MALTREATMENT DEFINITIONS

 

 

ABUSE

 

Any of the following acts or omissions by a parent, guardian, custodian, foster parent, or any person who is entrusted with the juvenile’s care by a parent, guardian, custodian, or foster parent, including, but not limited to, an agent or employee of a public or private residential home, child care facility, public or private school, or any person legally responsible for the juvenile’s welfare:

 

·               Extreme or repeated cruelty to a juvenile;

·               Engaging in conduct creating a realistic and serious threat of death, permanent or temporary disfigurement, or impairment of any bodily organ.

·               Injury to a juvenile’s intellectual, emotional or psychological development as evidenced by observable and substantial impairment of the juvenile’s ability to function within the juvenile’s normal range of performance and behavior.

·               Any history that is at variance with the history given.

·               Any non-accidental physical injury.

·               Any of the following intentional or knowing acts, with physical injury:

1.                Throwing, kicking, burning, biting or cutting a child.

2.                Striking a child with a closed fist.

3.                Shaking a child.

4.                Striking a child on the face.

·               Any of the following intentional or knowing acts, with or without injury:

1.                Striking a child age six or younger on the face.

2.                Shaking a child age three or younger.

3.                Interfering with a child’s breathing.

NOTE:  The prior list of unreasonable actions are considered illustrative and not exclusive.

·               No unreasonable action shall be construed to permit a finding of abuse without having established the elements of abuse.

·               Abuse shall not include physical discipline of a child when it is reasonable and moderate and is inflicted by a parent or guardian for purposes or restraining or correcting the child.

·               Abuse shall not include when a child suffers transient pain or minor temporary marks as the result of a reasonable restraint if:

1.                The person exercising the restraint is an employee of an agency licensed or exempted from licensure under the Child Welfare Agency Licensing Act;

2.                The agency has policy and procedures regarding restraints;

3.                No other alternative exists to control the child except for a restraint;

4.                The child is in danger of hurting himself or others;

5.                The person exercising the restraint has been trained in properly restraining children, de-escalation, and conflict resolution techniques; and

6.                The restraint is for a reasonable period of time.

·               Reasonable and moderate physical discipline inflicted by a parent or guardian shall not include any act that is likely to cause and which does cause injury more serious than transient pain or minor temporary marks.

The age, size and condition of the child and the location of the injury and the frequency of recurrence of injuries shall be considered when determining whether the physical discipline is reasonable or moderate.

 

 

AR DHS Statistical Report SFY 2001

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MALTREATMENT DEFINITIONS

(continued)

 

 

SEXUAL ABUSE

 

(A)          Sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity or sexual contact by forcible compulsion or attempted sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity or sexual contact by a person ten (10) years of age or older to a person younger than eighteen (18) years of age;

 

(B)          Sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity or sexual contact or solicitation or attempted sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity or sexual contact that occurs between a person eighteen (18) years of age or older and a person not his spouse who is younger than sixteen (16) years of age;

 

(C)          Sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity or sexual contact or solicitation or attempted sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity or sexual contact between a person younger than eighteen (18) years of age and a sibling or caretaker; or

 

(D)          Indecent exposure or forcing, permitting or encouraging the watching or pornography or live human sexual

activity.

 

NEGLECT

 

Acts or omissions of a parent, guardian, custodian, foster parent, or any person who is entrusted with the juvenile’s care by a parent, custodian, guardian, or foster parent, including, but not limited to, an agent or employee of a public or private residential home, child care facility, public or private school, or any person legally responsible under state law for the juvenile’s welfare, which constitute:

·               Failure or refusal to provide the necessary food, clothing, or shelter, and education required by law, or medical treatment necessary for the juvenile’s well-being, except when the failure or refusal is caused primarily by the financial inability of the person legally responsible and no services for relief have been offered or rejected;

·               Failure to take reasonable action to protect the juvenile from abandonment, abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, neglect, or parental unfitness where the existence of such condition was known or should have been known;

·               Failure or irremediable inability to provide for the essential and necessary physical, mental, or emotional, needs of the juvenile;

·               Failure to provide for the juvenile’s care and maintenance, proper or necessary support, or medical, surgical, or other necessary care;

·               Failure, although able, to assume responsibility for the care and custody of the juvenile or participate in a plan to assume such responsibility.

 

EXEMPTED FROM TRUE DUE TO RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION

 

Determination will be entered when the parent’s decision to withhold medical treatment is based solely upon a religious belief, and the child is furnished with treatment by spiritual means alone, through prayer, in accordance with a recognized religious method of healing by an accredited practitioner.  Such prohibition shall not limit the administrative or judicial authority of the State to ensure that medical services are provided to the child when the child’s health requires it.

 

PREPONDERANCE OF THE EVIDENCE

 

Evidence which is of greater weight or more convincing than the evidence which is offered in opposition to it; that is, evidence which as a whole shows that the fact to be proved is more probable than not.

 

A protocol is used when a DCFS Family Service Worker (FSW) or the Arkansas State Police conducts a Child Maltreatment Assessment.  It identifies and defines the various types of child maltreatment a FSW/FPD may encounter during an assessment.  The protocol also identifies when and from whom an allegation those conditions,

 

 

 

AR DHS Statistical Report SFY 2001

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