Comparison of characteristics of judicial child abuse cases directed to hospitals and child abuse cases detected by health care professionals

Cankardaş Nalbantçılar, Sinem (Arel Author)Objective: Cases of unrevealed child abuse and neglect (CAN) further traumatize the child, delay both the initiation of judicial process, and providing the necessary help these children need. In addition to this, without reporting, the legal process can't start and the perpetrator can't be punished. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the cases of CAN recorded in four hospitals within one year, and to compare judicial cases and cases referred from different departments of the hospitals upon suspicion of abuse.Methods: The research was conducted in relevant departments of four hospitals in Izmir, and with cases registered cases under the scope of child abuse. BECAN (Balkan Epidemiological Study on Child Abuse and Neglect) transfer forms were used. Comparisons of Group were made by using independent groups' t-test.Results: A total of 352 cases were contacted, and 55% of them were forensic cases. It has been determined that perpetrators in suspected cases referred by health care professionals were mostly family members and the average age of the abused children were smaller. So 41.3% of males and 24.6% of females suffering from CAN were identified by healthcare professionals. Problems with schooling, alcohol/substance abuse, self-harming behaviors, psychiatric disorders were the most frequently encountered problems in exploited children in this research. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that child abuse inside the family circle and boys who experienced CAN are remained hidden at a higher rate. It is possible to detect abuse earlier and make interventions by informing parents, schools, social services, police and primary health care workers, about the types of abuse and the symptoms that appear in children who are exposed to them

Case-based surveillance study in judicial districts in Turkey: Child sexual abuse sample from four provinces

Nalbantçılar Cankardaş, Sinem (Arel Author), İnce, Başak (Arel Author)Child sexual abuse is a universal public health problem. Although studies have reported that 11% to 37% of children have been sexually abused in Turkey, no accurate information is available. Thus, this study aims to investigate child sexual abuse cases registered in legal databases in select provinces in Turkey to improve our epidemiological understanding of regionally reported cases. The sample of this study consists of child sexual abuse cases filed with courthouses in four provinces in Turkey under Articles 103 and 104 of the Turkish Criminal Law, between October 2010 and October 2011. Retrospective review of these case files revealed 1,005 cases, 86% female, and 45.7% both sexually abused and exposed to other forms of abuse. Sexual abuse was often accompanied by physical abuse. Regarding the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim, 14.3% of perpetrators were found to be family members. There was also a significant relationship between child's gender and perpetrator's relationship to the victim; boys were abused mostly by strangers (55.7%) and girls by their peers (54.9%)

Child Abuse and Neglect Among Children Who Drop Out of School: A Study in Izmir, Turkey (vol 31, pg 589, 2016)

#nofulltext# --- Cankardaş, Sinem (Arel Author) --- CorrectionThe name of the fourth author, Sinem Cankardas, appeared incorrectly in the byline and without the author's first research affiliation. The author’s correct information is as follows: Sinem Cankardas Istanbul Arel University, Istanbul, Turkey; Association of Emergency Ambulance Physicians, Izmir, Turkey