Child Abuse – Knowledge base

WHAT IS CHILD ABUSE?

As Health Canada, Child Maltreatment Section states “Child maltreatment refers to the harm, or risk of harm, that a child or youth may experience while in the care of a person they trust or depend on, including a parent, sibling, other relative, teacher, caregiver or guardian. Harm may occur through direct actions by the person (acts of commission) or through the person’s neglect to provide a component of care necessary for healthy child growth and development (acts of omission).”

There are five types of child maltreatment/ child abuse:

1. Physical abuse

       is the deliberate application of force to any part of a child’s body, which results or may result in a non-accidental injury. Physical abuse may include shaking, choking, biting, kicking, burning, poisoning, holding a child under water, or any other harmful or dangerous use of force or restraint.

2. Sexual abuse

       occurs when an adult or youth uses a child for sexual purposes. Sexual abuse includes fondling, intercourse, incest, sodomy, exhibitionism, and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials.

3. Neglect/failure to provide 

       occurs when a child’s parents or caregivers do not provide the requisite attention to the child’s emotional, psychological, or physical development.

4. Emotional harm

       involves acts or omissions by parents or caregivers that cause or could cause serious behavioural, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders. Emotional maltreatment can include verbal threats, socially isolating a child, intimidation, exploitation, terrorizing, or routinely making unreasonable demands on a child.

5. Exposure to family violence

       Allowing a child to see, hear or otherwise be exposed to signs of the violence (e.g., to see bruises or physical injuries on the caregiver or to overhear violent episodes)

The person who abuses the child can be:

• a parent
• a brother or sister
• another relative
• a caregiver
• a guardian
• a teacher
• another professional or volunteer who works with children (for example, a doctor or coach)

Laws that protect children from abuse:

The federal, provincial, and territorial government has passed laws that protect children from the abuse. There are three types of laws- Criminal code, protection laws and special laws. Criminal code is a federal law that applies across Canada. Protection laws protect the child from abuse and could be used to stop the abuse.

Special laws protect children from sexual abuse and from sexual activities that exploit them. Any sexual contact between an adult and a child under 16 is a crime. In Canada, the age of consent for sexual activity is 16, but there are some exceptions if the other person is close in age to the child.

If a child is sexually abused at home, child protection services could intervene and remove the child from his or her parents.

Other form of abuse is child exposure to the family violence. Children witnessing family violence are at risk for both short and long-term harm. The harm could be emotional, behavioral, or developmental. They are also at a risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder or struggling with mental illness.

Exposing a child to family violence can be grounds for child protection intervention under provincial and territorial child protection laws.

FACTS:

1. 85% of child sexual abuse victims know their sexual abusers.
2. In a study with Toronto street youth, one-third of these youth had experienced severe physical or sexual abuse or both.
3. A study in Ontario found that 31% of males and 21% of females experienced physical abuse during childhood.
4. In 2003, neglect was the most common form of child maltreatment reported to social workers in Canada.
5. In 2005, UNICEF estimated that between 133–275 million children worldwide are exposed to violence in the family.