**Author details**

Essam Al-Shail

*Head Section, Paediatric Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosciences, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia* 

Ahmed M. Hassan *Department of Mental Health, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia* 

Abdullah Aldowaish *Department of Paediatrics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia* 

Hoda Kattan *Department of Paediatrics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia* 

## **9. References**


Bromfield, L. M. (2005). Chronic child maltreatment in an Australian Statutory child protection sample (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Deakin University, Geelong.

36 Child Abuse and Neglect – A Multidimensional Approach

treated and to be protected from abuse.

*Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia* 

Medical Journal. Volume 12, pp. 129 – 133.

Journal; Volume 28 (2), pp. 241-248.

children are largely on their own.

**Author details** 

Ahmed M. Hassan

Abdullah Aldowaish

*Saudi Arabia* 

Hoda Kattan

**9. References** 

Essam Al-Shail

a strategic objective for combating child abuse, and for which various official and non-official bodies in the society can be recruited, such as schools, religious authorities, security forces, etc.

As mentioned earlier, several abused children who were admitted to hospital for treating their physical and emotional injuries, were soon discharged by their guardians against medical advice. There were no guarantees that the same cycle of abuse did not continue against these children after their forced discharge from the hospital pre-maturely. The treating physicians or clinicians had no jurisdiction to prevent such discharge. This legal vacuum requires legislative efforts that are designed to allow children their right to be

Finally, there is active work at various governmental levels to establish a legal and official system to regulate child protection policies in the direction beneficial to the child. Until then,

*Head Section, Paediatric Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosciences, King Faisal Specialist* 

*Department of Mental Health, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh,* 

*Department of Paediatrics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia* 

*Department of Paediatrics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia* 

Al-Eissa, Y. A. (1991). The Battered child syndrome: does it exist in Saudi Arabia? Saudi

Al-Mahroos, F. T. (2007). Child abuse and neglect in the Arab Peninsula. Saudi Medical

Al-Mugeiren, M. and Ganelin, R. S. (1990). A suspected case of Munchausen's syndrome by

Arata, C. M., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Bowers, D., and O'Farrill-Swails, L. (2005). Single versus multi-type maltreatment: An examination of the long-term effects of child abuse.

Broadbent, A. and Bentley, R. (1997). Child abuse and neglect Australia 1995-96 (Child

Welfare Series No. 17). Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

proxy in a Saudi child. Annals Saudi Medicine. Volume 10, pp. 662 – 665.

Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 11(4), pp. 29-52.


Ney, P. G., Fung, T. and Wickett, A. R. (1994). The worst combinations of child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect, 18(9), pp. 705-714.

**Chapter 3** 

© 2012 Lazenbatt, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

**Recognizing the Co-Occurrence** 

**of Child and Domestic Abuse in** 

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Anne Lazenbatt

**1. Introduction** 

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/49963

**Pregnancy and the First Postnatal Year** 

Over recent years there has been an upsurge in research that has increased our knowledge and understanding of how pregnancy and the first postnatal year can lay significant foundations for positive child development. This new knowledge has created a consensus of opinion about the need to develop early interventions to help young children get the best start in life. Child abuse and maltreatment can have an impact early in an infant's life, even as early as pregnancy and the postpartum period and can affect infants' physical and emotional health, their learning and their capacity to form positive relationships throughout their lives. Child abuse is a major and complex public health and social welfare problem, caused by a myriad of factors that involve the individual, the family and the community. We know that child abuse or neglect and general trauma, including the witnessing of domestic abuse, are major threats to child health and wellbeing; they alter normal child

Infant maltreatment is one of the most serious events undermining healthy psychological wellbeing and development, and no other social risk factor has a stronger association with developmental psychopathology [2]. Parents are almost always the perpetrators and in the United Kingdom (UK) infants are eight times more likely to be killed than older children [3]. However, this may be only the 'tip of the iceberg' as some researchers suggest that well over 50% of fatalities due to maltreatment may be incorrectly coded as deaths due to accidents, natural causes, or other factors on the death record [4]. Evidence highlights that no single factor causes children to be maltreated, rather a 'toxic trio' of factors such as parental mental illness, domestic abuse and drug and alcohol misuse, can increase the risk of neglect or abuse. A recent NSPCC report shows that around 198,000 babies under one year of age in

development and, without intervention, may have lifelong consequences [1].

