Child Maltreatment

From Wikiprogress.org

About

Child maltreatment includes acts of commission (abuse) and acts of omission (neglect), usually on the part of a parent or guardian, that 'result in harm, potential harm, or threat of harm to a child', regardless of parental intent". The main types of maltreatment can be classified as neglect, physical abuse, and psychological/emotional maltreatment (including exposure to family violence). However, legal definitions differ markedly among countries.^[1]

All OECD-countries consider that child protection allows intrusion into the privacy of the family and the rights of parents when some minimal conditions for child-rearing are not fulfilled. From an equity perspective, maltreatment represents an unacceptable situation of growing up for children as these children are disadvantaged for their whole life. According to the OECD (2011), a small but significant proportion of children suffer from child maltreatment in all OECD countries.^[2]

Types of child maltreatment

• Child neglect: In OECD countries, child neglect is the most common form of maltreatment but it is hard to establish. Inadequate provision of basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, supervision, education, or medial care are forms of child neglect. Even more difficult to establish is the failure of parents and guardians to meet children's emotional needs.
  
• Physical abuse: "a deliberate act causing bodily harm to a child, often as a result of punishment."
  
• Sexual abuse: "a range of sexual activities involving a child, spanning exposure to pornography to direct sexual contact and sexual exploitation.", difficult to measure.
  
• Psychological/emotional maltreatment: actions or omissions likely to result in psychological harm to a child".^[3]

Measurement of child maltreatment

International comparison of the extent of child maltreatment, and in particular the incidence of the different types, is due to definitional differences in maltreatment measures and variations in reporting rates generated by different institutional and societal attitudes. Therefore, the causes of child mortality rates in different countries can serve as an indicator suggesting the extent of the maltreatment "iceberg" that is covered by water i.e. societal silence^[4]. Based on UNICEF's work, the OECD (2011) in Doing Better for Families chose as "iceberg indicators" the intentional child death and accidental child death (children aged 0-14) which are broad enough to cover all OECD countries and can be considered to approximate the most extreme realisations of child maltreatment.

For both indicators, methodological concerns exist. Child homocide research has three issues; (i) classification of child deaths as homicides are unreliable. (ii) child homicides may not generally represent the end of a continuum of violence ranging from inadequate parenting through maltreatment to death. (iii) child homicides do not occur often enough to accurately measure the effect of child welfare policies. As for accidental child death data, it indicates that child maltreatment accidents may be due to the irresponsibility of the caregiver. However, not all accidental child deaths are a consequence of neglect.^[5]

Results

According to the OECD (2011), deaths due to intentional injury are highest in the Russian Federation (ca. 4.4%), Brazil (2.9%), the United States (2.1%) and Mexico (1.3%). Deaths to accidental injury are most common in the Russian Federation (16%), Mexico (13.5%), Brazil (12%) and Estonia (10.5%).^[6]

See also

Doing Better for Families

The OECD Family database

Event:Witchcraft Branding, Spirit Possession and Safeguarding African Children

References

1. ↑ OECD (2011), “Doing Better for Families”, OECD Publishing. p. 247
2. ↑ OECD (2011), “Doing Better for Families”, OECD Publishing. p. 247
3. ↑ OECD (2011), “Doing Better for Families”, OECD Publishing. p. 247
4. ↑ UNICEF (2001), “A League Table of Child Deaths by Injury in Rich Nations”, Innocenti Report Card, No.2, UNICEF. and UNICEF (2003), “A League Table of Child Maltreatment Deaths in Rich Nations”, Innocenti Report Card, No.5, UNICEF.
5. ↑ OECD (2011), “Doing Better for Families”, OECD Publishing. p. 248
6. ↑ OECD (2011), “Doing Better for Families”, OECD Publishing. p. 249

External Link

Hidden violence: Protecting young children at home, June 2011, Newsletter Bernard van Leer Foundation