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Child Abuse: Focus on a Team Approach for School Teachers and Counsellors

Although laws protecting children from abuse have become commonplace at least since the colonial era, the legal concept of “mandatory reporting” is relatively new in Africa. The author argues that child abuse refers to more than physical injuries—the term encompasses a compilation of significant events, that interact with the child's ongoing development to interrupt, alter, or impair her or his psychological development. This article provides a selective review of child abuse and emphasizes the need for standard procedures for referral, medical provisions, and legal reporting. Toward this end, issues of establishing the dimensions of child maltreatment were reviewed in order to understand the social and cultural nature of child abuse. Recommendations are offered for integrating critical issues for the present and future development of child abuse into practica training, legislation and scope of practice.