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Did You Know: 

Growth spurts can start as early as 10 days after your baby’s birth.  Growth spurts usually are preceded by a sleepy, lethargic day and a big jump in appetite.  Growth spurts may happen again at 3, 6, and 12 weeks and again at 4 and 6 months.  If you begin to notice that your child is not as satisfied with the amount that you have been feeding her previously, then she may be beginning a growth spurt period.  If you are breastfeeding, you may want to add a feeding or two to satiate your baby’s appetite and to help increase milk production.

Hand Tools : Family Anger

Reporting and Recognizing Child Abuse and Neglect

By Ron Huxley, LMFT

State and Federal law requires certain individuals to report child maltreatment. While it is advantageous for everyone to voluntarily report cases of suspected abuse, these certain individuals are called mandated reporters. In general, mandated reporters are "child care custodians" which include licensed day care providers and public and private school employees (teachers, aides, assistants). Individuals who provide related child services are also mandated reporters. These individuals are administrative officers, supervisor of child welfare, pupil personnel employees of public or private schools, day camp administrators, community care facility administrators, foster parents, group home and residential facility personnel, social workers and probation worker are classified as "child care custodians" under the Child Abuse Reporting Act.

Mandated reporters must file a report if they know or have a reasonable suspicion that a child is being or has been abused. A report is required to be made even if that incidence has occurred in the past. In California, USA, reports are to be made by phone immediately and in writing within 36 hours to a local child protective services agency. Within the United States of America, as many as one million children per year are victims of some form of abuse or neglect. Therefore, it is expected that "mandated reporters" or "child care custodians" will witness or suspect a case of child maltreatment at some point in their careers, if not more than once. Some common indicators of physical abuse include evidence of repeated injury, frequent complaints of abdominal pain, evidence of bruises; welts, wounds, cuts or punctures; scalding liquid burns; caustic burns, frostbite, and apparent cigarette burns of the back of the neck, head or extremities.

Indicators of sexual abuse and emotional deprivation often leave marks on the child's psychological make-up rather than on the body. Some indicators that physicians might notice in an examination of a sexually abused child involve torn, stained or bloody underclothing, pain or itching in the genital area, and signs of venereal disease.

Signs of neglect include malnourished, ill-clad, dirty, improper shelter or sleeping situations, inadequate supervision, and inappropriate health care. The American Humane Association also describes emotional neglect as a child who is denied normal experiences of love and security. While equally devastating, indicators of neglect, be it general or severs, are less sure and more difficult to define as abuse and neglect than say, physical abuse.

Children who do not experience feelings of love, security, warmth or caring may exhibit extreme behaviors as cruelty or torture to animals or other children. Children who have not had the opportunity to learn proper affection and trust may withhold affectionate responses from others or respond in a mechanical and artificial manner. Attitudes of inferiority may also be a sign of emotional abuse or neglect. Statements that indicate the child does not feel that they are as good as others or are always being criticized by others may suggest signs of emotional maltreatment. Because of the difficulty in labeling these signs as abuse, mandated reporters need to interview and observe the child interacting with the family to gain more information before reporting to the local child protective services.

While individual states differ in their reporting requirements for mandated reporters, the fact remains that all 50 states, in America, do require that childcare custodians report occurrences or suspected cases of maltreatment. If individuals are not sure if they are required to report, they should investigate by contacting their employers, local child abuse prevention agency, and the state Department of Justice. Agencies where reporting is clearly mandated need to draft child abuse policies that combat and deal with child abuse and neglect.

A child abuse and neglect prevention policy might involve the following steps: The first step asks boards to gain current information on who is required to report child maltreatment. Contact local legislator directly to determine recent statute changes. The next step is to contact the school systems in the state to find out what policies and procedure they are using. It is also important to ask how effective these policies have been. The last proposal is for agencies to work with their attorney and the local child protection agency to make sure the policies not only comply with the law but are practical as well.

Establishing a child abuse policies for employees speaks to not only the benefits of understanding ones role and responsibilities but also to the number of financial cuts taking place in child protection agencies throughout the state of California. Multi-million dollar cuts are causing local protective agencies to primarily answer calls on an emergency basis. Children who are least at risk will feel the most impact of these cutbacks. Changes in regulations will consider certain referrals as inappropriate for emergency response. Some of these referrals will be, but not limited to, lack of supervision in day care or out of home care facilities; failure to use seat belts; runaway children (referred to law enforcement agencies); children over six or over left unsupervised at home; drug or alcohol abuse of parents; substance abusing pregnant women; minors living apart form relatives; past physical abuse which occurred over a year ago; reasonable and age-appropriate spanking to the buttocks; sibling physical abuse; verbal abuse, etc.

Because of the severity of the problem of child abuse and neglect and due to the fact that child protective agencies are less able to respond to reports of child abuse, agencies need policies that clearly define the roles and responsibilities as well as list the signs of maltreatment. Prevention efforts are also needed to deal with the problem of child maltreatment in a more cost-effective manner. Prevention efforts are not mandatory but they do need to be the responsibility of everyone.

Ron Huxley is a child and family therapist and the author of the book "Love & Limits: Achieving a Balance in Parenting." You can order his book online at or request it through your local bookstore. The ISBN number is 1-56593-936-0.

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