Child Abuse Prevention And Treatment Act (CAPTA)

When there are cases of child sexual abuse allegations, the assessment is extremely difficult and challenging for an evaluator. A satisfactory assessment must be completed by conducting extensive, demanding analysis on the victim. The thoroughness will aid ensuring protection and rights of the victim and the accused.

Introduction The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA); originally enacted in 1974, is what defines child abuse. The Act documents abuse as “the employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, or coercion of any child to engage in, or assist any other person to engage in, any sexually explicit conduct or simulation of such conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct; or the rape, and in cases of

Punishment, physical abuse, death threats to the child, their siblings, or other family members are also used. The main factor of sexual abuse in children is force, as children are not capable of conseting to these acts with adults; even though, they are in this act.

Sexual abuse can occur by contact or non-contact, with actions that give sexual pleasure to an abuser. Forms of sexual abuse include but not limited to: touching or fondling of the genitals, oral actions that include the genitals, voyeurism, prostitution, or child pornography. A child’s actions are a very reliable sign to indicated that abuse is occurring or has occurred. As children, they turn to their behavior as a cry for help and communication technique. A child that has been abused will have complaints of headaches or stomachaches.

Other signs and symptoms are: bowel disorders, eating disorders (loss of appetite, anorexia, bulimia), drastic change in sleeping patterns (too much or less), itching and burning of the genital and rectal area, and discharge, and diagnosis of sexually transmitted diseases, or