3.1 Child Maltreatment and Its Impact on Children

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) (P.L. 93-247) defines child abuse and neglect as any "recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation" of a child under the age of 18; or, "an act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm" to a child.

Maltreatment is commonly classified into four categories:

• Physical abuse includes punching, beating, kicking, biting or shaking a child.
  
• Sexual abuse refers to any sexual contact with a child, the simulation of such conduct with a child, exposing a child to sexually explicit material or conduct.
  
• Child neglect is a failure to provide for a child's basic needs for health care, food, clothing, adult supervision, education, and nurturing.
  
• Psychological maltreatment refers to behavior such as ridiculing, terrorizing, corrupting, or denying affection to a child.
  

The abuse and neglect of children can have profoundly negative consequences for the social, psychological, and physical health of children. The physical abuse (e.g., shaking a crying baby) and neglect of infants is linked to a range of physical and emotional maladies (e.g., seizures, irritability, developmental delays, and learning disabilities).²⁵ The physical and psychological abuse of preschoolers and school-aged children is associated with depression, low self-esteem, antisocial behavior, juvenile delinquency, and adult criminal behavior.²⁶ Sexual abuse is associated with depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, suicidal behavior, and promiscuity.²⁷ Neglect is associated with "non-organic failure to thrive," which is characterized by below-average weight, height, and intellectual development; neglect also is linked to attachment disorders, aggression, and difficulty dealing with others.²⁸

In 2003, an estimated 906,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect. Neglect was the most common form of maltreatment, with 60.9 percent of child victims suffering from neglect in 2003. Neglect was followed by physical abuse (18.9 percent of child victims), sexual abuse (9.9 percent of child victims), and psychological maltreatment (4.9 percent of child victims). In 2003, approximately 1,500 children died because of abuse or neglect.²⁹

The largest percentage of perpetrators (83.9 percent) was parents, including birth parents, adoptive parents, and stepparents.³⁰ How do fathers compare to mothers in the perpetration of child maltreatment? As discussed earlier, Federal data derived from CPS reports in 2003 indicate that in 18.8 percent of the substantiated cases, fathers were the sole perpetrators of maltreatment; in 16.9 percent of the cases, the fathers and the mothers were perpetrators; and in 1.1 percent of the cases, the father acted with someone else to abuse or neglect his child. Mothers were the sole perpetrators in 40.8 percent of the cases and acted with someone besides the father in 6.3 percent of the cases.³¹ This means that fathers were involved in 36.8 percent of child maltreatment cases and that mothers were involved in 64 percent of child maltreatment cases. Additionally, more than one-half of the male perpetrators were biological fathers, and, although recidivism rates were low, biological fathers were more likely to be perpetrators of maltreatment again than were most other male perpetrators. This may be due in part to the lack of permanence between a mother and her boyfriend or that the perpetrator may be excluded from the household before recidivism can occur.³²

Mothers are almost twice as likely to be directly involved in child maltreatment as fathers. Mothers are more likely to abuse or neglect their children than fathers because they bear a larger share of parenting responsibilities in two-parent families and because a large percentage of families today are headed by mothers. In some communities, they are the majority.³³ Perpetrator patterns differ, however, by type of maltreatment. Mothers are not more likely to be the perpetrator when it comes to sexual abuse; fathers are more likely to be reported for this crime.³⁴

Relatively little research has focused squarely on the question of how fathers either directly contribute to the risk of child abuse in a family or offer a protective factor. Nevertheless, several studies on fathers and parents in general offer insights into the role of fathers in the child maltreatment equation:

• Generally speaking, the same characteristics that make a man a good father make him less likely to abuse or neglect his children. Fathers who nurture and take significant responsibility for basic childcare for their children (e.g., feeding, changing diapers) from an early age are significantly less likely to sexually abuse their children.³⁵ These fathers typically develop such a strong connection with their children that it decreases the likelihood of any maltreatment.
  
• The involvement of a father in the life of a family is also associated with lower levels of child neglect, even in families that may be facing other factors, such as unemployment and poverty, which could place the family at risk for maltreatment.³⁶ Such involvement reduces the parenting and housework load a mother has to bear and increases the overall parental investments in family life, thereby minimizing the chances that either parent will neglect to care for or to supervise their children.
  
• On average, fathers who live in a married household with their children are better able to create a family environment that is more conducive to the safety and necessary care of their children. Consequently, children who live with their biological father in a married household are significantly less likely to be physically abused, sexually abused, or neglected than children who do not live with their married biological parents.
  

One cannot equate a household headed by a married mother and father with a household headed by parents who are cohabitating. There is something about the legal and social commitments of marriage that strengthens the positive impacts of fathering—it may simply be that being married strengthens the commitment of a father to his family. However, when working with families headed by a cohabitating couple, the caseworker should not dismiss the potential contributions to be made by the father. While research shows the benefits of marriage over cohabitation when it comes to raising children, fathers who live with the mother of their children are still in a position to contribute greatly to their children's development and must be considered a potential asset by the caseworker.³⁷ The caseworker may also want to see if the cohabitating parents are interested in being referred to a marriage preparation course. For more information on such programs, see the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy Marriage Initiative website at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/healthymarriage/index.html.

By contrast, children who live in father-absent homes often face higher risks of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect than children who live with their fathers. A 1997 Federal study indicated that the overall rate of child maltreatment among single-parent families was almost double that of the rate among two-parent families: 27.4 children per 1,000 were maltreated in single-parent families, compared to 15.5 per 1,000 in two-parent families.³⁸ One national study found that 7 percent of children who had lived with one parent had ever been sexually abused, compared to 4 percent of children who lived with both biological parents.³⁹