Child Abuse In Australia

There are many legislations and guidelines affecting safeguarding of children and young people. The Children Act 1989, assigns duties to local authorities, courts, parents and other agencies to ensure children are safeguarded, their welfare promoted and for children to be consulted in decisions affecting them. The Children's Act 2004 made amendments to the act of 1989 after the failings regarding Victoria Climbe. It places duty on local authorities to work together and share information introducing local Safeguarding Boards to work collaboratively to safeguard children and young people. This includes the five outcomes of Every Child Matters 2003. The Childcare Act 0f 2006 introduced plans for children aged 0-5 to

Children Act 2006 – Is an Act that defines the new duties imposed on the Local Authorities in respect to improving the Every Child Matters outcomes for pre-school children. The Act also defines new rules in relation to childcare for working parents as well as parental information services. It is aimed at improving the well-being of young children. It emphasises the importance of safeguarding children and young people within an educational setting. If a child discloses neglect or abuse; an establishment should have instructions to help the child. This could be referral to an outside organisation or internally.

Current legislation is the result of The children Act 1989 which was brought in to ensure that all people who work with children worked together and was clear about their responsibility’s and knew how to act if allegations of child abuse were made.Following the death of Victoria Climbie in the year 2000 an independent inquiry highlighted many problems with how reports of neglect and child abuse were dealt with and found that vulnerable people in society were not being safeguarded.The Laming report led to the governments Every Child Matters paper and The Children Act 2004. In the last year this has now been renamed Every

Young children are extremely vulnerable and rely on adults to meet all their basic needs. This includes providing food, warmth, shelter, as well as

Child abuse is an issue within society that effects the lives of not only the victims but also the lives of many people in the social order. Child abuse is any mistreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental injury or harm and which cannot be logically explained. There are several forms of abuse and neglect and many state governments have developed their own legal description of what constitutes child maltreatment for the purposes of removing a child and prosecuting a criminal charge. Child abuse consists of different forms of harm including physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect.

Safeguarding is for everyone and every organisation responsibility to protect children from any harm and promote their welfare (Children Act, 2004). However, the Department of Children, School

Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, through action or failure to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. According to The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, as amended by the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010, at a minimum, child abuse and neglect is defined as, "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 (Children 's Bureau, 2010)." The law recognizes a child as being any person who is under the age of 18. The law is broken into 2 sections, and each section treats the idea of child maltreatment in different ways. Criminally, those who abuse children are able to be arrested and prosecuted in court. Civil statutes say that people who suspect a child of being abused are mandated to identify and report it.

In recent times safeguarding of children has once again come under spotlight with cases such as Madline McKan and the horrific murders of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. Prior to this the Children’s act of 1984 and updated 2004 version highlighted that all professionals have an obligation to report suspected abuse. There was a public inquiry in 2000 to address the failure of the law which was not upholding the protection of vulnerable children. There was changes to the legislation and the government set up The Every Child Maters (ECM) initiative. This works in line with current legislation Working Together to Safeguard Children 2006 Act. This Act authorised guidance on how organisations and individuals should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people in accordance with the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004. All organisations must have the succeeding policies and procedures:

Serious case reviews are called by the local safeguarding children’s board when a child dies and abuse and neglect are known or suspected to be a factor in the death. They will involve the local authority children’s service and the police, as well as health, education

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 was the Government’s response to the Bichard Inquiry report which examined vetting procedures after the murders of ten-year-olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in 2002. It establishes a new centralised vetting and barring scheme for people working with children.

This is when children are suffering from any form of abuse or neglect. It also involves protecting children and young people from maltreatment and preventing impairment of a child’s health and development by ensuring

● organisations that are responsible for commissioning or providing services to children, young people, and adults who are parents/carers; and

Child abuse is a growing epidemic and it can range from any ounce of a degree. Most of the people are afraid to discuss child abuse; therefore, we need to understand completely everything about child abuse. People need to be well informed about child abuse and be aware of the prevention and intervention of child abuse because it has damaging effects on children and their families in every society throughout the world. This report provides information on what is child abuse? causes and signs of child abuse, prevention, intervention, and reporting of child abuse.

Some children do speak out about their maltreatment, but many will never will. Crimes against children are hushed often by reasons such as fear, shame or because the perpetrator is one of the child victim’s very own family members (“Prevention Plan”). Then there are victims so young or disabled that they literally can’t speak out. Dues to this, crime statistics cannot accurately represent the full multitude of children who are victims of neglect, physical, and sexual abuse (“Prevention Plan”). However, in the cases that have been reported over the years, authorities can deduce that both boys and girls are equally likely to suffer maltreatment, neglect and physical abuse (“General Child Victimization”). In cases of sexual abuse, girls are more likely than boys to become victims (“General Child Victimization”). In the majority of cases involving child victims, victimization rates run higher amongst the youngest and most vulnerable children; such as a child with disabilities or illnesses (“General Child Victimization”). In 2014 alone, 116,940 children ages zero to six years old and another 115,959 children ages seven to twelve years old, were victims of sexual and/or physical abuse cases reported to Children’s Advocacy Centers across America. (“Children's

Child sexual abuse has been reported up to 80,000 times a year, but the number of unreported instances is far greater, because the children are afraid to tell anyone what has happened (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry). Childhood sexual abuse is a traumatic experience affecting the lives of not only the victim, but those close to the victim as well. Many think there is only one person truly traumatized, but in fact, everyone involved is affected. The victim has to deal with their experience the rest of their lives. They may be more at risk for other mental issues as well, including depression. The family involved has to deal with its pain, often causing hardship and discord within the family. This is especially true