Federal and State of Ohio Definitions Of Child Abuse And Neglect

How To Get Your Children Back In Juvenile or Family Court

 

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The legal definition of ‘Harm’:

Harm means any injury, loss or damage. It can also be any material or tangible detriment. There are different types of harm like accidental harm-where the injury or damage is not caused by a tortious act; bodily harm-where there is some physical pain, illness, or impairment to the body.

FEDERAL DEFINITION OF CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Federal legislation provides guidance to States by identifying a minimum set of acts or behaviors that define child abuse and neglect. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) (42 U.S.C.A. § 5106g), as amended by the CAPTA Reauthorization Act of 2010, 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.”

This definition of child abuse and neglect refers specifically to parents and other caregivers. A “child” under this definition generally means a person who is younger than age 18 or who is not an emancipated minor.

While CAPTA provides definitions for sexual abuse and the special cases of neglect related to withholding or failing to provide medically indicated treatment, it does not provide specific definitions for other types of maltreatment such as physical abuse, neglect, or emotional abuse. While Federal legislation sets minimum standards for States that accept CAPTA funding, each State provides its own definitions of maltreatment within civil and criminal statutes.

 

Did you notice that Federal law states that in order for the state to take your child/ren…..the harm must have been SERIOUS or the harm coming soon must be SERIOUS. The minimum harm done, or will be done to your child/ren MUST be SERIOUS.

 

Ohio Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect

Current Through February 2016

Physical Abuse

Citation: Rev. Stat. §§ 2151.031; 2919.22
‘Abused child’ includes any child who:
Is endangered as defined § 2919.22

  • Exhibits evidence of any physical or mental injury or death, inflicted by other than accidental means, that is inconsistent with the history given of it
  • Suffers physical or mental injury that harms or threatens to harm the child’s health or welfare because of the acts of his or her parent, guardian, or custodian
  • Is subjected to out-of-home-care child abuse

‘Endangering children’ includes any of the following acts committed against a child under age 18 or a mentally or physically handicapped child under age 21:

  • Abuse, torture, or cruel abuse
  • Corporal punishment, other physical disciplinary measure, or physical restraint in a cruel manner or for a prolonged period that creates a substantial risk of serious physical harm to the child
  • Repeated and unwarranted disciplinary measures that, if continued, create a substantial risk of serious impairment of the child’s mental health or development
  • Allowing the child to be on the same parcel of real property and within 100 feet of, or, in the case of more than one housing unit on the same parcel of real property, in the same housing unit and within 100 feet of, the illegal manufacture of drugs, cultivation of marijuana, or possession of chemicals for the illegal manufacture, when the person knows that the act is occurring, whether or not any person is prosecuted for or convicted of the violation

Neglect

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 2151.03(A)
‘Neglected child’ includes any child:

  • Who lacks proper parental care because of the faults or habits of the child’s parents, guardian, or custodian
  • Whose parents, guardian, or custodian neglects the child or refuses to provide proper or necessary subsistence, education, medical or surgical care or treatment, or other care necessary for the child’s health, morals, or well-being
  • Whose parents, guardian, or custodian neglects the child or refuses to provide the special care made necessary by the child’s mental condition
  • Whose parents, legal guardian, or custodian have placed or attempted to place the child in violation of statutes regarding the placement and adoption of children
  • Who, because of the omission of the child’s parents, guardian, or custodian, suffers physical or mental injury that harms or threatens to harm the child’s health or welfare
  • Who is subjected to child neglect in out-of-home care

Sexual Abuse/Exploitation

Citation: Rev. Stat. §§ 2151.031; 2907.01; 2919.22
The term ‘abused child’ includes a child who is the victim of sexual activity when such activity would constitute an offense, except that the court need not find that any person has been convicted of the offense in order to find that the child is an abused child. Sexual activity means sexual conduct or sexual contact or both.

‘Sexual conduct’ means vaginal intercourse between a male and female; anal intercourse, fellatio, and cunnilingus between persons regardless of sex; and, without privilege to do so, the insertion, however slight, of any part of the body of any instrument, apparatus, or other object into the vaginal or anal opening of another. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete vaginal or anal intercourse.

‘Sexual contact’ means any touching of an erogenous zone of another, including without limitation, the thigh, genitals, buttocks, pubic region, and if the person is a female, a breast, for the purpose of sexually arousing or gratifying either person.

A person commits the crime of ‘endangering children’ when the person does any of the following to a child: Entice, coerce, permit, encourage, compel, hire, employ, use, or allow the child to act, model, or in any other way participate in, or be photographed for, the production, presentation, dissemination, or advertisement of any material or performance that the offender knows or reasonably should know is obscene, sexually oriented, or nudity-oriented matter.

Emotional Abuse

Citation: Rev. Stat. § 2151.011
‘Mental injury’ means any behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorder in a child caused by an act or omission that is described in § 2919.22 and is committed by a parent or other person who is responsible for the child’s care.

 

Abandonment

Citation: Rev. Stat. §§ 2151.03(A); 2151.011
The term ‘neglected child’ includes a child who is abandoned by his or her parents, guardian, or custodian.
A child shall be presumed abandoned when his or her parents have failed to visit or maintain contact with him or her for more than 90 days, regardless of whether the parents resume contact with the child after that period of 90 days.

Standards for Reporting
Citation: Rev. Stat. § 2151.421
A report is required when a mandatory reporter acting in an official or professional capacity knows, or has reasonable cause to suspect based on facts that would cause a reasonable person in a similar position to suspect, that a child younger than age 18 or a mentally retarded, developmentally disabled, or physically impaired child younger than age 21 has suffered or faces a threat of suffering any physical or mental wound, injury, disability, or condition of a nature that reasonably indicates abuse or neglect of the child.

Persons Responsible for the Child
Citation: Rev. Stat. §§ 2151.03(A); 2151.011
Responsible persons include:
The child’s parents, guardian, or custodian
Other persons responsible for the child’s care

Exceptions
Citation: Rev. Stat. §§ 2151.03(B); 2151.031; 2919.22
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as subjecting a parent to criminal liability when, solely in the practice of religious beliefs, the parent fails to provide adequate medical or surgical care or treatment for the child. This section:

  • Does not abrogate or limit any person’s responsibility to report child abuse or neglect that is known or reasonably suspected or believed to have occurred, and to report children who are known to face or are reasonably suspected or believed to be facing a threat of suffering abuse or neglect
  • Does not preclude any exercise of the authority of the State, any political subdivision, or any court to ensure that medical or surgical care or treatment is provided to a child when the child’s health requires it
  • A child exhibiting evidence of corporal punishment or other physical disciplinary measure by a parent is not an abused child if the measure is not prohibited under § 2919.22 [that prohibits cruel or excessive means of discipline].

Definitions of Domestic Violence

Current Through August 2017
Defined in Domestic Violence Civil Laws
Citation: Rev. Stat. § 3113.31

‘Domestic violence’ means the occurrence of one or more of the following acts against a family or household member:
Attempting to cause or recklessly causing bodily injury

Placing another person, by the threat of force, in fear of imminent serious physical harm or committing a violation of § 2903.211 (menacing by stalking) or 2911.211 (aggravated trespass)

Committing any act with respect to a child that would result in the child being an abused child, as defined in § 2151.031
Committing a sexually oriented offense

Defined in Child Abuse Reporting and Child Protection Laws
Citation:

This issue is not addressed in the statutes reviewed.

Defined in Criminal Laws
Citation: Rev. Stat. § 2919.25

No person shall:

  • Knowingly cause or attempt to cause physical harm to a family or household member
  • Recklessly cause serious physical harm to a family or household member
  • Knowingly, by threat of force, cause a family or household member to believe that the offender will cause imminent physical harm to the family or household member
  • Whoever violates this section is guilty of domestic violence

Child Witnesses to Domestic Violence

Current Through April 2016
Circumstances That Constitute Witnessing
Citation: Rev. Code § 2929.01(LL)

In criminal law: An offense is ‘committed in the vicinity of a child’ if the offender commits the offense within 30 feet of or within the same residential unit as a child who is under age 18, regardless of whether the offender knows the age of the child or that the offense is being committed within 30 feet of or within the same residential unit as the child and regardless of whether the child actually views the commission of the offense.

Consequences

Citation: Rev. Code §§ 2929.12; 2929.17
If the offense of domestic violence or assault involves a person who was a family or household member at the time of the violation, and the offender committed the offense in the vicinity of one or more children who are not victims of the offense, and the offender or the victim of the offense is a parent, guardian, custodian, or person in loco parentis of one or more of those children:

The sentencing court shall consider the offender’s conduct to be more serious than conduct normally constituting the offense.

The offender also shall be required to obtain counseling.

Persons Included in the Definition
Citation: Rev. Stat. § 3113.31

‘Family or household member’ means any of the following:
Any of the following who is residing with or has resided with the respondent:

  • A spouse, a person living as a spouse, or a former spouse of the respondent
  • A parent, a foster parent, or a child of the respondent, or another person related by consanguinity or affinity to the respondent
  • A parent or a child of a spouse, person living as a spouse, or former spouse of the respondent, or another person related by consanguinity or affinity to a spouse, person living as a spouse, or former spouse of the respondent

The natural parent of any child of whom the respondent is the other natural parent or is the putative other natural parent

‘Person living as a spouse’ means a person who is living or has lived with the respondent in a common law marital relationship, who otherwise is cohabiting with the respondent, or who otherwise has cohabited with the respondent within 5 years prior to the date of the alleged occurrence of the act in question.