Child Maltreatment

WHAT IS CHILD MALTREATMENT?

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) defines child abuse as, “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” Abuse falls into four categories:

• Physical: Children frequently have accidents and hurt themselves. However, concerned parties should look for patterns or behaviors that may suggest that abuse may be occurring: the child being afraid of adults, acting out in school, or being very shy and
withdrawn.

• Neglect: Depriving the child of basic physical needs such as food, shelter, clothing, medical needs and adequate supervision are typical features of child-neglect.

• Sexual Abuse or Exploitation: Defined by CAPTA as, “the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct; or the rape, and in cases of caretaker or inter-familial relationships, statutory rape, molestation, prostitution, or other form of sexual exploitation of children, or incest with children.”

• Emotional: May include intentional belittling, humiliation, or shaming of a child or anything which damages the psychological condition of the child. A child acting out, withdrawing, or being depressed could exhibit this. (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2007; Children’s Justice Center, 2009; Jaffe-Gill, Saisan, & Segal, 2008; Prevent Child Abuse Utah, 2009)


HOW TO RECOGNIZE MALTREATMENT

• Unexplained injuries or bruise, bite or burn marks
• Child’s story about where injury came from sounds made up
• Overly touchy or extremely withdrawn from adults
• Nervous or paranoid
• Doesn’t show any signs of disappointment when separated from parents
• If it is sexual abuse there may be other behaviors exhibited such as:
        - Acting out sexually
        - Being overly touchy with themselves or others
        - Doesn’t want to go certain places or be where a specific person may be
        - Being afraid of the dark or regressing to other childish behaviors
        - Sexual maltreatment may be particularly difficult to detect because there may not be any indicators of abuse and it is very           hard to prove this abuse has occurred.
• Risk factors
        - Substance Abuse
        - There is a much higher rate of child abuse among children who use substance abuse.
        - Family history
        - There is a greater risk of children being abused if their parents were abused as children.


WHAT CLERGY CAN DO

• Be aware! Don’t think this could not or would not ever happen to members in your congregation. Be informed about how the clergy is to report abuse.

• Be educated about abuse and the resources available to victims of abuse.

• Protect the child. If you know who the perpetrator make sure the child is being protected from that individual.

• Carefully read the law section below about what the law says about abuse. Also note the resources at the end of this    section where you can find Utah’s mandatory reporting laws.


TREATMENT

Treatment for child abuse will vary for each individual. Factors such as length of abuse and severity of abuse make a difference in treatment. The most important factor is to ensure the child’s safety.


WHAT THE LAW SAYS

The responsibility of protecting children falls on all members of the community. States have varying laws regarding child abuse and the reporting of child abuse. This document covers the laws in Utah. Utah requires mandatory reporting, which requires anyone who suspects child abuse, in any form, to report it to a police officer or law enforcement agency. Similarly, there are specific rules for the clergy in reporting abuse. Because members of the clergy have strict rules of confidentiality, they are not required to report if the perpetrator confesses directly to them. However, reporting is mandated when a child or anyone else reports suspected abuse. In
these situations, clergy members are required to do all they can to protect children and prevent future abuse. The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) guarantees children three basic rights (safety, permanency, child and family well-being), and it is the responsibility of members of the community (parents, teachers, clergy, etc.) to assure that these rights are not violated. (Child
Welfare Information Gateway, 2007; Children’s Justice Center, 2009)


MYTHS

• Strangers are most often the perpetrators of abuse. 85–90% of children knew their perpetrators.

• The majority of child abuse cases are reported. Only 33% of cases are actually reported.

• There are always obvious signs of abuse. There are many different ways a child can express the fact they have been abused;   some may be common, and some may not.

• You can’t report child abuse anonymously. You can call the Child Help National Abuse line at 1-800-422-4453.

• Child abuse is very rare in Utah. Over 20,000 child abuse cases were investigated by Child Protective Services in 2007. (Child    Help, 2006)


RESOURCES

Department of Child and Family Services
150 E Center St. Suite 5100
1 (801)374-7257

Child Abuse/Neglect Hotline
1 (800) 678-9399
To anonymously report abuse/neglect

1-888-PREVENT
For questions regarding sexual abuse.

LDS Hotline (LDS Clergymembers should call this hotline)

ADDITIONAL WEB RESOURCES

http://www.hccac.org/abuse/recognize.html. This website lists the signs of abuse—both physical and sexual. This also discusses how the perpetrator may act after abuse.

The World Health Organization has online manuals of ideas on how to prevent child abuse and how to report. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2006/9241594365_eng.pdf

Prevent Child Abuse Utah
http://www.preventchildabuseutah.org
This website offers great knowledge of how to prevent child abuse and resources available to parents, teachers and community members to gain further knowledge.

http://utahvalleyfamilysupport.org/services/crn.shtml

Child Abuse Prevention
http://www.childabuseprevention.org/.
This is a wonderful resource that discusses ideas to prevent child abuse.

Family Support and Treatment Center
offers a Crisis Respite Nursery (a free resource for parents where they can bring their children under times of extreme stress), parenting classes, and prevention classes for children.

www.calib.com/nccanch/statutes Contains information regarding child abuse reporting laws.


REFERENCES

Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence. What every congregation needs to know about
domestic violence: Information for clergy, members of congregations, battered women’s programs, and
human service providers. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www.mincava.umn.edu/documents/
faith/faith.pdf.

Child Help. (2006). National child abuse statistics. Retrieved March 2, 2009, from http://www.childhelp.org/
resources/learning-center/statistics

Children’s Justice Center. (2009). Report abuse. Retrieved March 2, 2009, from http://www.cjcslc.org/report.
html#list

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2007). Definitions of child abuse and neglect. Retrieved March 2, 2009,
from http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/define.cfm#bfn5

City of Orem (2007).Victim assistance: Domestic violence stats. Retrieved January 26, 2009, from http://
orem.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=304&Itemid=11 96&limitstart=3.

Feldman, C. M. & Ridley, C. A. (2003).Female domestic violence against male partners: Exploring conflict
responses and outcomes. Journal of Family Violence, 18(3).

Governor’s Violence Against Women and Families Cabinet Council (2005).Utah domestic violence annual
report. Retrieved January 26, 2009 from http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:Y4q1KogqriYJ:www.
justice.utah.gov/DomesticViolence/DV2005.pdf+Utah+domestic+violence+council+annual+report+200
5&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us.

Jaffe-Gill, E., Saisan, J., Segal, J. (2008). Child abuse and neglect: Warning signs of abuse and how to report it.
Retrieved March 2, 2009, from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/child_abuse_physical_emotional_
sexual_neglect.htm

Knowlton, K. M. & Secrist, J. (2003).Domestic Violence 101: A User-friendly Manual on Domestic Violence
for Police and Prosecutors, Utah Prosecution Council.

Oakland County Coordinating Council Against Domestic Violence.(2008).Common myths and why they
are wrong. Domestic Violence Should Not Happen to Anybody. Ever. Period. Retrieved January 26, 2009
from http://www.domesticviolence.org/common-myths/

Prevent Child Abuse Utah. (2009). Utah child abuse statistics. Retrieved March 2, 2009, from http://www.
preventchildabuseutah.org/statistics.html

Provo Police Department (2009).Handout: Chart of Dangerous Behaviors.

Provo Police Department (2009).Handout: The Cycle of Abuse. Rennison, M. & Welchans, W. (2000).
Intimate partner violence. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice
Statistics. Retrieved January 25, 2009, from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/ipv.txt.