- Physical Abuse
- Abusive Head Trauma
- Distinguishing Abuse from Accident
- Sexual Abuse
- Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
- Emotional Abuse
- Neglect of a Child
It is very difficult to talk about the subject of sexual abuse, but it happens to children and infants every day. According to Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County, more than 850 local children are interviewed about concerns of sexual abuse each year. Sexual abuse has the potential to interfere with a child’s normal, healthy development both emotionally and physically. Sexually victimized children often experience severe emotional disturbances from their own feelings of guilt and shame.
Sexual Abuse is any contact or interaction with a child in which the child is being used for the sexual stimulation of the perpetrator, the child, or another person. Sexual abuse shall include allowing, permitting, or encouraging a child to engage in prostitution or to be photographed, filmed, or depicted in obscene or pornographic material. Contact solely between children shall meet the criteria only if the contact also involves force, intimidation, difference in maturity, or coercion. (K.S.A. 38-2202 and KAR 30-46-10)
Sexual exploitation of a child should always be reported immediately. Sexual exploitation of a child can be defined as “employing, using, persuading, inducing, enticing, or coercing a child under 16 years of age to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of promoting any performance”.
There are both physical and behavioral indicators of sexual abuse. The following is a list of common indicators that a child is being sexually abused. Please note that this list is not all inclusive, and there could be other indicators presented.
It is important to note that the physical symptoms listed above are not normally seen in young children and are often difficult (and in some cases, impossible) to explain by any other cause than sexual abuse. Children are not typically physically hurt during a sexual abuse; therefore, it is important to pay special attention to the following behavioral indicators.
Consider the possibility of sexual abuse when the parent or other adult caregiver:
Source: Kansas Department for Children and Families and childwelfare.gov.