Child abuse and neglect are defined in both Federal and State legislation. The Federal legislation provides a foundation for States by identifying a minimum set of acts or behaviors that characterize maltreatment. This legislation also defines what acts are considered physical abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse. An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm. Each State is responsible for providing its own definitions of child abuse and neglect within the civil and criminal context.
Criminal statutes specify the forms of maltreatment that are criminally punishable.
The parent or caretaker may not have intended to hurt the child, rather the injury may have resulted from over-discipline or physical punishment. Child Neglect is characterized by failure to provide for the child s basic needs. Neglect can be physical, educational, or emotional. Physical neglect includes refusal of or delay in seeking health care, abandonment, expulsion from the home or refusal to allow a runaway to return home, and inadequate supervision. Educational neglect includes the allowance of chronic truancy, failure to enroll a child of mandatory school age in school, and failure to attend to a special educational need.