CHILD PHYSICAL ABUSE
Child physical abuse is the non-accidental use of physical force against a child that causes, or is likely to cause, harm to the child.
Physical abuse cases account for around 18% of all substantiated cases in Australia making it the third most common form of abuse according to statistics. It is usually perpetrated by Parents or Caregivers, with less than 5% of cases involving other relatives, family friends or strangers.
Trying to decide what physical force is abusive and what isn’t can be difficult for authorities. Most jurisdictions still allow Parents to use corporal punishment on their children – eg smacking - so it can be hard working out when the line between acceptable and unacceptable has been crossed.
Other factors are also taken into account when Authorities investigate physical abuse – sometimes one smack on the bottom won’t be defined as physical abuse – but if a Parent were to do that 50 times a day that would likely qualify as abuse.
As we’ve already talked about, it’s not necessary for you to decide definitely whether or not an act would be defined as abuse. So long as you think or suspect that it’s abuse, then that’s when you need to consider your duty to report.