2.1: Introduction and Learning Objectives

Chapter 2: What is Child Abuse? – Physical Abuse

Physical Abuse is the most easily detected form of child abuse. It can leave horrible scars, both visible on the surface, internal and emotional. In this chapter, students will discover what physical abuse entails. This chapter will explore what might lead a person to physically abuse a child, how this abuse might be discovered and reported, and how the surviving victim might be helped. This chapter will also explore ways that society can minimize future physical abuse of children.

Chapter Learning Objectives

By the completion of this module, students should be able to:

Learning Objectives

• Identify, define and provide examples of types of physical abuse.
• Identify outcomes of child physical abuse.
• Identify risk factors for children becoming victims.
• Describe what might lead individuals to physically abuse a child.
• Describe how physical abuse is detected and the role various professionals play in helping the child.

"Physical abuse of kamlaharis" by The Advocacy Project is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

What is Physical Abuse?

In previous modules we have learned about the history of abuse and neglect of children throughout the world. We have learned that what constitutes abuse is defined differently from culture to culture, and that the definition has morphed over the ages. What used to be considered "normal" might now be classified as abuse. This adds to the confusion some might feel in determining what exactly is abuse. Most agree that the physical abuse of children includes non-accidental injury inflicted by someone else. The medical community determines abuse by bruises, burns, broken bones, etc. The legal community determines abuse by intent; did the parent or other party intend to hurt the child? Regardless of definition, physical abuse of children leaves the child as the victim with physical, mental and emotional injuries.

The US Department of Health and Human Services publishes an annual report showing the number of investigations and the number of actual victims of child maltreatment in each state. (www.ccwip.berkeley.edu)

CPS Data
Reported	CA- # of Investigation /1,000 children	USA- # of Investigation/1,000 children	CA- # of Victims/1,000 children	USA- # of Victims/1,0000 children	CA- Actual of Child Victims	USA- Actual # of Child Victims
2016	41.5	46.7	7.6	9.1	68,663	671,176
2020	34.9	42.9	6.9	8.4	60,317	618,399
2022	34.2	42.4	6.1	7.7

These reports do not include children who were abused or neglected but never reported. They also do not include emotional abuse cases, due to the difficulty of proving those in court and therefore lack of encouragement to report them. At first glance, it appears that the cases of child abuse have decreased; however, we must remember what happened in 2020. The world was in the midst of a global pandemic, schools were mostly closed to in-person activity, sports and other activities were canceled, and most people were told to stay home and shelter in place. Did this cause there to be less child abuse? Highly unlikely. We know that the stress levels of most adults and children went way up during this time. The decrease in statistics is more likely caused by a lack of reporting; children stayed at home and had little to no contact with teachers, coaches, medical professionals and others who might notice and report child abuse or neglect. Unfortunately, we can surmise that cases of child maltreatment in 2020 were drastically unreported. Time will tell... when the statistics for 2024 are released, we will perhaps have a better idea of how these statistics are trending in a non-pandemic time.