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Legislation Related to Child Maltreatment DEFINITIONS FROM CHILD ABUSE STATUTE (ARK. CODE ANN. 12-12-503) "Abandonment" means: (A) Failure of the parent to provide reasonable support and to maintain regular contact with the juvenile through statement or contact when the failure is accompanied by an intention on the part of the parent to permit the condition to continue for an indefinite period in the future; (B) Failure to support or maintain regular contact with the juvenile without just cause; or (C) An articulated intent to forego parental responsibility; "Abuse" means any of the following acts or commissions by a parent, guardian, custodian, foster parent, or any person who is entrusted with the juvenile's care by a parent, guardian, custodian, or foster parent, including, but not limited to, an agent or employee of a public or private residential home, child care facility, public or private school, or any person legally responsible for the juvenile's welfare: (i) Extreme and repeated cruelty to a juvenile; (ii) Engaging in conduct creating a realistic and serious threat of death, permanent or temporary disfigurement, illness, impairment of any bodily organ; (iii) Injury to a juvenile's intellectual, emotional, or psychological development as evidenced by observable and substantial impairment of the juvenile's ability to function within the juvenile's normal range of performance and behavior; (iv) Any injury which is at variance with the history given. (v) Any non-accidental physical injury or mental injury; or (vi) Any of the following intentional or knowing acts, with physical injury and without justifiable cause: (a) Throwing, kicking, burning, biting, or cutting a child; (b) Striking a child with a closed fist; (c) Shaking a child; or (d) Striking a child on the face; (vii) Any of the following intentional or knowing acts, with or without physical injury: (a) Striking a child age six (6) or younger on the face; (b) Shaking a child age three (3) or younger; or (c) Interfering with a child's breathing. (B)(i) The list in subdivision(2)(A) of this section is illustrative of unreasonable action and is not intended to be exclusive. (ii) No unreasonable action shall be construed to permit a finding of abuse without having established the elements of abuse. (C)(i) "Abuse" shall not include physical discipline of a child when it is reasonable and moderate and is inflicted by a parent or guardian for purposes of restraining or correcting the child. (ii) "Abuse" shall not include when a child suffers transient pain or minor temporary marks as the result of an appropriate restraint if: (a) The person exercising the restraint is an employee of an agency licensed or exempted from licensure under the Child Welfare Agency Licensing Act § 9-28-401 et seq; (b) The agency has policy and procedures regarding restraints; (c) No other alternative exists to control the child except for a restraint; (d) The child is in danger or hurting himself or herself or others; (e) The person exercising the restraint has been trained in properly restraining children, de-escalation, and conflict resolution techniques; and (f) The restraint is for a reasonable period of time. (iii) Reasonable and moderate physical discipline inflicted by a parent or guardian shall not include any act that is likely to cause injury more serious than transient pain or temporary marks. (iv) The age, size, and condition of the child, and the location of the injury and the frequency or recurrence of injuries shall be considered when determining whether the physical discipline is reasonable or moderate; "Caretaker" means a parent, guardian, custodian, foster parent, or any person ten (10) years of age or older who is entrusted with a child's care by a parent, guardian, custodian, or foster parent, including, but not limited to, an agent or employee of a public or private residential home, child care facility, public or private school, or any person responsible for a child's welfare; "Child maltreatment" means abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation, or abandonment; "Deviant sexual activity" means any act of sexual gratification involving: (A) Penetration, however slight, of the anus or mouth of one person by the penis of another person; or (B) Penetration, however slight, of the labia majora or anus of one person by any body member or foreign instrument manipulated by another person; "Indecent exposure" means the exposure by a person of the person's sexual organs for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of the person or of any other person under circumstances in which the person knows the conduct is likely to cause affront or alarm; "Neglect" means those acts or omissions of a parent, guardian, custodian, foster parent, or any person who is entrusted with the juvenile's care by a parent, custodian, guardian, or foster parent, including, but not limited to, an agent or employee of a public or private residential home, child care facility, public or private school, or any person legally responsible under state law for the juvenile's welfare, which constitute: (A) Failure or refusal to prevent the abuse of the juvenile when the person knows or has reasonable cause o know the juvenile is or has been abused; (B) Failure or refusal to provide the necessary food, clothing, shelter, and education required by law, excluding the failure to follow an individualized educational program, or medical treatment necessary for the juvenile's ell-being, except when the failure or refusal is caused primarily by the financial inability of the person legally responsible and no services for relief have been offered or rejected; (C) Failure to take reasonable action to protect the juvenile from abandonment, abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, neglect, or parental unfitness where the existence of such condition was known or should have been known; (D) Failure or irremediable inability to provide for the essential and necessary physical, mental, or emotional needs of the juvenile; (E) Failure to provide for the juvenile's care and maintenance, proper or necessary support, or medical, surgical, or other necessary care; (F) Failure, although able, to assume responsibility for the care and custody of the juvenile or participate in plan to assume such responsibility; or (G) Failure to appropriately supervise the juvenile which results in the juvenile's being left alone at an inappropriate age or in inappropriate circumstances that put the juvenile in danger; "Serious bodily injury" means bodily injury which involves substantial risk of death, extreme physical pain, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty; "Severe maltreatment" means sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, acts or omissions which may or do result in death, abuse involving the use of a deadly weapon as defined by the Arkansas Criminal Code, § 5-1-101 et seq., bone fracture, internal injuries, burns, immersions, suffocation, abandonment, medical diagnosis of failure to thrive, or causing a substantial and observable change in the behavior or demeanor of the child; "Sexual abuse" means: (A) By a person ten (10) years of age or older to a person younger than eighteen (18) years of age: (i) Sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, or sexual contact by forcible compulsion; (ii) Attempted sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, or sexual contact; (iii) Indecent exposure; or (iv) Forcing, permitting, or encouraging the watching of pornography or live sexual activity; (B) Between a person eighteen (18) years of age or older and a person not his or her spouse who is younger than sixteen (16) years of age; (i) Sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, or sexual contact or solicitation; or (ii) Attempted sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, or sexual contact; or (C) Between a person younger than eighteen (18) years of age and a sibling or caretaker: (i) Sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, or sexual contact or solicitation; or (ii) Attempted sexual intercourse, deviate sexual activity, or sexual contact; "Sexual contact" means any act of sexual gratification involving the touching, directly or through clothing, of the sex organs, buttocks, or anus of a person or the breast of a female. (B) Provided, that nothing in this section shall permit normal affectionate hugging to be construed as sexual contact; "Sexual exploitation" means allowing, permitting, or encouraging participation or depiction of the juvenile in prostitution, obscene photographing, filming, or obscenely depicting a juvenile for any use or purpose.
Center for Children at Risk University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Department of Pediatrics Arkansas Children's Hospital 800 Marshall St. Little Rock, AR 72202 (501) 364-1013 |
