A human rights perspective places the care for children in the obligation sphere. The duty to protect from violence is an outcome of having a declaration confirming inalienable human rights. Nationally, rights may be reflected in constitutions, charters, and criminal codes. Transnationally, the United Nation's (UN) Convention on the Rights of the…

Practitioners may be called upon to assess adults who have alleged child abuse as a minor and are seeking reparations. Such assessments may be used by the courts to determine harm and assess damages related to their claim or testimony. Our clinical/research team has conducted many such evaluations and reported the findings pertaining to the…

A study of 26 Canadian pediatricians explored their reluctance to adhere to a legal mandate to report suspected child abuse. While respondents were generally positive about their experience in filing a report, they were less positive about the dearth of feedback they received about their report. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Fifteen deaf and 11 hearing children (ages 8-10) witnessed slides depicting a wallet theft and were interviewed using a free recall approach followed by increasingly directive questions. Although accuracy of the two groups did not differ in free recall, deaf children provided less accurate responses to directive questions, whereas accuracy of the…

This study, with 60 medical students and 15 pediatricians, found that a delay in seeking medical attention and an explanation for the presenting injuries that was discrepant from the physical findings impacted the identification and reporting of child abuse. Positive correlations were found between identification and reporting of abuse. (CR)

Twenty-nine therapists and 20 child protection workers were interviewed regarding their experiences with mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect. Results indicated widespread disagreement between the groups about the nature of appropriate reports, the requirements of the law, and the process designed to protect children and help families.…

This paper reviews Japan's child abuse/neglect history, including the incidence of "coin-operated-locker babies," where murdered infants are hidden in railway and airport lockers, and actions taken to reduce this problem. The incidence of child abuse in Japan and the United States is compared, and social influences on the number of…

Child care institutions (N=341) in Sweden were surveyed for suspected child abuse. Of the 3,737 children studied, 3% were suspected of being maltreated. Of these suspected cases, only 37% had been reported to child protective agencies. A follow-up study five years later showed that 43% of the suspected children were still unknown to the agencies.…

A survey was conducted of 1,368 professionals in a course on identifying and reporting child abuse and maltreatment. Substantial numbers of professionals had limited knowledge of indicators of abuse and even less knowledge about legal obligations and procedures for reporting. Teachers were no more knowledgeable about indicators of abuse than were…

This paper reports on a survey of 60 living groups in a remote town in Queensland, Australia, concerning child abuse notification. The survey focused on how strongly residents felt about abuse, how likely they were to notify, perceived indicators of abuse, facilitative and inhibiting factors in notifying, which authority they would notify, and…

Five scenarios of child abuse were used to study the recognition and reporting of child abuse by 664 teachers, counselors, school psychologists, principals, and district superintendents. Areas of concern included: reporting rates, effects of victim and reporter gender, and knowledge of and support for mandatory reporting among educators. (SW)