Child Neglect Child neglect is characterized by failure to provide for the child's basic needs. Neglect can be physical, educational, or emotional. Educational neglect includes permission of chronic truancy, failure to enroll a child of mandatory school age, and inattention to a special educational need. Emotional neglect includes such actions as chronic or extreme spouse abuse in the child's presence, permission of drug or alcohol use by the child, and refusal or failure to provide needed psychological care. It is very important to distinguish between neglect and a parent's or caretaker's failure to provide necessities of life because of poverty or cultural norms.
Most State laws distinguish between sexual abuse and sexual assault.
Sexual assault is usually defined as sexual acts committed by a person who is not responsible for the care of the child. Sexual abuse can involve varying degrees of violence and emotional trauma. Sexual abuse may also be committed by other relatives such as aunts, uncles, grandfathers, grandmothers, and cousins. Emotional abuse includes acts or omissions by the parents or other persons responsible for the child's care that have caused, or could cause, serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders. Emotional abuse is the most difficult form of child maltreatment to identify.