Child abuse is defined as any intentional harm or mistreatment of a child.
Incidents of child abuse are increasingly coming to public attention in Greece. These are appalling acts that shock and outrage society, leaving parents with a sense of fear for their own children and raising concerns that something similar may have happened to their child without ever being reported.
Child abuse can take many forms, and several forms may occur simultaneously. Some of the most common include:
- Physical abuse: Physical child abuse occurs when a child is deliberately physically injured or placed at risk of harm by another person.
- Sexual abuse: This includes any sexual activity involving a child. It may include sexual intercourse, intentional sexual touching, genital contact and other sexual acts. It can also involve non-contact sexual abuse, such as exposing a child to sexual activity or child sexual abuse material, observing or recording sexual acts, child prostitution and sex trafficking.
- Emotional abuse: Emotional abuse involves harming a child’s self-esteem or emotional well-being. It can include verbal and emotional attacks, such as constantly belittling a child, as well as social isolation, ignoring or rejecting the child.
- Neglect: Neglect involves failing to provide adequate food, shelter, appropriate living conditions, supervision, education or medical care.
- Medical abuse: Medical child abuse can occur when someone provides false information about an illness or condition affecting a child, resulting in unnecessary medical attention and placing the child at risk of harm.
In many cases, child abuse is committed by someone the child knows and trusts. This may be a friend, relative or even a parent.
Symptoms and Warning Signs of Child Abuse
A child experiencing abuse may feel guilt, shame and confusion. They may be afraid to tell anyone what is happening, particularly when the abuser is a parent, another relative or a family friend.
Children experiencing abuse may display warning signs that should not be ignored. These can include:
- Withdrawal from friends and everyday activities.
- Behavioural changes, including aggression, anger or hyperactivity.
- A decline in school performance.
- Depression, unusual fears, sudden loss of confidence or anxiety.
- Sleeping problems.
- Absence from school.
- Defiant or challenging behaviour.
- Self-harm or suicide attempts in extreme circumstances.
The symptoms depend on the type of abuse and can vary considerably. The presence of these signs does not necessarily mean that a child is being abused. However, such behaviours have been reported among children who have experienced or are experiencing abuse.
Physical Signs of Child Abuse
The warning signs are not limited to psychological symptoms or behavioural changes. A child experiencing abuse may also show physical signs that should not be overlooked.
These may include:
- Unexplained injuries, such as bruises or small burns. These injuries may not correspond with the explanation given for how they occurred.
- Signs and symptoms associated with sexual abuse.
- Sexual behaviour or knowledge that is inappropriate for the child’s age.
- Sexually transmitted infections or recurrent urinary tract infections.
- Pain or injury affecting the genital or anal area.
- Inappropriate sexual behaviour involving children of the same age or older individuals.
- Signs and symptoms of emotional abuse.
- Signs and symptoms of neglect.
- Poor personal hygiene.
- Lack of adequate clothing or basic necessities.
- Stealing food or other items.
- Poor school attendance.
- Failure to receive appropriate attention or treatment for medical problems.
In some cases involving sexual abuse or sexual exploitation, a child may possess money or objects that were not provided by parents or relatives. In addition to intimidation or threats, money may sometimes be used to buy a child’s silence or encourage the repetition of abusive behaviour.
Parental Behaviour That May Raise Concerns
A parent’s or caregiver’s behaviour can also provide warning signs. These may include a parent who:
- Shows very little interest in the child.
- Appears unable to recognise the child’s physical or emotional distress.
- Blames the child for problems that arise.
- Constantly belittles the child or describes them using negative terms such as “useless” or “bad”.
- Expects the child to take care of the parent or appears jealous when other family members or friends receive the child’s attention.
- Uses harsh physical discipline.
- Demands an excessively high level of physical or academic performance.
- Severely restricts the child’s contact with other children.
- Provides implausible explanations for the child’s injuries or refuses to explain them.
- Repeatedly takes the child for medical examinations for alleged illnesses that medical professionals cannot confirm.
Physical Punishment and Child Abuse
Experts condemn the use of violence in any form. Some people continue to use physical punishment, such as hitting, in an attempt to discipline their children, often believing that it will improve their behaviour.
Research has associated physical punishment with worse rather than better behavioural outcomes. It has also been linked to mental health difficulties, problems in parent-child relationships, lower self-esteem and poorer academic performance.
Any form of physical punishment can leave emotional scars. Parental behaviour that causes physical injury or emotional trauma, even when carried out in the name of discipline, may constitute child abuse.
The Long-Term Effects of Child Abuse
Some children overcome the physical and psychological effects of child abuse, particularly those who have strong social support and resilience and are able to adapt to and cope with traumatic experiences.
For many others, however, child abuse can result in physical, behavioural, emotional or psychological difficulties that may continue or emerge years later.
Protecting Children from Abuse
Parents and caregivers can take important steps to protect children from abuse and reduce risks involving friends, relatives and other individuals.
The objective should be to provide children with safe, stable and supportive relationships. Prevention is extremely important.
Teach your child how to stay safe online. Computers used by younger children can be kept in a shared area of the home rather than exclusively in the child’s bedroom. Parents can also make appropriate use of parental controls and review children’s privacy settings on social networking platforms.
Parents should maintain open communication about their children’s online activities and pay attention to significant or unexplained changes in behaviour.
Establish Basic Online Safety Rules
Teach children not to share sensitive personal information on social media, not to respond to inappropriate, frightening or threatening messages, and not to arrange meetings with online contacts without the knowledge of a responsible adult.
Encourage your child to tell you if an unknown person contacts them through social media or another online platform.
Online harassment, threatening behaviour or inappropriate contact should be reported to the relevant platform and, where necessary, to the appropriate authorities.
When a Child Does Not Disclose Abuse
Some children may never directly disclose that they are being abused by another person.
This can be particularly difficult when the suspected person is someone the child knows and trusts, such as a family friend, relative or parent.
Behavioural changes, unexplained injuries, fear of particular individuals or places, changes in school attendance, unusual online behaviour and other warning signs may justify further professional assessment.
Where there are reasonable concerns about a child’s safety, parents or guardians should avoid taking actions that could place the child at greater risk or compromise a potential investigation.
Depending on the circumstances, appropriate steps may include documenting relevant observations, preserving lawfully available information, seeking advice from qualified child-protection professionals and contacting the competent authorities.
Technical or investigative methods involving recording, device monitoring, location tracking or access to communications can raise significant privacy and legal issues. Their legality depends on the circumstances and applicable law, and such measures should therefore not be undertaken without appropriate legal and professional guidance.
The original 2022 publication discussed several forms of monitoring technology that were available at the time. Current investigative practice must take into account subsequent developments in privacy, communications and personal-data legislation.
When You Suspect Abuse of Another Child
When signs of possible abuse involve a child other than your own, determining what is happening can be more difficult because you may have limited information or authority to intervene directly.
Where there are reasonable indications of child abuse, the appropriate course of action may be to report the concerns and available information to the police or to the competent organisations responsible for the protection of minors.
This article was originally published on Policenet.gr on 25 October 2022.
About This Publication
This English version is based on the original Greek-language article. The section concerning investigative and monitoring methods has been updated to reflect the need to consider the current legal framework governing privacy, communications, personal data and the protection of minors.
The primary objective in any suspected case of child abuse must be the safety and protection of the child.
