Definition of Child Abuse and Neglect
Definitions associated with child abuse stem from the work of Kemp and his seminal work on battered child syndrome. Today, the term most often used is child abuse. Child abuse is defined as the physical, sexual, or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child, often by a parent or other caregiver. Abuse is not only the mistreatment but also the neglect of a child. Inadequate food, shelter, clothing, medical care, or supervision are all forms of neglect and can include the lack of appropriate attention from any adult responsible for a child, such as teachers, daycare providers, or nannies (Theoklitou, Kabitsis, & Kabitsi, 2012). Child abuse can occur in a child’s home, school, care center, or community.
According to Welch, Wilhelm, and Johnson (2013), child abuse and neglect can be divided into six subcategories:
• Supervisory neglect: failing to keep the child from being harmed. Examples include not supervising a child around weapons or leaving a child with someone not capable of watching after the child.
• Physical neglect: failing to provide the basic physical necessities, such as a safe and clean home, adequate amounts of food, and clean water
• Medical neglect: not providing medical care for an injured or sick child or withholding care with the intent to cause death
• Emotional neglect: not providing nurturance, encouragement, and support; rejecting or humiliating a child, or giving bizarre forms of punishment which leads to emotional issues
• Educational neglect: not providing access to adequate education and the resources to actively participate in the school system
• Abandonment: leaving a child alone for a long period of time without a babysitter
Infanticide is the killing of a child under one year of age, which often occurs by the hands of their parents or caregivers—particularly by mothers. Historically, this was considered acceptable, especially if the child had deformities or abnormalities or the family was not able to take care of the child for some reason. It is still an issue today: children under one year-of-age are at a higher risk of death due to neglect and abuse than other children. In the United States, boys are more likely to be the victim of infanticide, as opposed to places like China, where the social pressure for a boy and the limitation of only one child per family results in girls being the more likely victims of infanticide (Kindschi Gossekin, 2010).
One of the most famous examples of infanticide is when the Pharaoh, a ruler in ancient Egypt, decreed that every male Hebrew be killed. Jochebed, the mother of Moses, hid her newborn son for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she made a wooden chest watertight with slime and pitch and let the chest float in the Nile hoping he would live. When Pharaoh’s daughter went to bath herself by the Nile, she discovered the basket and took pity on the baby. Image: Moses and Jochebed. Authored by: Pedro Américo. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pedro_Am%C3%A9rico_- _Mis%C3%A9s_e_Jocabed_-_1884.jpg. License: CC-0