Maltreatment

Child maltreatment encompasses a spectrum of medical diagnoses that include acts of commission (i.e., abuse) and acts of omission (i.e., neglect) that place a minor child at risk of harm or cause harm and can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality.

Types of Child Maltreatment

Physical abuse – injury (e.g., bruises, burns, fractures, internal hemorrhage, solid organ damage, hypoxia and so forth) to a minor child that is not the result of an accident or solely caused by underlying medical condition(s).

Neglect – A culpable act of omission that harms or threatens to harm a minor child (e.g., not providing enough food or fluids, not providing medications as prescribed, not following up on medical/dental/psychological care as recommended, not seeking medical care when it is needed and so forth ); there are multiple types including physical, medical, dental, psychological, supervisory, environmental, and educational.

Psychological maltreatment – intentional verbal or behavioral acts or omissions that result in adverse emotional or physical consequences. 

Sexual abuse – Involvement of a minor child in sexually explicit acts or the simulation of such acts achieved through various possible means (e.g., persuasion, coercion, inducement, enticement, use, employment). This can include exploitation (e.g., sexual acts with the minor child for financial or other gain (i.e. trafficking), pornography, etc), penetrative contact, and non-penetrative contact.

Medical Child Abuse –  (may also be called factitious disorder by proxy, Munchausen syndrome by proxy, pediatric condition falsification disorder) Child maltreatment caused by a caregiver who falsifies and/or induces a [minor] child's illness, leading to unnecessary and potentially harmful medical investigations and/or treatment." This can include falsification by reporting the minor child has an illness they have not been diagnosed with, falsifying and/or exaggerating the minor child's symptoms and/or, in older children, utilizing various methods to induce the minor child to corroborate the caregiver's reports regarding symptoms/disease state. Induction of illness means the caregiver performs an act of commission that leads to a set of signs/symptoms in the minor child (e.g., suffocation, introduction of substances orally, rectally, vaginally, topically, via catheters/IV lines, or in collected laboratory specimens).