The four main types of abuse are physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. They’re the four categories used in Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children, so your school’s safeguarding policy will use them too. Whatever you notice, the next step is the same: pass it to your designated safeguarding lead (DSL), straight away, following your school’s procedures.
What follows is what each type can look like in a classroom or a lunch queue, because you might be the adult who spots it.
What are the 4 types of abuse in safeguarding?
Abuse is any maltreatment of a child. That covers harming a child directly and failing to protect them from harm. The abuser might be someone in the child’s family, someone in a school or community setting, or another child (KCSIE calls this child-on-child abuse). It can happen in person or online, and it can start online and move offline. Most often it’s someone the child knows.
In practice the four categories overlap a lot. Every type carries emotional harm, and many of the signs below could point to more than one. You don’t need to decide which category something fits. That’s the DSL’s job.
Physical abuse: what it is and the signs
Physical abuse is anything that causes a child physical harm: hitting (with a hand or something like a belt), kicking, shaking, hair pulling, burning or scalding, suffocating, drugging or poisoning. Fabricated or induced illness, where a parent or carer makes up or causes symptoms in their child, comes under this heading too.
Children get bumps all the time, so think about where an injury is. Bruised knees and elbows are part of childhood. Bruises around the neck, inside the arms, around the ears or on the face are different. So are:
- bite marks, scratches, or small round burns that could be from a cigarette
- bruising on the scalp, which can come from hair being pulled
- injuries at different stages of healing, or a lot of scars
- sleepiness, vomiting or breathing problems with no clear explanation
Watch behaviour as closely as marks. A child might become aggressive and argumentative, or go the other way and seem withdrawn, wary or frightened. They might go missing, or keep their arms covered and refuse to change for PE.
Emotional abuse: what it is and the signs
Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child, enough to cause severe and lasting effects on their development and wellbeing. It runs through every other type of abuse, but it also happens on its own.
It covers making a child feel worthless, unloved or valued only for meeting someone else’s needs. It includes humiliating them, deliberately silencing them, or keeping them frightened. Overprotection that stops a child mixing normally with others counts, and so do expectations far beyond their age. Seeing or hearing someone else being ill-treated, such as domestic abuse at home, is emotional abuse too. So are bullying and cyberbullying.
In school, you might see a child who acts out, or one who goes quiet and withdrawn. Some struggle to form attachments, or form clingy, unhealthy ones. Watch for behaviour that doesn’t fit their age: babyish in an older child, or language that seems far too old for them. Mental health difficulties can be a sign of abuse as well, and KCSIE says so.
Sexual abuse: what it is and the signs
Sexual abuse is forcing or enticing a child to take part in, or watch, sexual activity. It might involve violence, but it can also involve grooming, coercion or blackmail, and the child may not realise what’s happening. It includes contact abuse and non-contact abuse, such as showing a child pornography, making sexual images of them, or grooming them online to send images of themselves.
Child sexual exploitation is a form of sexual abuse. Someone uses a power imbalance to manipulate a child into sexual activity, sometimes in exchange for something they want or need. It can look consensual. It isn’t.
What you’re likely to see depends on the child’s age. Staff changing nappies in early years may notice soreness, bruising or infection in the genital area. With teenagers, an STI or pregnancy can be a sign. Behavioural signs across all ages include:
- sexual language or knowledge you wouldn’t expect at their age
- tiredness, nightmares or bed-wetting coming back
- anxiety, self-harm, or changes in eating and weight
- signs of drugs or alcohol
- going missing, including during the school day
- a second mobile phone, or expensive gifts no one can explain
- secrecy about who they talk to online, or upset after being online
One rule matters a lot here. Don’t raise a concern about sexual abuse with parents or family members yourself. Children are more often abused by people they know, so talk to your DSL first and let them decide what happens next.
Neglect: what it is and the signs
Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic needs. It can be physical (food, clothing, shelter, supervision), emotional, medical or educational, and it can start before a child is born, for example through drug or alcohol misuse in pregnancy.
It’s the hardest type to spot, because it builds slowly. One forgotten coat means very little. You’re looking for a pattern:
- poor hygiene, or clothes that are dirty or wrong for the weather
- regular hunger, asking for extra food, or eating other children’s leftovers
- untreated injuries or medical problems, missing medication, poor dental care
- head lice or flea bites that keep coming back
- frequent accidents, which can suggest a child isn’t supervised
- delayed language or social skills not explained by SEND
- a child caring for younger siblings or left alone at home for long periods
Some of this comes from a family in crisis, one without heating or a home, rather than one neglecting their child. Pass it on anyway: your DSL may be able to arrange early help. Write down the small things with dates. On their own they’re nothing. Together they can give your DSL the picture they need.
Why does a change in behaviour matter so much?
Across all four types, the most useful thing to watch is change. A child who was chatty and is now silent, or who was settled and is now in trouble every day, is telling you something, even if you can’t yet say what. Knowing your children well is part of safeguarding.
The lists above aren’t complete. If something worries you and it isn’t on any list, pass it on anyway: it might be the missing piece of someone else’s picture. The Identify the Signs of the 4 Main Types of Abuse course takes each type in more depth.
What should you do if you’re worried about a child?
Tell your DSL or a deputy the same day, as soon as you can. Don’t wait until tomorrow because it seems like a small thing, and don’t discuss it with colleagues who don’t need to know. Write down what you saw, factually, with the date and time. Follow your school’s safeguarding policy and recording system.
If a child tells you something directly, listen, stay calm and don’t ask leading questions. Tell them you’ll need to pass it on and who to. Write down what they said in their own words. Our post on handling disclosures of child abuse goes through it step by step.
If you can’t reach the DSL or a deputy, anyone can refer to children’s social care, and if a child is in immediate danger, call the police on 999. Doing nothing is never an option. There’s more in our safeguarding courses and resources, and the KCSIE course covers what this year’s guidance asks of all school staff.
Identify the Signs of the 4 Main Types of Abuse is a short online course for anyone who works directly with children, from teachers and teaching assistants to lunchtime staff and volunteers. It goes through each type with the signs you might see, including online grooming, child sexual exploitation and fabricated illness, and ends on what to do when you notice something or a child tells you.