What is abuse?

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events that affect children while growing up, such as suffering child maltreatment or living in a household affected by domestic violence, substance misuse or mental illness

Categories and definitions of abuse

Find out about the 5 categories of abuse: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse and neglect as cited within the Wales Safeguarding Procedures 2008

Child Exploitation

Child exploitation refers to the use of children for someone else's advantage, gratification or profit often resulting in unjust, cruel and harmful treatment of the child. These activities are to the detriment of the child's physical or mental health, education, moral or social-emotional development. It covers situations of manipulation, misuse, abuse, victimization, oppression or ill-treatment

County lines

County lines is a major, cross-cutting issue involving drugs, violence, gangs, safeguarding, criminal and sexual exploitation, modern slavery, and missing persons; and the response to tackle it involves the police, the National Crime Agency, a wide range of Government departments, local government agencies and VCS (voluntary and community sector) organisations

Domestic abuse

Domestic abuse is the use of control by one person over another in an intimate or close family relationship; the abuse can be sexual, physical, financial, emotional or psychological

Fabricated illness

Fabricated or induced illness (FII) is a rare form of child abuse. It occurs when a parent or carer, usually the child's biological mother, exaggerates or deliberately causes symptoms of illness in the child

Female genital mutilation (FGM)

Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. FGM is illegal in the UK

Forced marriage (FM)

A forced marriage is where one or both people do not (or in cases of people with learning disabilities, cannot) consent to the marriage and pressure or abuse is used. Forced marriages happen in many religions and nationalities and it doesn't just affect girls - boys can also be forced into marriage

Grooming

Grooming is when someone builds an emotional connection with a child to gain their trust for the purposes of sexual abuse, child exploitation or trafficking

Hate crime

Hate crime is violence or hostility directed at people because of who they are or who someone thinks they are - e.g. you may have been verbally abused by someone in the street because you're disabled or someone thought you were gay

Honour based violence (HBV)

Honour based violence (HBV) is a violent crime or incident which may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family or community. It is often linked to family members or acquaintances who believe someone has brought shame to their family or community by doing something that is not in keeping with the traditional beliefs of their culture

Modern day slavery and human trafficking

Modern slavery is a serious and brutal crime in which people are treated as commodities and exploited for criminal gain. It includes human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced and compulsory labour. Exploitation takes a number of forms, including sexual exploitation, forced manual labour and domestic servitude, and victims come from all walks of life

Professional abuse

Experience shows that people can be victims of abuse and exploitation by those who work with them in any context. It is crucial that where we witness or suspect that someone in either a professional or unpaid volunteering role is acting inappropriately towards a child or adult, this is reported

Self harm and thoughts of suicide

Self-harm is the name given to any deliberate act of self-injury or behaviour intended to cause harm to someone's own body. It commonly takes the form of cutting or burning, but can include self-destructive behaviours such as excessive drinking and suicide attempts

Spirit possession and witchcraft

Belief in spirits and possession are widespread. The key feature in cases of abuse is not the beliefs of a family, but that the perpetrator of the abuse uses these beliefs as a justification for the abuse of the child. Practitioners need to have an understanding of religious beliefs and cultural practices in order to help gain the trust of the child, the family and the community