Most abusers are members of the victim's family, either a caretaker or parent or a close relative.
This includes physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and child neglect. 10 Contrary to common belief, males and females perpetrate abuse against their own children at surprisingly similar rates. This last statistic is unfair because it includes child neglect, in which mothers are named at rates that are absurd given that women accused of child neglect are almost always single mothers. The fathers who abandon their children are almost never convicted of child neglect. Still, the statistic shows the current state of affairs.