There are four main types of abuse; physical, emotional, sexual and neglect. I am going to go into more detail about the possible signs, symptoms and behaviours that may cause concern in the context of safeguarding.
Physical Abuse
The obvious way of telling if a child is being physically abused is by their appearance. If they have bruises, burns, blemishes and cuts. However children play all the time and these kinds of injuries often occur without any cause for concern. This is why it is important to record and check for a reoccurrence. The physical symptoms have to be persistent or spasmodic in order to raise alarm bells.
It is also important to realise that not all abuse is obvious and we do have to look out for some less obvious signs. A child who is being physically abused may have a fear of physical contact, they may not like other children hugging them or holding their hand. They may be reluctant to change for PE, this may be a sign that they are trying to cover up symptoms of the abuse. A child may be aggressive towards other people in school because they are used to having aggression shown towards them at home and think it is normal behaviour.
A child may however show a different sort of behaviour and could be overly kind and loving to other people and constantly wanting to help and gain some sort of affection and recognition because they are not getting any at home.
An example of physical abuse case is Baby P who suffered from extensive internal and external injuries over a nine month period and eventually died as a result.
Emotional Abuse
The most common type of emotional abuse in schools is bullying. Being emotionally abused is someone undermining your confidence and sense of self-worth. This could be through constant teasing, being humiliated in front of other people or just being ignored. Obvious signs of a child being emotionally abused may be that they are extremely clingy, they lack in self-confidence and self-esteem and they are emotionally withdrawn.
Perhaps less obvious signs include the child being anxious about new situations or having an inability to concentrate and are easily distracted. However this could be easily confused with signs of autism or Asperger’s so it is sometimes difficult to differentiate certain symptoms. The child may also develop and eating disorder or self-harm as a way of coping with being bullied at school.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse is when a child is used sexually by an adult or young person. They may be pursued, pressurized, forced or tricked into having sexual contact with and adult or young person, whether it be kissing, touching the young person’s genitals or breasts, oral sex or intercourse. However sexual abuse is also forcing a child look at pornographic images.
The obvious signs that a child is being sexually abused may be that their sexual behaviour is inappropriate for their age, for example a 7 year old thrusting in the classroom or wanting to touch other people sexually. They may also have genital irritation and perhaps often have their hands down their pants.
A less obvious sign may be their lack of trust in adults because they are used to being abused by someone who they thought they could trust.
Neglect
A child who is being neglected is the failure by the parent to meet the child’s basic needs. Whether this is not showing them any love or affection at home, not feeding them breakfast before they come to school or letting them wear clothes which are dirty. Harm is not always intended but often the child is intentionally deprived.
An obvious sign of neglect is a child coming into school who is dirty, hungry or tired as I mentioned above. Some less obvious signs may be that the child is seeking attention, again because they are not getting any at home. Likewise they may be overly affectionate and eager to please as a result of this. They may also be extremely shy or prefer solo activities because the neglect has caused them to become very introverted.
They may be very academic as a way of getting attention and praise at school and in order to please their parents.
Neglect can also often lead to a child self-harming in order to get some attention, because any attention is good attention.
There are key aspects of supporting a child in a school who you think is being abused and these should be met at every school. The first step is recognising the signs, this can be any of the obvious or unobvious signs I have mentioned above in relation to the different types of abuse. Keeping a record of these signs is very important and it is just as important to make sure that the records are filed away and are kept confidential to those who are involved. It is then necessary to follow your own schools particular policies and procedures in order to report the abuse.
S Heaton-Jones
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