Child Abuse

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 86 (5) ◽  
pp. 805-806
Author(s):  
ALLAN R. DE JONG ◽  
MIMI ROSE
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Iron Pyrite ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Physical Evidence

In Reply.— We thank Dr Smith for his interesting perspective regarding screening for child abuse. We had hoped our article would help physicians focus on the verbal evidence of abuse and show how insensitive the physical evidence is in predicting which child had been abused sexually. To apply the principles of sensitivity and specificity to the assessment of child abuse or sexual abuse, we must have a gold standard which characterizes these problems. Neither a child protective services decision nor a legal determination of "no proven abuse" can be used as a gold standard, unless we can accept a "gold standard" made of iron pyrite.

Child Abuse and Neglect

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan J. Wells ◽  
Geoff Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Child Abuse And Neglect ◽  
State Agencies ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Abuse And Neglect ◽  
International Data ◽  
Definition Of

The true extent of child abuse and neglect is unknown but reports to state agencies indicate over 3 million reports concerning maltreatment of over 6 million children are made each year. Confirmed reports involved over 679,000 children in 2013. Yet, only 32% of the children known to be harmed by maltreatment in the community are investigated by child protective services. The perplexing dilemma in surveillance and service delivery is how to identify those who need help without spuriously including those who do not. This entry focuses on the definition of maltreatment and provides an overview of the history, etiology, and consequences of child abuse and neglect as well as the current trends and dilemmas in the field. To afford some perspective for the reader, some international data and information are provided.

Intergenerational Continuity in Child Maltreatment: Explicating Underlying Mechanisms

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052091454
Author(s):  
Tiffany L. Martoccio ◽  
Lisa J. Berlin ◽  
Elizabeth M. Aparicio ◽  
Karen Appleyard Carmody ◽  
Kenneth A. Dodge
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal Study ◽  
Physically Abused ◽  
Child Victimization ◽  
History Of ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

The current study examined direct and indirect effects of a mother’s history of childhood physical and sexual abuse on her child’s officially reported victimization. This prospective, longitudinal study followed a community-based sample of 499 mothers and their children. Mothers (35% White/non-Latina, 34% Black/non-Latina, 23% Latina, and 7% other) were recruited and interviewed during pregnancy, and child protective services records were reviewed for the presence of the participants’ target child between birth and age 3.5. Whereas both types of maternal maltreatment history doubled the child’s risk of child protective services investigation, mothers’ sexual abuse history conferred significantly greater risk. Pathways to child victimization varied by type of maternal maltreatment history. Mothers who had been physically abused later demonstrated interpersonal aggressive response biases, which mediated the path to child victimization. In contrast, the association between maternal history of sexual abuse and child victimization was mediated by mothers’ substance use problems. Study implications center on targeting child maltreatment prevention efforts according to the mother’s history and current problems.

Factors in Sexual Abuse of Children

1986 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 591-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Curtis
Keyword(s):  
Substance Abuse ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Family Dysfunction ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Present Discussion ◽  
Reporting Laws

Despite current attention to ostensibly widespread sexual abuse of children less emphasis has been directed toward identifying factors which might contribute. Accountability of professionals under mandatory reporting laws in many states now requires protection of children against inadvertent or calculated varieties of abuse. The present discussion lists factors such as family dysfunction, psychopathology, substance abuse, social ineptitude, withdrawal, and isolation, history, and psychosocial stresses and crises, which may be used to estimate the likelihood of sexual abuse of children. While determination of physical and mental abuse, neglect, endangerment, and abandonment were not the focus of the present discussion, these varieties of child abuse seem correlated with the conditions under which sexual abuse occurs. Attention to these factors—applied together with clinical intuitions and other relevant sources of information—might help professionals make more accurate assessments from which possible incidents of child sexual abuse might be averted.

Child Molestations by Homosexual Foster Parents: Illinois, 1997–2002

2005 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Sexually Abused ◽  
Foster Parents ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Sexual Offenses ◽  
Child Services ◽  
Sexually Abuse ◽  
Sexually Abused Girls

Do those who engage in homosexuality disproportionately sexually abuse foster or adoptive children as reported by child protective services? Illinois child services reported sexual abuse for 1997 through 2002. 270 parents committed “substantiated” sexual offenses against foster or subsidized adoptive children: 67 (69%) of 97 of these mother and 148 (86%) of 173 of these father perpetrators sexually abused girls; 30 (31%) of the mothers and 25 (14%) of the father perpetrators sexually abused boys, i.e., 92 (34%) of the perpetrators homosexually abused their charges. Of these parents 15 both physically and sexually abused charges: daughters by 8 of the mothers and 4 of the fathers, sons by 3 of the mothers, i.e., same-sex perpetrators were involved in 53%. Thus, homosexual practitioners were proportionately more apt to abuse foster or adoptive children sexually.

On Racial Disparities in Child Abuse Reports: Exploratory Mapping the 2018 NCANDS

2021 ◽  
pp. 107755952110019
Author(s):  
Amanda Luken ◽  
Reshmi Nair ◽  
Rebecca L. Fix
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Child Maltreatment ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Psychological Abuse ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
White Child ◽  
Child Physical Abuse ◽  
Pacific Islanders ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Child Population

Research suggests children from non-White and Hispanic/Latinx communities are at higher risk for child maltreatment. This study identified in which states children from specific non-White communities were overrepresented in child protective services reports for child physical, sexual, and emotional/psychological abuse through exploratory mapping. Reports on child maltreatment originated from the 2018 National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System and state-level population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Racial disparities were identified in states with unequal proportions of reported child maltreatment among a non-White child population compared to the proportion among the White child population. We found disparities for children from non-White communities in many states, especially for Black communities (Disparity Ratio [DR]: 15.10 for child physical abuse, DR: 12.77 for child sexual abuse in Washington DC, and DR: 5.25 for child emotional/psychological abuse in California). The ability to identify high disparities among Pacific Islanders highlights one of the study’s strengths, given we separately examined Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and multiracial communities. Results from our exploratory mapping provide insight into how preventive resources might be differentially allocated to non-White communities with higher child protective services reporting compared with White communities, and manifest states with multiple non-White communities overrepresented across maltreatment types.

Chlamydia and Suspected Sexual Abuse

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-602
Author(s):  
LAWRENCE S. NEINSTEIN ◽  
C. DANIEL FUSTER
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Young Child ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Fluorescent Antibody ◽  
Antibody Test ◽  
Prevalence Rates ◽  
Perinatal Infection ◽  
Direct Fluorescent Antibody ◽  
Low Prevalence

In Reply.— We thank Dr Hammerschlag for her thoughtful comments. We wholeheartedly agree with her about the use of cultures in the setting of suspected sexual abuse. As other studies have indicated, the sensitivity and specificity of the direct fluorescent antibody test are too low in a population with low prevalence rates such as a population with suspected child abuse. We also agree with Dr Hammerschlag about the possibility of perinatal infection in a young child.

Hotline Tip to Probable Cause: Filling the Gap Between Suspicion and Physical Abuse Findings for Mandated Reporters

2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Dreuth Zeman
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Child Protective Services ◽  
Case Managers ◽  
Mandated Reporting ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
Care Managers ◽  
The Family ◽  
State Child ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Mandated Reporters

Almost all care managers are mandated reporters and as such they are responsible for reporting suspected cases of child abuse or neglect to state child protective services. Experienced case managers understand that making a call to an abuse hotline does not guarantee that the family or child will get the help that they believe will reduce the child’s risk of abuse. This article addresses legal and policy aspects of reporting child maltreatment and will include an examination of the policies on mandated reporting and professional and legal definitions of abuse. It will define the fundamental elements of parents’ rights and will demonstrate how those rights interface with governments’ responsibilities to protect children. It will also identify ways in which care managers can enhance child risk assessments and the results of reporting suspected child abuse through planning, facilitation, outcome, and professional development.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document