Abuse in children can take many forms. It may be limited to physical abuse or may combine any or all of the following:

• Neglect.  The most common form of abuse in children in the United States. It occurs when a parent or other caretaker fails to provide basic necessities to a child including adequate food, housing, clothes, education, medical care or supervision.
  
  
• Physical abuse. The willful infliction of physical pain or injury on a child. Examples of physical abuse include excessive shaking (shaken baby syndrome), shoving, punching, slapping, pinching, hitting, kicking, hair pulling, choking and other types of violent behavior including burning with cigarettes or scalding with hot water. In severe cases, physical abuse may result in the death of a child.
  
  
• Sexual abuse. May include sexual exhibitionism by an adult or other caretaker, inappropriate touching of minors, photographing children in suggestive poses,  forcing children to look at pornography, forcing sexual contact with a third party or any other type of coerced sexual contact with a child or adolescent such as nudity, statutory rape, sodomy or incest. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), female children and adolescents are significantly more likely than males to experience sexual abuse.
  
  
• Mental or emotional anguish. Occurs when a parent or other caretaker behaves in a way that causes fear, mental anguish and emotional pain or distress to children. It can range from name-calling or giving the “silent treatment” to intimidating and threatening a child. It can also include isolating a child from relatives, friends and regular activities.
  
  
• Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSBP). A rare form of child abuse in which a parent or other caretaker, typically a mother, induces real or apparent symptoms of disease in a child. As a result, physicians usually perform various diagnostic tests, prescribe medications and may even hospitalize a child or perform surgery to determine the cause of the child’s illness. The syndrome occurs due to psychological problems in the parent or caregiver, and the unusual behavior can escalate to the point of severe physical harm or even death of a child.