Today, child abuse and neglect is widely recognized as a major social problem and policy issue in the United States and throughout much of the world. During the last 50 years, the United States and many of the world's nations have responded to child abuse and neglect with legislative efforts, a variety of programs and interventions, and organizational efforts to identify, respond to and prevent the abuse and neglect of dependent children. Today, there are innumerable local, national and international organizations, professional societies and advocacy groups devoted to preventing and treating child abuse and neglect.

While international concern about child maltreatment is relatively new, child abuse and neglect is not a recent phenomenon. The maltreatment of children has manifested itself in nearly every conceivable manner--physically, emotionally, sexually and by forced child labor (Ten Bensel, Rheinberger and Radbill, 1997). Historians have been able to document the occurrence of various forms of the mistreatment of children back to the beginnings of recorded history. In some ancient cultures, children had no rights until the right to live was bestowed upon them by their fathers. The right to live was sometimes withheld by fathers, and newborns were abandoned or left to die. Although we do not have the means to know how commonplace abandonment or killing was, we do know that infanticide was widely accepted among ancient and prehistoric cultures. Newborns and infants could be put to death because they cried too much, because they were sickly or deformed, or because of some perceived imperfection. Girls, twins and children of unmarried women were the special targets of infanticide (Robin, 1980).

Many societies subjected their offspring to survival tests. Some Native Americans threw their newborns into pools of water and rescued them only if they rose to the surface and cried. German parents also plunged children into icy waters as a test of fitness to live (Ten Bensel, Rheinberger and Radbill, 1997). Greek parents exposed their children to natural elements as a survival test.

Survival tests and infanticide were not the only abuses inflicted by generations of parents. From prehistoric times to the present, children have been mutilated, beaten and maltreated. Such treatment was not only condoned but was often mandated as the most appropriate child-rearing method. Children were, and continue to be, hit with rods, canes and switches. Boys have been castrated to produce eunuchs. Girls have been, and continue to be, subjected to genital surgery or mutilation as part of culturally approved ritual. Colonial parents were implored to "beat the devil" out of their children (Greven, 1991; Straus, 1994).

Summing up the plight of children from prehistoric times until the present, David Bakan comments that "Child abuse thrives in the shadows of privacy and secrecy. It lives by inattention" (Bakan, 1971).

Worldwide, there is no universally agreed upon definition of what constitutes child abuse (or child maltreatment), although each country has its own definition of child abuse. In its broadest sense, the term child abuse refers to any harm, physical or emotional, that is done intentionally to a child. Abuse may include physical assault, sexual exploitation and verbal or emotional assault. Some states include the presence of controlled substances in a child at birth or in the child's home as a form of child abuse. No state bans corporal punishment as of this writing, although some states prohibit extreme corporal punishment.

Child abuse also encompasses child neglect, which is the most common form of child maltreatment, and which can lead to severe injuries or even fatalities among infants and young children.

Traditionally, child abuse has been limited to the actions of a parent/guardian or other person responsible for a child's welfare. Crimes committed against children by strangers or by other children were not, strictly speaking, known as child abuse. More recently, however, child abuse statutes in many states have expanded their state laws to encompass teachers, day-care workers and others who are responsible for the out-of-home care of children.

References:

1) Bakan, D. The Slaughter of the Innocents. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.

2) Greven, P. Spare the Child: The Religious Roots of Punishment and the Psychological Impact of Physical Abuse. New York: Knopf, 1990.

3) Robin, M. "Historical introduction: Sheltering arms: The roots of child protection." In E. Newberger, ed. Child Abuse. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980, pp. 1-41.

4) Straus, M. A. Beating the Devil out of Them: Corporal Punishment in American Families. New York: Lexington Books, 1994.

5) Ten Bensel, R. L., M. Rheinberger, and S. X. Radbill. "Children in a world of violence: The roots of child maltreatment." In M. E. Heifer, R. S. Kempe, and R. D. Krugman, eds. The Battered Child. 4th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997, pp. 3-28.

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	Term Paper on Fatalities among Abused or Neglected Children
	Fatalities among Abused or Neglected Children Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. In 2003, an estimated 1,500 children died of neglect or abuse in the United States, up from 1,400 children who died of maltreatment in 2002. About 79% were from zero to three years old, followed by 10% who were from four to seven years old. The other children who died were about evenly split between those who were eight to 11 years old and 12-17 years old. Most were white (43%) or African American (31%). Infant boys younger than age one were at greatest risk, with a fatality rate of 17.7 deaths per 100,000 boys...
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	Essay on Castration and Child Abuse
	Castration and Child Abuse Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. Castration usually refers to a bilateral orchiectomy, or the surgical removal of male gonads. Surgical castration makes it difficult (or very unlikely) for a man to have erections. In some rare cases, males voluntarily consent to surgical castration. They may be male sex offenders who wish to suppress their sex drive and consequently decrease their risk of reoffending and thus returning to prison. Rather than surgical castration, some sex offenders willingly take drugs that suppress their sexual drive, which is often referred...
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	Term Paper on Burn Injuries in Child Abuse
	Burn Injuries in Child Abuse Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. One of the leading causes of accidental death to children, burns are also a frequent method of abuse. Treatment of a child's burns is painful, and permanent scarring may result from full thickness (third-degree) burns. Young children have thinner skin than older children or adults, and, consequently, a child's skin may be damaged or destroyed more quickly and with a lower heat temperature. According to Moore and Smith in their chapter on child abuse by burns, in Understanding the Medical Diagnosis of Child Maltreatment...
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	Essay on Blaming the Victim of Child Abuse
	Blaming the Victim of Child Abuse Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. A common rationalization of child maltreatment is that the victim of the abuse is in some way responsible for the abuse. Abusive parents often have unrealistic expectations of their children and punish them for behavior that may be natural for children of a given age. Punishing children for behavior over which they have little control is not only ineffective but may cause further negative behavior. Thinking the child has not learned his or her lesson, immature parents may increase punishment to the point of physical or emotional...
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	Term Paper on Battered Child Syndrome
	Battered Child Syndrome Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. The late C. Henry Kempe, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, is credited with coining the term "battered child syndrome." Concerned by the number of abused infants and children receiving medical care who were misdiagnosed or improperly treated, Dr. Kempe sought to bring the problem of child abuse to the attention of physicians. Using his position as president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, he organized a symposium on the subject in 1961. The name battered child syndrome...
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	Research Paper on The Baby Doe Case
	The Baby Doe Case Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. The Baby Doe Case was a controversial court case in the United States that illustrates the difficulty in defining child abuse. In October of 1983, a baby, known simply as Baby Jane Doe, was born in a New York hospital. In addition to an exposed spine (spina bifida), Baby Doe suffered from excess fluid on the brain and an abnormally small head. Corrective surgery could add several years to her life but could not correct her severe mental and physical retardation. After consulting with several physicians, the parents decided...
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	Research Paper on "At-Risk" Children
	"At-Risk" Children Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. A variety of personal, familial and environmental factors serve to place some children at greater risk of abuse or neglect than others. Even prenatal occurrences such as parental substance abuse or an unwanted pregnancy can predispose a child to maltreatment. Usually the presence or absence of a particular trait in a child is less important than the perception by the parent or other caregiver that it exists; however, perpetrators of abuse may attempt to explain their behavior as a response to a characteristic or behavior of the child...
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	Term Paper on Child Abuse and Anxiety Disorders
	Child Abuse and Anxiety Disorders Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. Crippling, chronic emotional problems that cause overwhelming anxiety and fear that may become progressively worse. Physically abused children are about four times more likely to develop anxiety disorders than non-abused children. These disorders can be devastating to those who suffer from them unless treatment is provided. Children and adolescents may develop anxiety disorders that usually continue into adulthood. Some examples of anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder...
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	Essay on Advocacy for Abused Children
	Advocacy for Abused Children Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. For most children, a parent acts as an advocate. Various needs, including physical, psychological, educational and emotional, are met by the parent or parents so that children are nurtured and protected until they are able to care for themselves. For children who are the victims of neglect or abuse, however, advocacy extends to institutions, groups and individuals in society who are best able to provide for children whose needs are not met by their parent(s). In the United States at different times, a variety of efforts have...
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	Term Paper on Problems of Adults Abused as Children
	Problems of Adults Abused as Children Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. Childhood and/or adolescent abuse that often leads to lifelong and seriously negative effects in adulthood, as proven in study after study. Childhood abuse is linked to major psychiatric and health problems in adulthood as well as other problematic and harmful behaviors, such as drug addiction, alcoholism and eating disorders. In addition, adults who were abused as children are at a greater risk than others for suffering from re-victimization by others in adulthood...
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	Term Paper on Adoption of Abused or Neglected Children
	Adoption of Abused or Neglected Children Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. The assumption of permanent parental rights and obligations over a child who was abused and/or neglected. The family may be aware of the abuse and/or neglect before the adoption; however, in some cases social workers are unaware of some cases of past abuse or neglect unless it was egregious. Most children in the foster-care system in the United States were abused and/or neglected; few parents or other caretakers willingly place their children in foster care. It is also true that many children in foreign orphanages...
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	Research Paper on Adolescent Abuse and Antisocial Behavior
	Adolescent Abuse and Antisocial Behavior Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. In the study of abuse and adolescents, researchers used questionnaires on 4,790 public school children in grades 8, 10 and 12 in the state of Washington. The goal was to determine if abuse was linked to antisocial and suicidal behavior. Students were asked "Have you ever been abused or mistreated by an adult?" (which researchers considered "abuse") and "Has anyone ever touched you in a sexual place, or made you touch them, when you did not want them to?" (which researchers considered "molestation")...
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	Essay on Adolescent Abuse
	Adolescent Abuse Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. Abuse of adolescents has attracted less public attention than maltreatment of younger children. Many assume that the age of the child is relatively unimportant or that adolescents are better able to defend themselves and thus adolescent abuse is less serious. Yet, the abuse of adolescents can have profound and lifelong impacts on the adolescents, their peers and others with whom they interact. Available data indicate that adolescent abuse is, in many ways, significantly different from abuse of children under the age of 12. Psychological and sexual abuse levels are higher among adolescents. Adolescents receive less serious injuries as a result of abuse, reflecting both fewer physical...
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	Term Paper on Abusers Outside the Family
	Abusers Outside the Family Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. Sometimes children are abused by people they barely know, particularly in the case of sexual abuse. For example, of the women abused before age 18 by males not in their family, 15% were sexually abused by strangers and 40% by acquaintances. In considering abusers outside the family, such as day-care providers, legal guardians, other professionals and friends and neighbors by category of abuse, researchers have found that "neglect only" is the most prominent form of abuse among all of these categories, including day-care...
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	Essay on Patterns of Family Violence and Child Abuse
	Patterns of Family Violence and Child Abuse Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. In their landmark studies of family violence in 1975 and 1985, Murray Straus and Richard Gelles found patterns between family violence and child abuse. For example, they found that blue-collar workers were about one-third more likely to abuse their children than were white-collar workers. In addition, wives of blue-collar workers were also more likely to abuse their children than were wives of white-collar workers. Parents who were verbally aggressive to their children were also more likely to be physically...
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	Research Paper on Child Abuse Risk and Protective Factors
	Child Abuse Risk and Protective Factors Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. Research has revealed that some situational risk factors increase the probability of child abuse, while protective factors decrease the probability. The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control has discussed both risk factors and protective factors related to child abuse. According to this organization, risk factors include the following circumstances, which increase the likelihood of committing abuse: Disabilities or mental retardation in children, Social isolation of families, Parents' lack of...
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	Essay on Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment
	Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. As noted earlier, all 50 states had enacted mandatory reporting laws for child abuse and neglect by the late 1960s. These laws require certain professionals (or in some states, all adults) to report cases of suspected abuse or neglect. When a report comes in, state or local protective service workers investigate to determine if the child is in need of protection and if the family is in need of help or assistance. Although a wide array of options are available to child protection workers, they typically have two...
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	Term Paper on Theories Explaining the Abuse and Neglect of Children
	Theories Explaining the Abuse and Neglect of Children Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. Risk and protective factors do not, in and of themselves, explain why parents and caretakers abuse and neglect their children. The earliest explanatory theories and models focused on intra-individual factors to explain maltreatment. These models included a psychopathological explanation that explained abuse and neglect as a function of individual psychopathology. Other models proposed that maltreatment arose out of mental illness or the use and abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs...
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	Research Paper on Situational and Environmental Factors in Child Abuse
	Situational and Environmental Factors in Child Abuse Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. Stress. Unemployment, financial problems, being a single parent, being a teenage mother and sexual difficulties are all factors that are related to child maltreatment, as are a host of other stressor events (Burrell, Thompson and Sexton, 1994). Social isolation and social support. The data on social isolation are somewhat less consistent than are the data for the previously listed risk factors. First, because so much of the research on child abuse and neglect is cross-sectional...
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	Term Paper on Child Abuse Prevalence
	Child Abuse Prevalence Research Paper, Custom Essays and Term Papers Writing on Child Abuse. Various methods have been used in attempts to achieve an accurate estimate of child abuse and neglect in the United States, including tabulating official reports of child maltreatment received by state child welfare agencies, as well as self-report surveys. The Office on Child Abuse and Neglect has conducted three surveys designed to measure the national incidence of reported and recognized child maltreatment (NCCAN, 1988; NCCAN, 1996). The surveys assessed how many cases were known to investigatory agencies, professionals in schools...
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