, was still rooted in Russia’s educational and societal traditions. Students recite by heart from Pushkin’s “Yevgeny Onegin” (“My uncle was a man of virtue. . . .”) and tackle algebra as early as fourth grade. Children older than 9 are regularly rated, based on test scores. Student rankings are posted on a central wall for all to gawk at, like the latest sports stats.

In those first months, our kids found themselves bewildered and isolated. Danya was a typical oldest child, a coper who rarely lost control. At night, though, she had insomnia. In class, she braced herself for that moment when she was asked for homework. She sometimes did not know whether it had been assigned. During Russian grammar, the words on the blackboard looked like hieroglyphics. She tried to soothe herself by repeating a mantra: “It’s O.K. to feel like an idiot. This is going to take time.” But she felt betrayed. We had assured her that children grasp language effortlessly, and there she was, the dumb foreigner.

Arden was resisting getting out of bed in the morning, hugging her blanket in her room, where we had painted the walls to resemble green hills and blue skies. At recess, while others played vyshibaly , a Russian version of dodgeball, she passed the time walking back and forth on the curb, all alone, as if on a balance beam. Back at P.S. 321 in Park Slope, she relished her relationships with teachers, sometimes preferring to hang out with them instead of going to recess. At New Humanitarian, she could barely talk to them.

We hoped that Emmett would fare better, because he was only 5½ when he started. But one morning, he did so poorly on a minor exercise, involving drawing lines on graph paper, that he refused to hand it in. “Please let me see it,” his teacher implored. “Everyone is just learning here.” Finally, he crumpled the paper and smothered his face in it.

One night, he complained that he was not getting called on in class and knew why.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I’m an American,” he said.

I tried not to laugh. Though I could have used a good laugh.

I convinced myself that what they were doing was no different from what millions of immigrants in the United States do all the time. Yet my unease stemmed from more than the school. When we arrived in Russia, the country was still suffering through the aftermath of the humiliating Soviet collapse in 1991. Vladimir Putin, a former K.G.B. agent who scorned Western-style democracy, was ruling undisputed. Many Russians — fed up with post-Soviet disorder — applauded him.

With oil prices soaring, the economy, based on natural resources, was riding high. In Moscow, newly prosperous Russians embraced a breathtaking materialism, making up for Soviet deprivation. They sped down Tverskaya Street in Lexus S.U.V.’s, outfitted their homes with Poggenpohl kitchens and piled into Cantinetta Antinori and other restaurants run by celebrity chefs from Europe. Moscow has 10 million people, and most are not wealthy. But after a few months, I remember thinking, Was this a society that I wanted to embed my kids in?

We first visited New Humanitarian when Danya, Arden and Emmett were being evaluated for admission. We were met by a man with a shock of steel-wool hair and teeth whose color and arrangement suggested decades of Soviet dentistry and heavy smoking. His name was Vasiliy Georgievich Bogin, and he was the school’s founder and maestro.

We had just left Brooklyn and were spending our first year in Russia in St. Petersburg, the country’s second-biggest city, where I was studying intensive Russian before starting my job in Moscow. The kids were at a private school in St. Petersburg that had a program for foreigners who wanted to learn Russian. Their language skills were rudimentary.

At the school in Moscow, Bogin spent 45 minutes with each of the three, speaking to them in English. He gave Danya an algebra problem that was clearly too hard for her. He constructed the outline of a fish with toothpicks and asked Arden to make the fish face in the opposite direction by moving only a few pieces. He had Emmett take apart and rebuild a house made of blocks. He seemed to care about the way they thought, not what they knew. The children found him bizarre. But Bogin was giving us a taste of his methods.

Bogin, who is in his 50s, would be nearly six feet tall if he had better posture, but he always seems to lean forward, drawn to something else as he prowls the school. His eyes have the impish gleam of a man cooking up a brainteaser for the next person he encounters. (“Anyone who thinks that 2 + 2 = 4 is an idiot,” he likes to say. But more on that later.)

When Bogin was growing up in the Soviet era, the party used schools to mold loyal Communists. Teachers wove propaganda through the lessons and enforced memorization like drill sergeants. Bogin detested it. “I didn’t want to be a slave,” he told me. “I didn’t want to be a person who is ordered and must obey the orders without any thinking. I didn’t consider myself to be a person who repeats texts without any criticism or thinking or any alternatives.”

Just as political dissidents fought the Soviet regime, so, too, did others oppose the educational system. Bogin was one of them. After studying English in college and serving in the army, he decided to become the kind of teacher he craved as a child. At a school in the Moscow suburbs in the late 1980s, he challenged pupils to challenge him — and everyone else. It was the height of perestroika under the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.

Soon after Communism’s fall, Bogin opened New Humanitarian, one of the first private schools in Russia, in a cramped building that had been a nursery school for children of workers at a military factory. New Humanitarian remains there, and Bogin’s inability to renovate the building or find a bigger one reflects to some extent the establishment’s ambivalence toward his brilliance as an educational provocateur. (While the school is private, it is still heavily regulated by the government.)

After Bogin met my children that day in 2006, he told us that he very rarely admitted nonnative Russian speakers, let alone Americans, and he made clear that he could not provide separate classes for my children. We thought that he was preparing us for rejection. Then he said, “But I will take them.”

As the kids struggled during those first months, we promised them that they could switch to an international school at any time. Yet even as we fretted, they were developing survival skills on their own. They asked teachers for extra help after class. To prove to classmates that they were not clueless, they tried to do well in subjects that did not require a lot of Russian, like math. The girls employed a tactic that they called the smile-and-nod when they didn’t understand what someone was saying. They remembered the words and furtively looked them up.

All three were starting to converse in Russian, albeit with accents and grammatical errors, as if the language were seeping into their consciousness. “It was kind of like solving a code, because every day, you just have to figure out something new to say and some new way you have to act,” Danya later told me.

Even Russian-literature class seemed less daunting. Arden’s teacher was discussing Russian fairy tales one morning when she realized that Arden did not know the classic ending to many. It was akin to “. . . and they lived happily ever after.”

She asked Arden to repeat each word. Arden did. She told Arden to recite the sentences by herself. Arden hesitated, as if she were going to refuse, as she had many times before.

But then she did it. Her classmates applauded, and she beamed.

At the beginning of the year, the other children treated Danya, Arden and Emmett as curiosities. They occasionally mocked the three for their mangled syntax, though the school cracked down on that. Bogin even devised a ploy for Emmett’s class: one of the school’s English teachers conducted a lesson entirely in English. “This is what every day is like for Emmett,” the teacher explained. One boy was so tormented trying to follow along that he burst into tears.

The teasing eventually stopped, and some children started looking out for mine, assisting them with homework and inviting them to birthday parties.

Bogin had been concerned that our kids would not make it. But he saw that they were progressing and that they were an example for the rest of the school. By that point, we were enthralled by Bogin — he was a character out of our romanticized notion of the Russian intelligentsia. He could take humdrum topics — say, how children raise their hands in class — and turn them into lengthy dialogues that were never boring. Julie and I once had a meeting with Bogin to discuss Emmett’s study habits. It went nearly three hours. Bogin began to believe in our kids and became invested in their success. We drew strength from that.

Late in the spring of 2008, Danya came home with a startling announcement: Bogin had chosen her for the academic Olympiad team, largely for her math prowess. We could not fathom it. How could she understand the questions? She assured us that she was getting it. For the first time, a feeling of optimism washed over us.

Julie and I all but panicked early on, in large part because we felt powerless. Our inclination as parents had been to intervene to protect our children. But maybe it was better that they had to win these battles by themselves. As Bogin often says, “Life is the best teacher.”

As things settled, we were discovering that New Humanitarian was a pretty remarkable place. Bogin set up a system of what he called curators, two or three teachers whose job was to oversee the 10 to 15 children in each grade. Curators generally do not conduct lessons but observe classes, identify problems and take children to meals and activities. Everyone ate breakfast, lunch and snacks in the cafeteria, where comfort food, from borscht to blinis to cinnamon rolls, was served by doting cooks. My kids gobbled it up, and Emmett stopped wielding a fork and knife like a caveman. Many children, including ours, stayed at school until 6 p.m., doing homework with curators. This was a godsend for us, because we had difficulty helping with assignments.

New Humanitarian had standard subjects, like history and math, and Danya had many hours of homework a week. But Bogin added courses like antimanipulation, which was intended to give children tools to decipher commercial or political messages. He taught a required class called myshleniye , which means “thinking,” as in critical thinking. It was based in part on the work of a dissident Soviet educational philosopher named Georgy Shchedrovitsky, who argued that there were three ways of thinking: abstract, verbal and representational. To comprehend the meaning of something, you had to use all three.

When I asked Bogin to explain Shchedrovitsky, he asked a question. “Does 2 + 2 = 4? No! Because two cats plus two sausages is what? Two cats. Two drops of water plus two drops of water? One drop of water.”

From there, the theories became more complex. In practice, though, the philosophy meant that Bogin delighted in barraging children with word problems and puzzles to force them to think broadly. It was the opposite of the rote memorization of the Soviet system.

At dinnertime, the kids taunted me with riddles. “Ten crows are sitting on a fence,” Arden announced. “A cat pounces and eats one crow. How many are left?” “Umm, nine,” I said, fearing a trap. “No, none!” she gleefully responded. “Do you really think that after one crow is eaten, the others are going to stick around?”

Bogin had another innovation: classes were videotaped. This was not a vestige of Soviet surveillance. Rather, he wanted to critique how teachers interacted with — and nurtured relations between — children. Bogin and his staff often worked late into the night, reviewing footage and discussing methodology.

Life at New Humanitarian was full of academic Olympiads, poetry-reciting contests and quiz bowls. The school stressed oral exams, even in math, where children had to solve an equation at the blackboard and explain methodology. Children were graded and ranked, with results posted. We were not accustomed to this: in Brooklyn, the school instilled an everyone’s-a-winner ethos. At New Humanitarian, Danya says, “they send an entirely different message to the kids: ‘Learning is hard, but you have to do it. You have to get good grades.’ ”

At first, when rankings were posted, the school left off Danya and Arden to avoid embarrassing them. (Emmett was too young to be ranked.) As the girls became more comfortable in Russian, their names began appearing. As the months went by, I noticed that they were creeping up the list.

New Humanitarian cost about $10,000 a child our first year. We could afford it — like many companies that send workers abroad, The Times paid tuition. Yet for Muscovites, the school was a strange breed. It was too expensive for most but not appealing to the rich, who often preferred compliant teachers and lavish facilities. With its warped floors and narrow hallways, New Humanitarian looked like an old annex to a public school in Queens.

The school attracted upper-middle-class parents who were impressed with Bogin. In my children’s grades, the parents were lawyers, professors, bankers, architects, publishers, restaurateurs and a cosmetics manufacturer. They drove nice cars, lived in apartments that had been privatized in the post-Soviet era and vacationed in Western Europe.

I looked upon them as Russian versions of the parents who populate the Upper West Side, TriBeCa or Park Slope. Moscow has some strong public schools, but the system as a whole is dispiriting, in part because it is being corroded by the corruption that is a post-Soviet scourge. Parents often pay bribes to get their children admitted at better public schools. There are additional payoffs for good grades.

The parents at New Humanitarian exhibited one stark difference from their counterparts in New York: they were apolitical and often fatalistic about their nation’s future. Like many Russians in the Putin era, they turned inward, shunning public life and focusing on the personal. To do otherwise was risky. You can criticize the government in private as much as you want — K.G.B. snoops no longer lurk. But anything more than that and you might be fired or lose a contract or get a visit from the police. That anxiety is always there.

Aleksei Skvortsov, a retail executive who was the father of a boy in Emmett’s class, reminded me of the devoted dads I used to see taking their children to P.S. 321. When I asked Skvortsov what had happened to his generation, he responded: “I think that most people in Russia do not in any way believe that they can influence changes in society. So they concentrate on those changes that affect their personal lives.”

Still, the parents’ choice of New Humanitarian was in some sense an act of rebellion. They realized that after Bogin was done with their children, they would not succumb to anyone’s demagoguery.

Bogin disliked the Russian leadership, especially Putin, who seemed too Soviet to him. But Bogin was not active in politics, knowing that to support the opposition was to court unfavorable attention from the authorities. I was curious, though, how the government perceived him. He had devised a compelling model that could help rescue the education system. But he was ignored.

Last spring, I went to see Valery Fadeyev, a prominent journalist who is a member of the Public Chamber, a Kremlin advisory council, and has close ties to the liberal wing of Putin’s ruling party. Fadeyev’s daughter attends New Humanitarian, and he was thrilled with the school. He told me that the Kremlin’s educational bureaucracy was aware of Bogin but too calcified to care.

“The authorities do not prevent him from working, but they don’t have any use for him either,” Fadeyev said. “They don’t understand that education reform is the only real source for the revitalization of our country.”

Somehow, as the second year was melting into the third and fourth, life at New Humanitarian became normal. Danya was going to the coffee shop with her friends Masha and Dasha. Arden was excelling at Russian grammar, perhaps because she learned the rules from scratch, unlike native speakers. Both girls were at the top of the academic rankings. Emmett, still too young to be rated, was also thriving.

When I dropped them off in the morning, I was amazed as they bantered with other children. They no longer translated from English to Russian in their heads — the right words tumbled out. On the streets of Moscow, they were mistaken for natives. (Foreign residents have long resented how Russian theaters and museums charge foreigners a steep premium. We took great pleasure in sending the kids in to buy our tickets at the cheaper price.)

Their fluency and familiarity with the culture unlocked doors everywhere. On a long train ride to Estonia, they befriended a middle-aged construction executive and his wife, a doctor, who were from southern Russia. The couple set out black bread, pickled vegetables and smoked fish for the kids, and everyone sat there snacking and chatting for hours.

Arden joined a troupe that did not only ballet but also modern dance. At school, Danya was assigned Tolstoy and Chekhov, and then on her own, she started reading Mikhail Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita,” one of the most famous Russian novels of the 20th century, in the original.

The kids’ sense of belonging raised an awkward issue: Were they becoming more Russian than American? Were they assimilating, like immigrants everywhere? Julie and I had grown to love Russia and its people, but aspects of the country — its drift toward authoritarianism, its conservative social mores — still troubled us.

The children, as always, figured it out before we did. They integrated their American identities into the school, rather than spurning them. They helped the English teachers. They described life in the United States to friends. I knew that we had nothing to worry about when one of Arden’s curators, Galina Lebedeva, recounted how Arden demanded that girls move tables during cleanup, just like boys. “Arden, our American feministka, said the girls were as capable of doing the lifting as the boys,” Lebedeva told me with a smile. “We said, ‘Fine.’ ”

And then, after five years in Russia, it was time to return to Brooklyn.

Danya, now nearly 14, was ambivalent about leaving, drawn toward being a teenager in New York City. But Arden and Emmett would have gladly stayed. “I feel like I’m tugged in two ways, and I have no idea what to do,” Arden told me last spring. “That’s the one problem with living abroad. You end up getting those weird feelings like, Oh, I can’t leave; I can’t stay.”

On the kids’ final day, Bogin called an assembly to wish them goodbye. He started praising them for all they had overcome but then stopped. This, too, would not be just a lecture.

“What would we not have had if these three had not been here?” he asked. “How did they enrich our school?”

“Theater!” someone shouted back.

“The school newspaper!”

“Great friendships!”

A chant began. “ Spa-si-bo! Spa-si-bo! ” (“Thank you!”)

Some teachers and children had tears in their eyes.

I went onstage to express my deep appreciation but was too choked up to speak. Suddenly, Arden strode forward and took the microphone. In confident and flawless Russian, she thanked the school for all of us.

Clifford J. Levy ([email protected]) is a deputy metro editor of the Times. He won a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his coverage of Russia in 2011.

Editor: Aaron Retica ([email protected])

Services to Protect Children in Russia Have Improved Significantly, but Further Progress Needed, says World Bank

MOSCOW, JUNE 11, 2021 – Child protection services and support for families in difficulty have improved dramatically in Russia over the past 30 years, but several challenges remain, according to a new World Bank report, Organization and Delivery of Child Protection Services in Russia, which is accompanied by Two Case Studies: the Leningrad Oblast and the Republic of Tatarstan.

Since the late 1990s, Russia has reoriented its child protection system to focus more on prevention of child neglect and orphanhood, as well as family placement of children left without parental care. The country has seen significant results. The number of children each year entering specialized institutions for orphans and children left without parental care decreased by 19 percent from 2009 to 2020. In addition, the total number of children in public care declined by 40 percent during the same period.

Family placement for children has increased and institutionalization of children left without parental care has declined. 81 percent of children identified each year as deprived of parental care are placed in family care. These trends reflect concerted efforts by the Russian Government to develop and expand its system of family-based placement for children – specifically paid foster care, which did not exist in Russia prior to the 2000s.

To help prevent orphanhood and child neglect and abuse, and to assist families in difficulty, a network of social work and care service organizations was established throughout Russia. The role of non-governmental, non-profit organizations (NGOs) in providing services to vulnerable families and children has increased significantly in recent years.

However, the report also notes that a number of serious issues need to be addressed. In particular, the rate of children in public care remains high – 1,673 per 100,000 children – which is higher than in many other upper middle-income/high income countries. Timely identification of families at risk and interventions to prevent child neglect, abuse and separation also remain inadequate. Few regions in Russia have adopted a comprehensive system of social work and care services as a core element of the child protection system.

“To ensure that each child grows in a protective, healthy and loving family, it is necessary to fully implement three key tenets of the child protection policy: prevention of child neglect, abuse and family distress; assistance to families experiencing these issues; and family placement for children who must be separated from their families, with the objective of reuniting the family as soon as possible,” said Renaud Seligmann, World Bank Country Director and Resident Representative for the Russian Federation .

Over the next five to ten years, Russia should aim to decrease the number of children identified each year as left without parental care and placed in residential care; introduce a no-institutionalization policy for children below school age, irrespective of their health status; and introduce a policy of suitable placement for adolescents.

The report offers several recommendations for further improving Russia’s child protection system, which include: selecting at the federal level a single executive body responsible for all matters concerning the national policy for protection of vulnerable children and their families; further developing preventive services; establishing clear accountability rules and robust monitoring within the child protection system; strengthening the data system of child protection infrastructure; and improving budget reporting on child protection spending.

Washington, DC

Home — Essay Samples — Mental Effects Of Child Abuse

Mental Effects of Child Abuse

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Report Neglect, Abuse, and Abandonment

Reporting neglect, abuse, or abandonment.

Idaho receives nearly 23,000 calls per year of suspected child abuse, neglect, or abandonment, so you are not alone if you need to report concerns about a child.  Learn what to do if you need to make a report as we answer this and other questions about Idaho’s reporting law. 

Child and Family Services’ role is limited to what may be happening in a family home. If a child is the victim of maltreatment by an individual not living in the home, such as a neighbor, family friend, or relative, the report is forwarded to law enforcement. However, if there are concerns that the child’s parents are unwilling or unable to protect the child from further harm, Child and Family Services may proceed with a safety assessment.

Everyone in Idaho is required to report child abuse, neglect or abandonment.   This includes doctors, hospital residents, therapists, interns, nurses, coroners, school teachers, daycare providers, social workers, relatives, friends, and private citizens. Idaho has only one exception for mandatory reporting for a “duly ordained minister of religion.” 

All callers can remain anonymous. Callers may provide their name and phone number for the assigned social worker to contact them to confirm the report and gather any additional information. Department staff DO NOT disclose caller information to the family. The social worker will tell the family the caller's information is confidential and if the family requests their records the information will be redacted. 

The social worker will guide you through the reporting process, but some common things to have ready include:

• Child and family names, address, and phone number
• Current location of the child and if they are in immediate danger
• Description of any injury to the child and when and where the incident occurred
• Names of people who may also have information
• Explanation of your concerns regarding the child’s safety
• Any additional information you have that may be helpful
• Your name, address, phone number, and relationship to the child

It is OK if you are not sure if abuse, neglect, or abandonment has occurred but you feel you should call. Let the Department of Health and Welfare (DHW) or law enforcement decide if they have enough information to respond. You do not need to prove abuse, neglect, or abandonment has occurred before you call and make a report.

Ideally, the report should happen within 24 hours of becoming aware of the concerns.  We recognize that making a report can be a difficult and scary decision. However, we need everyone to do their part to protect children. Remember, you do not need to prove your concerns before making the report.

Callers are immune from civil liability if they are reporting in good faith.

The intake social worker will determine if the report meets the criteria to assign it to a social worker to conduct a safety assessment. If not, the report is documented in the department's database and can be reviewed if additional calls are made about the same family. 

If the case is assigned to a social worker for a safety assessment, the family is contacted within specific timeframes. Sometimes law enforcement accompanies the social worker. If the initial call is made to law enforcement, they will contact the department and a social worker responds with an officer or deputy to jointly assess the situation. 

For more about the safety assessment, read the short brochure on a Parent’s Guide to Assessments of Abuse, Neglect, Abandonment .