Child Abuse means harm or threatened harm to a child's health or welfare by a parent, legal guardian, or any other person responsible for the child's health or welfare, or by a teacher, teacher's aide, which occurs through non-accidental physical or mental injury; sexual abuse; sexual exploitation, or maltreatment.

Child abuse can be a one-time occurrence, but more often child abuse is behavior that involves regular physical attacks or acts of deprivations or molestation. Abuse may take different forms. Often times a child may suffer from more than one kind of abuse. Those children who have been abused, or who see others being abused, are six times more likely to abuse a spouse, or a child when they become adults than those who have not been subjects of abuse, neglect or violence .*

Child Neglect includes the failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, supervision or medical care and/or placing a child's health or welfare at unreasonable risk, or failure to eliminate the risk when that person is able to do so, and has, or should have knowledge of the risk.