Child Abuse Prevention
LISD Guidance and Counseling
Child Abuse Prevention Month
Today, 175 Texas children will be victims of abuse.
1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. With 7.4 million children residing in Texas, this would equal 740,000 child victims of abuse.
Child Abuse is a serious problem that can have long-lasting effects on a person.
Safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments are essential to prevent early adversity, including child abuse and neglect, and to assure that all children reach their full potential.
Warning Signs of Child Abuse
- Changes in appetite
- Inappropriate clothing such as long sleeve shirts in the summer
- Defiant
- Aggression towards others
- Acting out or disruptive behavior
- Changes in grades
- Cheating or lying
Legally, What Child Abuse and Neglect are in Texas
In Texas, the definitions of child abuse and neglect include specific acts or omissions by a person responsible for a child’s care, custody or welfare. Here are important legal definitions from Section 261.001 of the Texas Family Code.
“Abuse” includes the following acts or omissions by a person:
- Mental or emotional injury to a child that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning.
- Causing or permitting the child to be in a situation in which the child sustains a mental or emotional injury that results in an observable and material impairment in the child’s growth, development, or psychological functioning.
- Physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child, or the genuine threat of substantial harm from physical injury to the child, including an injury that is at variance with the history or explanation given and excluding an accident or reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child to a substantial risk of harm.
- Failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent an action by another person that results in physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child.
- Sexual conduct harmful to a child’s mental, emotional, or physical welfare including conduct that constitutes the offense of indecency with a child under Section 21.11, Penal Code, sexual assault under Section 22.011, Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021, Penal Code.
- Failure to make a reasonable effort to prevent sexual conduct harmful to a child.
- Compelling or encouraging the child to engage in sexual conduct as defined by Section 43.01, Penal Code.
- Causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing the photographing, filming, or depicting of the child if the person knew or should have known that the resulting photograph, film, or depiction of the child is obscene as defined by Section 43.21, Penal Code, or pornographic.
- Causing, permitting, encouraging, engaging in, or allowing a sexual performance by a child as defined by Section 43.25, Penal Code.
- The current use by a person of a controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, in a manner or to the extent that the use results in physical, mental, or emotional injury to a child.
- Causing, expressly permitting, or encouraging a child to use a controlled substance as defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code.
“Neglect” includes:
- Leaving of a child in a situation where the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of physical or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care for the child, and the demonstration of an intent not to return by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessory conservator of the child.
- The following acts or omissions by a person:
- Placing a child in or failing to remove a child from a situation that a reasonable person would realize requires judgment or actions beyond the child’s level of maturity, physical condition, or mental abilities and that result in bodily injury or a substantial risk of immediate harm to the child.
- Failing to seek, obtain, or follow through with medical care for a child, with the failure resulting in or presenting a substantial risk of death, disfigurement, or bodily injury or with the failure resulting in an observable and material impairment to the growth, development, or functioning of the child.
- The failure to provide a child with food, clothing, or shelter necessary to sustain the life or health of the child, excluding failure caused primarily by financial inability unless relief services had been offered and refused.
- Placing a child in or failing to remove the child from a situation in which the child would be exposed to a substantial risk of sexual conduct harmful to the child.
- The failure by the person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare to permit the child to return to the child’s home without arranging for the necessary care for the child after the child has been absent from the home for any reason, including having been in a residential placement or having run away.
“Person responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare” means a person who traditionally is responsible for a child’s care, custody, or welfare, including:
- A parent, guardian, managing or possessory conservator, or foster parent of the child.
- A member of the child’s family or household as defined by Chapter 71.
- A person with whom the child’s parent cohabit.
- School personnel or a volunteer at the child’s school.
- Personnel or a volunteer at a public or private child-care facility that provides services for the child or at a public or private residential institution or facility where the child resides.
If you suspect abuse, please go to the website below to learn how and when to report.