** Glossary **

Child Abuse and Neglect Defined in Federal Law

“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.”

- The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), (42 U.S.C.A. 5106g)

* While each state is free to provide their own more specific definitions of the major areas of child abuse and neglect following the "official minimum" definition above, the following are examples of typical definitions:
(These are adapted from the Child Welfare Information Gateway http://www.childwelfare.gov/index.cfm and the Prevent Child Abuse Indiana website http://www.pcain.org.)

** NEGLECT **

Neglect

Neglect is failure to provide for a child's basic needs. Neglect may be:

• Physical (e.g., failure to provide necessary food or shelter, or lack of appropriate supervision)
• Medical (e.g., failure to provide necessary medical or mental health treatment)
• Educational (e.g., failure to educate a child or attend to special education needs)
• Emotional (e.g., inattention to a child's emotional needs, failure to provide psychological care, or permitting the child to use alcohol or other drugs)

Physical Neglect

Not providing for a child's physical needs, including:

• Inadequate provision for food, housing, or clothing appropriate for season or weather
• Lack of supervision
• Expulsion from the home or refusal to allow a runaway to return home
• Abandonment
• Denial or delay of medical care
• Inadequate hygiene

Medical Neglect

Minimal health care is not being provided for a child. This lack of care could lead to serious harm and death. This might include:

• Not seeking emergency services when needed
• Not filling and using medications prescribed
• Untreated dental needs
• Regimens recommended for treatment of chronic illness not followed
• Prescribed psychological help not obtained
• Failure to thrive

Educational Neglect

The failure to enroll a child of mandatory school age in school or to provide necessary special education. This includes allowing excessive truancies from school.

Emotional Neglect

The lack of emotional support and love, such as:

• Not attending to the child's needs, including the need for affection
• Failure to provide necessary psychological care
• Domestic violence in the child's presence, such as spousal or partner abuse
• Drug & alcohol abuse in the presence of the child, or allowing the child to participate in drug or alcohol use

** ABUSE **

Physical Abuse

Physical abuse is physical injury (ranging from minor bruises to severe fractures or death) as a result of punching, beating, kicking, biting, shaking, throwing, stabbing, choking, hitting (with a hand, stick, strap, or other object), burning, or otherwise harming a child. Such injury is considered abuse regardless of whether the caretaker intended to hurt the child.

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse includes activities by a parent or caretaker such as fondling a child's genitals, penetration, incest, rape, sodomy, indecent exposure, and exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials.

Sexual abuse is 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 Abuse

Emotional abuse is a pattern of behavior that impairs a child's emotional development or sense of self-worth. This may include constant criticism, threats, or rejection, as well as withholding love, support, or guidance. Emotional abuse is often difficult to prove and, therefore, CPS may not be able to intervene without evidence of harm to the child. Emotional abuse is almost always present when other forms are identified.

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