Short answer: Poverty is not a form of maltreatment. Explanation:
- Maltreatment typically refers to specific abusive or neglectful actions by a caregiver or responsible person. Common recognized forms include physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, neglect, and exposure to violence. Poverty itself is a socioeconomic condition that can contribute to risk factors but is not by itself categorized as a form of maltreatment.
- In many professional resources, examples of maltreatment focus on explicit acts or omissions that harm a child, rather than conditions like poverty alone. Poverty may influence or exacerbate risk, but it is not counted as a standalone form of maltreatment in standard definitions.
- Some exam-style questions list options where poverty is identified as not being a form of maltreatment, reinforcing this distinction in educational materials.
If you’d like, I can provide a concise table summarizing the four main forms (physical, sexual, emotional, neglect) and how they differ from socioeconomic factors like poverty.
