Child Physical Abuse

Element #2 – An Abused Child. In the past, child abuse instructors used to refer to the “target child”. This was one boy or girl in a family who was the most vulnerable and the recipient of the most abuse. Now it is recognized that several children can be victims, thus the term “target children” is used.

Children under six years of age are the most likely to be abused. There are several reasons that this is so vulnerable. One is that older children are more likely to report abuse. Younger children are home more than school-age children. Older children have learned to recognize when their parents are agitated and avoid them.

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