Child Maltreatment Case Study

Child maltreatment is an important/significant issues because it affects more children today and it is more common than we realize. Child maltreatment is abuse and neglect occurring in children under 18 years old (Holden, 2105). There are four major types of child maltreatment. First being Physical Abuse, which is the extensively most studied form of maltreatment in children because it can be detected easiest (Holden, 2015). Second is Neglect, which is the most common type of maltreatment, based on community standards. Third is Sexual Abuse, which Holden (2015) found that research on children received sustained attention in the United States since the late 1970s. Finally there is Emotional Abuse, which is also known as psychological maltreatment.

The earliest case of child abuse was unearthed in Egypt, going all the way back from 50 CE to 450 CE of a toddler, where it was revealed that her skeleton had bone fractures and non-accidental injuries (Holden, 2015). Statistics show that that in the United States there are only 2,400 children abducted by strangers a year (Holden, 2015). Holden (2015) found that although most children that are abducted by relatives are returned safely, there is still about 354,000 children who goes through the experience of being taken. There are more than 600,000 cases of child abuse every year (CDC, 2015). In 2014, about 1580 children died due to maltreatment (Childhelp.org, n.d.). There are about 70% of children under age 2 that has died, about 80% are under 5 that has ended in a loss of their lives and about 80% of child maltreatment involves a parent at least one (childhelp.org,