Abstract
Objective:
The aim of this study is to determine sociodemographic characteristics, types of abuse and neglect and the consecutive forensic procedures in childhood abuse and neglect cases which had been informed to legal authorities in a city center in the south east part of Anatolia.
Method:
Records of 103 abuse and neglect cases who had been informed to legal authorities and reported in the City Police Department Child Bureau between January 2009 and March 2010 were retrospectively evaluated. Every accessible data on each record was taken into account.
Results:
Mean age of the recorded abuse and neglect cases was 14,3±2,8 and 85% of the group were girls. More than half of the cases were early married teen girls with a mean age of 14,8 and were not attending school. More than 90% of these teen marriages were reported by physicians and the girls were placed in theirfamilies after forensic procedures. 67% of the remaining 45 abuse and neglect cases besides teen marriages were girls. Types of abuse and neglect in this group were 78% physical, 18% sexual and 36% emotional abuse and 16% neglect, respectively. After forensic procedures 31% was placed under protective care and 65% were placed in theirfamilies.
Discussions:
Results of this study indicated that early married teen girls were the majority pf the abuse and neglect cases in the area. Priority should be given to the field of raising institutional and public awareness for abuse and neglect including early teen marriage.
Keywords: childhood, abuse, neglect, sociodemographic characteristics
