Child Abuse Report

Do you know the statistics of child abuse in Ohio? The majority of children who are victims of abuse never report it to the authorities. So being, most statistics on child abuse aren't accurate. The fact is, prevention is not popular. This statement may not shock some of you, but it continues to shock me. There are so many forms of child abuse and so many horrible effects it can have on children and even shaping the adults they grow into.

Child abuse can be defined as "at a minimum, 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." And that may sound simple to define, but there are many types of child abuse. The four major types could be classified as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Although most people associate "child abuse" with "physical abuse" there are many ways a child could be being abused, and all ways will effect the child with negative development problems.

Physical abuse could be considered as inflicting physical injury on a child. For example, beating burning, kicking, punching, throwing, slapping, or severe physical punishment. Although Physical punishment might end up getting out of control, physical punishment is the intent of causing bodily pain, not injury. But by law in Ohio, they say you can slap a child across the face, or spank them on their butt as reasonable form of punishment, more than that might be taken into concern for child abuse. Physical abuse usually gets progressively worse with time, and since so many cases go unreported, it can often progress into children dying from the injuries inflicted upon them.

Sexual abuse, I have found, is a very wide spread form of abuse. It is the least commonly reported form of abuse. In a lot of eastern cultures a great amount of forms of sexual abuse is very commonly practiced still today. Even in the U.S. and Canada an estimated sexual abuse rate is around 60 percent for girls and 45 percent for boys, and half of these being directly incestuous. Sexual abuse can be classified as a child being involved in any sexual activity with an adult or another child older or more powerful.

A not well-recognized form of abuse is emotional abuse. Emotional abuse tends to have more long-lasting negative psychiatric effects than most other forms of abuse and could often be considered just as bad as physical or sexual abuse. It could be defined as "acts or omissions by the parents or other caregivers that could cause serious behavioral, emotional, or mental disorders. For example, the parents/caregivers may use extreme or bizarre forms of punishment, such as confinement of a child in a dark closet. Emotional child abuse is also sometimes termed psychological child abuse, verbal child abuse, or mental injury of a child." Even though it seems to be the most permanent form of abuse, it isn't really recognized so much by law or people around children suffering from this form of abuse.

The most reported form of child abuse is Neglect. Neglect is the failure to provide for the shelter, safety, supervision and nutritional needs of the child. Child neglect can be physical, emotional, and or educational. Examples could be, not providing basic needs for the child like food clothing or medical care, not enrolling a child in school or allowing truancy, or not providing affection or psychological care.

A child who is victim of physical abuse may show burns, bruises, bite marks, a resistance to go home such as coming to school early and staying late for no particular reason, or fear of adults. Emotional abuse could seem to have difficulties concentrating, hostility, or signs of depression. Signs of a victim of sexual abuse may have inappropriate knowledge of sexual acts, a fear of a particular person or family member, rejection of own genitals or body, or excessive aggression. A child with clothing not appropriate for the weather, being dirty and unbathed, having extreme hunger, apparent lack of supervision, absence from school often, abuse of alcohol or drugs, or often stealing money or food can identify neglect. Although these symptoms are usually for different types of child abuse, the different forms can overlap each other. Like a child who is physically abused could be emotionally abused too, or a child who is sexually abused might also be neglected.

It is helpful to keep look out for the symptoms of child abuse, because children might not want to or might be scared to report it themselves. To report child abuse you could call the national child abuse hotline, and it's better to have tried to help and have been wrong than to let a child keep being harmed. Not that seeing one or two of these signs is uncommon, but if they keep showing up