Developing Horizons Magazine (2).pdf Spring 2015 | Page 27

The Child Abuse and Prevention Treatment Act
defines abuse related terms:
***Child abuse and neglect or child maltreatment
-- 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.
***Neglect is a failure to meet the child’s basic needs,
e.g., not providing enough food, shelter or basic
supervision, necessary medical or mental health
treatment, adequate education or emotional
comfort.
***Physical abuse refers to the injury of a child on
purpose, e.g., striking, kicking, beating, biting or
any action
that leads to physical injury.
***Sexual abuse is the use, persuasion or forcing of a
child to engage in sexual acts or imitation of such
acts.
The American Psychological Association posts,
“Abuse and neglect of children occurs in families from
all walks of life, of all incomes, religions and ethnicities. There is no single cause of child maltreatment;
rather, it occurs as a result of many forces working
together to impact the family.”

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Don’t turn your face away. Once you’ve seen, you can no
longer act like you don’t know...To act is to care.
--Vashti Quiroz-Vega

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describe the following
programs to stop child maltreatment:
***Child-Parent Centers (CPCs) provide comprehensive
educational and family support to economically
disadvantaged children (beginning at age 3 and thru the third
grade) and their parents.
***The Durham Family Initiative works to improve family
well-being and to reduce child maltreatment by
coordinating services for high-risk families.
***Nurse-Family Partnership is a nurse home visitation program for
low-income, first-time parents and their
children beginning before birth and continuing up to the child’s second birthday.
***Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) teaches parents specific skills to build a nurturing and secure
relationship with their children, increase their children’s desirable behaviors, and decrease negative
behaviors.
***Triple P is a multi-level system of parenting interventions based on need and is usually delivered through
health care systems.
*** The Safe Environment for Every Kid (SEEK) program screens parents of children ages 0–5 in pediatric
primary care settings to identify parental exposure to partner violence, mental illness, or substance abuse
and provides appropriate referrals
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