Paedophilia Health Dictionary

This traditional term covers the neglect, physical injury, emotional trauma and sexual abuse of a child. Professional sta? responsible for the care and well-being of children now refer to physical injury as ‘non-accidental injury’. Child abuse may be caused by parents, relatives or carers. In England around 35,000 children are on local-authority social-service department child-protection registers – that is, are regarded as having been abused or at risk of abuse. Physical abuse or non-accidental injury is the most easily recognised form; victims of sexual abuse may not reveal their experiences until adulthood, and often not at all. Where child abuse is suspected, health, social-care and educational professionals have a duty to report the case to the local authority under the terms of the Children Act. The authority has a duty to investigate and this may mean admitting a child to hospital or to local-authority care. Abuse may be the result of impulsive action by adults or it may be premeditated: for example, the continued sexual exploitation of a child over several years. Premeditated physical assault is rare but is liable to cause serious injury to a child and requires urgent action when identi?ed. Adults will go to some lengths to cover up persistent abuse. The child’s interests are paramount but the parents may well be under severe stress and also require sympathetic handling.

In recent years persistent child abuse in some children’s homes has come to light, with widespread publicity following o?enders’ appearances in court. Local communities have also protested about convicted paedophiles, released from prison, coming to live in their communities.

In England and Wales, local-government social-services departments are central in the prevention, investigation and management of cases of child abuse. They have four important protection duties laid down in the Children Act 1989. They are charged (1) to prevent children from suffering ill treatment and neglect; (2) to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need; (3) when requested by a court, to investigate a child’s circumstances; (4) to investigate information – in concert with the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) – that a child is suffering or is likely to suffer signi?cant harm, and to decide whether action is necessary to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare. Similar provisions exist in the other parts of the United Kingdom.

When anyone suspects that child abuse is occurring, contact should be made with the relevant social-services department or, in Scotland, with the children’s reporter. (See NONACCIDENTAL INJURY (NAI); PAEDOPHILIA.)... child abuse

(See also CHILD ABUSE). Though NAI has traditionally been seen as abuse against children – and they are still the main victims – such injuries can also be in?icted on vulnerable adults. Adults with learning diffculties, dementias or physical disabilities su?ciently serious as to require institutional care (or who make heavy demands on relatives) are sometimes the victims of NAI. Health professionals, social workers and relatives should bear this possibility in mind when discovering unusual, severe or repeated bruising or fractures in vulnerable adults, even in circumstances where NAI may seem unlikely. (See also MUNCHAUSEN’S SYNDROME; PAEDOPHILIA.)... non-accidental injury (nai)

A form of sexual behaviour, most common in men, in which intercourse between adults is not the final aim. Forms of sexual deviation include exhibitionism, fetishism, paedophilia, and transvestism.... deviation, sexual

The branch of medicine that is concerned with the development of children, and the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of childhood diseases.paedophilia Sexual attraction to children. (See also child abuse; incest.)... paediatrics

see child abuse; paedophilia.... sexual abuse

any sexual behaviour regarded as abnormal by society. The deviation may relate to the sexual object (as in *fetishism) or the activity engaged in (for example, *paedophilia, sadism, and exhibitionism). The activity is sexually pleasurable.

The definition of what is normal varies with different cultures and over time, and treatment is appropriate only when the deviation causes suffering. For this reason the term sexual variation is now sometimes preferred. Some people may find that *counselling helps them to adjust to their deviation. Others may wish for treatment to change the deviation: *aversion therapy may be used, also *conditioning normal sexual fantasies to pleasurable behaviour. The only helpful effect of drugs is to reduce sexual drive generally.... sexual deviation