What constitutes child abuse?
Child abuse manifests itself in several different ways, but the four most prevalent types of child abuse are:
• Sexual abuse: sexual abuse is when a child is forced to perform sexual acts with another child or adult, when a child is forced to watch the performance of sexual acts between other people or when a child is exposed to sexual activities of any kind, for example pornography.
• Physical abuse: physical abuse is when a child is physically hurt or injured by somebody. The abuse can be inflicted personally, for example hitting or kicking a child, or with the use of an object for example a cigarette.
• Emotional abuse: emotional abuse is when a child is continually shouted at, degraded or made to feel as if they are not loved. The child lacks the feeling of acceptance or approval as they are made to feel as if they are not good enough.
• Neglect: neglect of a child occurs when a parent or caregiver of a child does not provide the child with the basic necessities in order for that child to live, such as food, shelter, clothing, care and protection.
If I suspect abuse of a child by his/her parent, whom should I tell?
Every person, no matter what his/her relation is to the child, has an obligation to report child abuse or even the suspicion of child abuse to a social worker or a police officer. If you report the matter to a police officer, the matter will always be referred to a social worker for investigation.
What will then be done by the police?
The person who reports the child abuse will then have to swear, under oath, that the child is in need of care and protection. This will be done in front of a presiding officer, for example at one of the children's courts in the country.
The presiding officer must then order that a report be compiled by a social worker which will determine whether the child is in need of care and protection.
The presiding officer may also order that the child be placed in temporary safe care if this is in the best interests of the child. A person authorised by the court and accompanied by a police officer would then remove the child from the premises.
If a child is in imminent danger and requires immediate protection, the child may be removed by a social worker or police official without a court order and placed in temporary safe care.
Within 24 hours of removing the child, the designated social worker or police officer must inform the parent, guardian or caregiver of the child that the child has been removed.
What will happen to the parent who has allegedly been abusing the child?
If, for example there is a household consisting of a mother, father and two children, and a family friend reports the father to the police for allegedly abusing one of the children, the police officer to whom the report of the abuse was made, may also issue a written notice telling the alleged offender to leave the home. This is done to minimise the disruption of the daily life of the child as much as possible.
In the notice, the alleged offender will also be called to appear at the children's court on a specify day and time to give reasons why the written notice requiring him to leave the house, should not be made an order of court. The court will consider all the evidence before it and make a final order which could include limited, unlimited or no access to the house where the child resides.
The matter will also be referred to the police for criminal investigation where the alleged offender could face criminal imprisonment or a fine, depending on the severity of the abuse.
What will happen to the child?
It will then be determined whether the child is in need of care and protection. There is a list of grounds which automatically qualify a child to be in need of care and protection, such as "the child is being maltreated, abused, deliberately neglected or degraded by a parent, a caregiver, a person who has parental responsibilities and rights or a family member of the child or by a person under whose control the child is".
In order to determine the above, the social worker must investigate the matter, usually by interviewing the child, family members, teachers and other relevant people and then compile a report within 90 days of the report of child abuse. In this report, recommendations must then be made regarding the child and his/her best interests.
If the social worker determines that the child is in need of care and protection, the child will have to be brought before the Children's Court so that a presiding officer may make a decision as to where the child should go to live.
If the child is removed from his/her parent, will they be placed with a family member or in foster care?
If a family member is willing and suitable to take over the care of the child, the court will make an order that the child will live with that family member. The court will always try to limit the disruption of the life of the abused child as little as possible.
Alternative orders that the court can make include the following:
• For the child to remain in the care of his/her parents subject to the supervision of a social worker.
• For the child to be placed in temporary care and then be reunited with his/her parents.
• For the child to be placed in alternative care where the parents can still exercise contact with the child.
• For the child to be made available for adoption.
What is the possibility of the child being placed back into the care of his/her parents?
An order made by the Children's Court expires after two years. However, the court must decide whether the order must be extended and will consider the views of the child, the parent(s), and the alternative caregiver of the child when making its determination.
