Child Protection

Child protection is used to describe a set of usually government-run services designed to protect children and young people who are underage and to encourage family stability. These typically include foster care, adoption services, services aimed at supporting at-risk families so they can remain intact, and investigation of alleged child abuse.

Most children who come to the attention of the child welfare system do so because of any of the following situations, which are often collectively termed child abuse:

• Child sexual abuse
• Neglect including the failure to take adequate measures to safeguard a child from harm and/or gross negligence in providing for a child's basic needs:
• Physical abuse
• Psychological abuse

The United States government's Administration for Children and Families reported that in 2004 approximately 3.5 million children were involved in investigations of alleged abuse or neglect in the US, while an estimated 872,000 children were determined to have been abused or neglected, and an estimated 1,490 children died that year because of abuse or neglect. In 2007, 1,760 children died as the result of child abuse and neglect. Child abuse impacts the most vulnerable populations, with children under age five years accounting for 76% of fatalities. In 2008, 8.3 children per 1000 were victims of child abuse and neglect and 10.2 children per 1000 were in out of home placement.