Child Abuse History
EDU 153
Child Maltreatment Crisis
The problem of child maltreatment in the
United States, and around the world as well, has
reached crisis proportions.
 At a special meeting at the National Center for
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington DC in
July of 1990, a special federal panel declared the
maltreatment of children a national emergency.
 This was not always the case. A child's right to
be free from inhumane treatment has been
recognized only recently.

Child abuse and neglect is not a new
problem.
 Child abuse and neglect have occurred
throughout history but it is only within
the last 40 years that public attention has
been drawn to the problem.

Child Maltreatment
Over the centuries, infanticide ritual sacrifice,
and exploitation of child labor are only some of
the ways children have been mistreated.
 In many societies children had no rights or
privileges including the right to live.

◦ In Greece in 4th Century BC a child was the
property of the father who decided whether the child
lived or died on the fifth day after birth.
◦ According to ancient Roman law the father had the
power of life and death over children that extended
into adulthood.
◦ Early English common law entitled the custody of
children to the father.
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Children were regularly sacrificed as part of religious and
other cultural rituals in early societies of Africa, Asia, North
and South America and Australia as well as Europe.
Unwanted infants - often the malformed, handicapped, or
female children - were abandoned in temples for the gods to
care for, which really meant they were left to die from
exposure or dehydration. Many were simply discarded or
thrown into rivers or sewers.
The practices were accepted as a matter of course well into
the first century AD and vestiges of those practices were
common even in the 19th century England and in post Civil
War United States.
The era of the Industrial Revolution was
particularly hard on children.
 Many poor children were used as forced cheap
labor in the factories in England.

◦ It was common practice to tie or chain the children to
their stations and whip them to ensure the amount of
productivity the mill owners desired.
◦ Poorly fed and housed many of these children did not
survive into adulthood.
◦ In the United States children did not fare much better.
John Walker
One of the earliest child abuse cases was
recorded in Massachusetts in 1655.
 A 12 yr. old boy, John Walker was an
apprentice who was mistreated by his
master and died.
 His master was convicted of manslaughter
and was ordered burned in his hands; all
his goods were confiscated.

Mary Ellen Wilson

The NY case of Mary Ellen Wilson was one of the first cases
in this country to attract widespread attention through the
press in 1874.
Etta Wheeler, hearing from concerned
friends and neighbors that a nine year old
child was being beaten daily in a tenement
on the Upper East Side of New York City.

Ms. Wheeler entered the apartment and found a little girl,
Mary Ellen, seriously malnourished, bruised, and tied to her
bed. The child reported to the worker that she was never
allowed outside the apartment. She was often locked in the
closet for long periods of time.
Mary Ellen
The worker appealed to the police, the
district attorney, and other law enforcement
officials, but they could take no action.
 There were no laws under which they could
initiate a legal proceeding.

◦ Children were considered to be the chattel or
goods of their parents or caretakers.
◦ Parents had very broad latitude over the manner
in which they fed, clothed, and disciplined them.
SPCA
In desperation Etta Wheeler
approached an official of the
Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)
which had been formed a few
years earlier.
 Mary Ellen was taken to court
by them on a stretcher.
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Mary Ellen
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The attorney for the SPCA argued before the court that the
child was a member of the animal kingdom, and as such
should be afforded the same rights and protection of animals
which were already in the state laws regarding their humane
treatment.
Her adoptive parents were found guilty of cruelty to animals.
Mary Ellen Wilson was the first child taken away from
abusive/negligent caretakers by court order in the United
States.
Mary Ellen was removed from the home and placed in foster
care, an action which probably saved her life. The Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was formed the
following year.
Dr. C. Henry Kempe,

national conference in 1961
◦ Symposium on Child Abuse
pediatric radiologist, who had been studying
children's injuries and various aspects of child
abuse,
 first introduced the phrase "battered child
syndrome.“
 For the first time doctors and other medical
professionals accepted the premise that much
of the unexplained trauma in children was the
result of actions by their parents or caretakers.

Child Abuse Reporting Laws
This symposium on Child Abuse led to the
proposal of child abuse reporting laws.
It required physicians to report cases to police
authorities.
Physicians were given immunity from civil or
criminal; liability and failure to report was a
misdemeanor.
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment
Act
January 31, 1974, (Public Law 93-247)
signed into law creating the National
Center on Child Abuse and Neglect.
 The law required states to establish
definitions, policies, procedures and laws
regarding child abuse and neglect.

◦ It required each state to appoint an agency,
and grant it legal authority to investigate and
prosecute incidences of maltreatment.

In 1965 NC enacted the state's first
reporting law; reporting was voluntary.

In 1971, the law was changed; reporting
became mandatory.
Reporting Child Abuse/Neglect
§ 7B-301. Duty to report abuse, neglect, dependency, or death due
to maltreatment.
 Any person or institution who has cause to suspect that any juvenile is
abused, neglected, or dependent, as defined by G.S. 7B-101, or has died as
the result of maltreatment, shall report the case of that juvenile to the
director of the department of social services in the county where the
juvenile resides or is found. The report may be made orally, by telephone,
or in writing. The report shall include information as is known to the
person making it including the name and address of the juvenile; the name
and address of the juvenile's parent, guardian, or caretaker; the age of the
juvenile; the names and ages of other juveniles in the home; the present
whereabouts of the juvenile if not at the home address; the nature and
extent of any injury or condition resulting from abuse, neglect, or
dependency; and any other information which the person making the
report believes might be helpful in establishing the need for protective
services or court intervention. If the report is made orally or by telephone,
the person making the report shall give the person's name, address, and
telephone number. Refusal of the person making the report to give a name
shall not preclude the department's investigation of the alleged abuse,
neglect, dependency, or death as a result of maltreatment.
Reporting Child Abuse/Neglect
This law requires everyone to report suspected
Child Abuse or neglect.
 This reporting requirement applies to professionals
such as physicians, psychologists, other health and
mental health workers and school and day care
personnel.
 But it applies equally to friends, neighbors, relatives
and anyone else who suspects that a Child is abused
or neglected.
 The law makes no exceptions to the reporting
requirement-- not even for the doctor-patient or
other relationships that usually involve
confidentiality.
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The reporting law only requires that a person have a
reasonable suspicion that a Child is being mistreated.,
not that he or she is certain or actually knows that
Abuse or neglect exists.
If in doubt report!
There is a statute that provides immunity from civil or
criminal liability for anyone who in good faith makes a
report of suspected Child abuse or neglect.
◦ Obviously this law cannot prevent a parent from bringing
suit against those who report but it is highly unlikely that
such a suit would be successful since the burden is on the
person who sues to prove that the reporter acted in bad
faith.
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The consequences of not reporting can include civil as
well as criminal liability.