Abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child either directly by inflicting harm, or indirectly, by failing to act to prevent harm.
Child Abuse is when someone is ill-treating a child, causing damage to the child's health or personal development.
Child abuse falls into one or more of four categories:
An explanation of what child abuse is, where to go for support and what steps the police and social workers can take to protect a child is available from citizensadvice and NSPCC.
Abused when you were a child
If you were abused as a child, you may be able to get financial compensation.
More information on help and support available if you were abused as a child is available from citizensadvice.
Help and advice
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
The NSPCC is a British child protection charity dedicated to ending cruelty to children.
Full details of the NSPCC and the services they provide are available at MAG - NSPCC.
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) are part of UK Policing and are dedicated to eradicating the sexual abuse of children.
Thinkuknow is the CEOP's website on internet safety and safe surfing for young people when using blogs, chatting, online gaming, P2P and webcams.
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