APPENDIX L: Glossary

Alternative Response – Refers to the provision of services to a family rather than an abuse investigation, when DCF (or other Child Protective Services) determines that the problem is something other than abuse. For example: homelessness that is at first thought to be neglect.

Assessment – The process through which DCF (or other Child Protective Services) determines whether a child or family is in need of services and whether the family problem involves child maltreatment. During this process, DCF seeks to get a better understanding of the family’s strengths as well as the resources that are needed.

CAPTA – The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), (42 U.S.C.A §5106g), as amended by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003, defines child abuse and neglect as, at minimum:

• “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm” (CAPTA 2010).

Child maltreatment generally falls into several distinct categories: physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and sexual abuse. Expanded definitions of child abuse and neglect gathered from a number of resources follow:

• Physical abuse refers to a non-accidental injury caused by a parent or caretaker who has responsibility for that child’s care. These injuries may be a result of the child being beaten, thrown, kicked, bitten, punched, choked, stabbed, burned or in some other way harmed. The injury may be intentional or unintentional and may also result from severe discipline, a punishment inappropriate for the child’s age or condition, or may result from parental lapses brought upon by immaturity, the use or abuse of substances, or extreme stress. It is also important to note that a non-accidental injury to a child committed by anyone other than a parent or caretaker is considered to be a criminal act and falls under the jurisdiction of law enforcement rather than child protective services.
• Emotional abuse, although almost always underlying other types of abuse or neglect, can also occur alone. Emotional abuse, sometimes referred to as psychological abuse, is behavior that impairs the child’s emotional development or feelings of self-worth including belittling, blaming, or rejecting a child; constantly treating siblings unequally; and a persistent lack of concern by the caretaker for the child’s welfare. Usually one recognizes emotional abuse through behavior but it is also possible that the child has so internalized the messages of the abuse that he or she exhibits developmental delays, psychosomatic symptoms (e.g. asthma) and other physical effects (e.g. stuttering or other speech disorders).
• Neglect refers to the caretaker’s lack of attention to the child’s basic needs such as the failure to provide food, shelter, clothing, supervision, medical care, or education. Unlike physical abuse that tends to be episodic, neglect tends to be chronic – causing the victims to grow up believing that everyone lives as they do. As a result, they may not confide how they are being treated to anyone. Often, these families have multiple problems although not every multi-problem family is neglectful.
• Sexual abuse is defined as inappropriate sexual behavior of an adult or an adolescent with a child. This may include fondling a child’s genitals, making the child fondle an adult’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism, sexual exploitation, or the production of, or exposure to, pornography. Sexual abuse may take place within the family (incest), or be perpetrated by relatives, friends, by the boyfriend or girlfriend of the parent, or by others in caretaking roles (e.g. babysitter). Although sexual abuse may occur at the hands of a stranger, most victims know their abusers. Sexual abuse may also be committed by other children or teens and is considered to be abusive when the perpetrator is significantly older or has control over the victim.

Caregiver – A child’s parent, stepparent, guardian, or any household member entrusted with the responsibility for a child’s health or welfare. Also any other person entrusted with the responsibility for a child’s health or welfare whether in the child’s home, a relative’s home, a school setting, a daycare setting (including babysitting), a foster home, a group care facility, or any other comparable setting. The caretaker definition is meant to be constructed broadly and inclusively to encompass any person who is, at the time in question, entrusted with a degree of responsibility for the child.
This specifically includes a caretaker who is him/ herself a child (i.e., a babysitter under the age of 18).

Child – Any person under the age of 18 years, not including unborn children. However, when a distinction needs to be made that differentiates younger from older minors by age or developmental stage, a child is defined in this Manual as an individual between newborn and age 11, and a youth is defined as an individual between age 12 and the attainment of their 18th birthday

CAC – Children’s Advocacy Center

Children’s Bureau – The Children’s Bureau is a federal agency that partners with federal, state, tribal, and local agencies to improve the overall health and well-being of our nation’s children and families. It is the federal agency responsible for the collection and analysis of NCANDS data.

CPS – Child Protective Services refers to the state or county agency designated to handle child maltreatment reports and investigations. The name of the actual agency differs state to state.

CSAM – Child Sexual Abuse Material. United States federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor (a person less than 18 years old). Outside of the legal system, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) chooses to refer to these images as Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) to most accurately reflect what is depicted – the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. Not only do these images and videos document victims’ exploitation and abuse, but when these files are shared across the internet, child victims suffer re-victimization each time the image of their sexual abuse is viewed.

CSEC – The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) refers to a range of crimes and activities involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of a child for the financial benefit of any person or in exchange for anything of value (including monetary and non-monetary benefits) given or received by any person. CSEC also includes situations where a child, whether or not at the direction of any other person, engages in sexual activity in exchange for anything of value, which includes non-monetary things such as food, shelter, drugs, or protection from any person.

DCF – The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.

Human Trafficking Victim (MGL Chapter 233, Section 20M) – refers to the enticement, recruiting, harboring, transport or other means to involve a child in commercial sexual activities including the production of pornography.

Immunity from Civil or Criminal Liability – States that no mandated reporter who suspects that a child is suffering from child abuse or neglect and who reports this suspicion to the Child Protection Team or the Department of Children and Families shall be held liable in any civil or criminal action as a result of making this report if made in good faith.

Investigation – One CPS response that involves the gathering of objective information to determine whether a child was maltreated or is at-risk of maltreatment and to establish if an intervention is needed. Generally, includes face-to-face contact with the alleged victim and results in a disposition as to whether the alleged maltreatment occurred.

Mandated Reporter – Defined at M.G.L. c. 119, 21: a person who is: (i) a physician, medical intern, hospital personnel engaged in the examination, care or treatment of persons, medical examiner, psychologist, emergency medical technician, dentist, nurse, chiropractor, podiatrist, optometrist, osteopath, allied mental health and human services professional licensed under section 165 of chapter 112, drug and alcoholism counselor, psychiatrist or clinical social worker; (ii) a public or private school teacher, educational administrator, guidance or family counselor, child care worker, person paid to care for or work with a child in any public or private facility, or home or program funded by the commonwealth or licensed under chapter 15D that provides child care or residential services to children or that provides the services of child care resource and referral agencies, voucher management agencies or family child care systems or child care food programs, licensor of the department of early education and care or school attendance officer; (iii) a probation officer, clerk-magistrate of a district court, parole officer, social worker, foster parent, firefighter, police officer or animal control officer; (iv) a priest, rabbi, clergy member, ordained or licensed minister, leader of any church or religious body, accredited Christian Science practitioner, person performing official duties on behalf of a church or religious body that are recognized as the duties of a priest, rabbi, clergy, ordained or licensed minister, leader of any church or religious body, accredited Christian Science practitioner, or person employed by a church or religious body to supervise, educate, coach, train or counsel a child on a regular basis; (v) in charge of a medical or other public or private institution, school or facility or that person’s designated agent; or (vi) the child advocate.

NCANDS – The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System is a federally funded agency that annually collects and analyzes data on cases of child maltreatment that are reported to child protective services (CPS) agencies in the United States. Much of our statistical data in this Manual are derived from this source.

Perpetrator – Refers to an individual who has knowingly maltreated a child.

Problematic Sexual Behavior (PSB) – PSB are deviations from normative or typical sexual behavior. They are child-initiated behaviors involving sexual body parts (i.e., genitals, anus, buttocks, or breasts) and are developmentally inappropriate and/or potentially harmful to themselves or others

Reasonable Cause – Means a basis for judgment that rests on specific facts which have been observed directly or obtained from reliable sources and that support the belief that a particular event probably took place or a condition probably exists.

Reportable condition – Refers to a serious physical or emotional injury resulting from abuse or neglect, or the commission of an act by a caretaker with a child which constitutes a sexual offense under the criminal laws of the Commonwealth, or the physical dependence of a child upon an addictive drug at birth, or being a sexually exploited child, or being a human trafficking victim.

S.A.I.N. (Sexual Assault Intervention Network) Interview – When sexual abuse occurs, the victim may get interviewed numerous times and be forced to repeatedly relive the trauma. The Sexual Abuse Intervention Network (SAIN) intends to reduce the number of interviews the child is faced with. The SAIN eliminates multiple separate interviews. The team members involved in a SAIN interview include: Assistant District Attorney, SAIN Coordinator, Forensic Interviewer, Family Service Advocate, Law Enforcement, The Department of Children and Families (DCF), a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (Pediatric SANE) and/or a mental health consultant can occasionally be present during the interview.

During a SAIN interview, the forensic interviewer conducts the interview of the child behind a one-way mirror room. The interviewer of the child will often have an earpiece in his/her ear to hear questions from the team observing the interview from behind the one-way mirror. The team can see into the room with the interviewer and the child, but the interviewer and the child cannot see out of the room hence the one-way mirror.

Sexually Exploited Child (MGL Chapter 119, Section 21) – A child who is a victim of sexual trafficking, or sexual contact with another person for a fee (prostitution).

Support – To find after a response (by DCF) that there is reasonable cause to believe a report that a child has suffered abuse or neglect inflicted by a caretaker.

Unsupported – To find after a response (by DCF) that there is a lack of reasonable cause to believe a report that a child has suffered abuse or neglect inflicted by a caregiver. Unsupported reports of abuse by non-caregivers – especially in cases of sexual abuse, serious physical injury, or death – are reported to law enforcement.

YSO – Youth-serving organization