Child abuse or neglect by persons responsible for caring for and educating children, such as parents, or by strangers; It covers all physical, emotional or sexual attitudes, neglect, exploitation for commercial purposes applied in a way that harms their physical or psychological health and prevents their social development. Physical abuse is defined as the use of physical force to harm a child’s health, development or dignity.
When we hear from people around us that they abuse or neglect their children, or when we come across the news we read, we have difficulty understanding how they abuse little children. From birth, children can be abused or neglected for various reasons. Especially preschool children encounter this situation more frequently because they are not competent and sensitive to report abuse or neglect. The main reason for not reporting these situations is the lack of sufficient life experience to understand the situation and weigh the scale of the problem. In other words, he accepts the situation he is in as a normal event that can happen to all children.
Abusive behavior has many causes. Some of these are culturally upbringing of the caregiver, and the personal characteristics of the caregiver (angry, lack of anger control when angry, impatient, etc.) and the form of the relationship established between the caregiver and the child. A researcher dealing with abuse suggested that abuse occurs when stressful events in the lives of the mother or father (or caregiver) who take care of the child precede their protective and protective feelings for their children.
Evaluation of an abused child is quite difficult as the child has difficulty in describing the experience he/she has had. If a physical intervention is suspected during the evaluation, a physical examination should be performed to detect any evidence. Information should be obtained from the parents, other family members and, if attending, the school teacher, and information should be obtained about the child’s behavior and changes in behavior. Notifying the competent authorities is essential to protect the abused child from further abuse. Child and family-oriented therapies should be applied in the treatment, and if necessary, family members should be referred to adult psychiatry.
