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This information helps identify the signs and signals of child abuse and sets out what you should do if you are worried about a child. Please note that the information on this page could be quite upsetting.
Child abuse is the risk someone under 18 has experienced significant harm, or is likely to, because of a direct act and/or failure to provide proper care.
- Physical abuse can involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or deliberately making a child ill.
- Emotional abuse can include making a child feel s/he is worthless, unloved or inadequate. It can be one very big thing, but is often many little things over a long period of time. Emotional abuse occurs in other abuses but may occur alone.
- Sexual abuse can include forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities. As well as sexual acts, it also includes showing someone under 18 pornography or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.
- Neglect is persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs. It may include failing to provide adequate food, shelter or clothing, education or to ensure protection from physical harm or access to medical treatment.
Signs and Indicators
The factors listed here are frequently found in cases of child abuse or neglect, though children can be being abused without any of these signs showing.
Their presence is not proof that abuse has occurred, but they must be regarded as indicators of possible significant harm and discussed with your designated child protection officer.
You should use this as a reminder with the South West Child Protection Procedures 
.
.Your role in recognising abuse
The most important factor in protecting children from abuse and neglect is the presence of protective adults. While working alongside children you may see an incident or an injury to a child, or a child could talk to you about their safety or protection.
You must take seriously what a child tells you, even if you think it sounds incredible. Sometimes incredibly awful things do happen to children, and sometimes the way children describe things can be strange. Every child protection issue must be investigated by trained officers in your Local Authority.
Look at family relationships
In any abusive relationship the child may appear:
- Frightened of the abuser
- Act inappropriately for their age and development
The abuser may:
- Avoid contact with mainstream children’s services, health visitors or schools and avoid home visits. Also abusive parents may refuse access to the child
- Have unrealistic expectations of the child, complain frequently and rarely give praise or positive attention
- Leave the child alone or with inappropriate carers
- Have unmanaged mental health issues or drug and alcohol problems
- Be involved in domestic violence
There is the potential risk of harm to children when adults or children previously known or suspected to have abused children move into a household.
Domestic abuse
Children seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another in a household experience significant harm – you must take action.
Children often do hurt themselves when growing up. Watch for:
- An explanation which is inconsistent with an injury
- Several different explanations provided for an injury
- Unreasonable delay in seeking treatment
- Carers uninterested or undisturbed by an accident or injury
- Carers absent without good reason when their child is treated
- Repeated presentation of minor injuries
- Frequent use of different doctors and accident and emergency departments
- Reluctance to give information or mention previous injuries
- Bruising: bruising to the head, face or mouth, the outline of an object or grasp marks and any bruising to a non-mobile infant
- Bite marks: human bite marks are oval or crescent shaped
- Burns and scalds: circular burns from cigarettes, any large burn or scald of uniform depth or shape
- Scars: Multiple scars on the body.
Indicators include:
- Developmental delay;
- Attachment disorder between a child and carer;
- Aggressive or appeasing behaviours towards others;
- Scapegoated within the family;
- Frozen watchfulness, particularly in pre-school children;
- Low self esteem and lack of confidence;
- Child is withdrawn or seen as a ‘loner’ – difficulty relating to others
Sexual abuse can be very difficult to recognise and reporting sexual abuse can be traumatic for a child. Emotional behavioural signs include:
- Inappropriate sexualised conduct
- Sexually explicit behaviour, play or conversation, inappropriate to the child’s age
- Contact or non-contact sexually harmful behaviour
- Continual and inappropriate or excessive masturbation
- Self-harm (including eating disorder), self mutilation and suicide attempts
- Involvement in sexual exploitation or indiscriminate choice of sexual partners
- An anxious unwillingness to remove clothes for e.g. sports events
- Lack of awareness of stranger danger, close contact or showing no inhibitions to unknown adults
- Bed Wetting/soiling/smearing
Physical indicators include:
- Pain or itching of genital area
- Blood on underclothes
- Pregnancy in a child
- Physical symptoms such as injuries to the genital or anal area, bruising to buttocks, abdomen and thighs, sexually transmitted disease, presence of semen on the body or clothing.
Sex offenders are most likely to be known to their victims and the abuse could be happening in the child’s home or the home of the person abusing the child.
Evidence of neglect is often built up over a period of time with many small things forming a wider pattern of neglect. Indicators include:
- Failure to meet essential physical needs (e.g. adequate food, clothes, warmth, hygiene or health) or emotional needs (e.g. to feel loved and valued, to live in a safe, predictable home)
- A child seen to be listless, apathetic and unresponsive
- Child thrives away from home
- Child frequently absent from school
- Child left with inappropriate carers or abandoned
- Disabled children and young people can be particularly vulnerable to neglect, and other forms of abuse
Frequently asked questions
“What should I do if I’m worried?”
- Write down what you saw and heard & what made you worried or anxious.
- Get advice from the designated child protection officer in your organisation.
- If it will not increase the risk to the child, talk to the carers about your worry
- Inform Children’s Services.
- You should not investigate the matter yourself or ask probing questions of the child.
“What happens next?”
- Children’s Services will consider the information and give you advice on what they plan to do.
- A social worker may see and speak to the child alone as part of an assessment of the child and family’s needs.
- Children’s Services, in conjunction with the family and colleagues in health, education and the police, assess what help the carers and child need and identify any risks of harm. The police may launch a criminal investigation.
- A multi-agency meeting called a Child Protection Case Conference may be convened to develop a plan to address the needs of the children including their protection if necessary.
Remember
You are expressing concerns about a child.
You are not stating that s/he is being abused.
Don’t investigate, but don’t ignore it.
Get advice and refer.
Follow it up if you are still worried.
More help
For advice and assistance in general in identifying signs and signals of abuse or neglect, or taking action to protect children please see the Torbay Safeguarding Children Board website and in particular the opportunities there for training.
If you are worried about a particular child and are unsure whether you should Make a Referral contact us on 01803 208100 and explain you want to talk about a scenario without disclosing details of the child to get advice. We will listen to your concerns and discuss with you how you might proceed.
Related Websites
Contact Children in Need Service
- Tel: 01803 208100
- Email: mash@torbay.gcsx.gov.uk
- Fax: N/A
