Child maltreatment is a behavior toward a child that is outside the norms of conduct and obtains substantial risk of causing harm to the child. There are four recognizable types of maltreatment; physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and child neglect. There are millions of alleged child maltreatment reports a year and most of the causes are still not well understood. These forms of abuse vary but most of them are often associated with physical injuries, harsh development and mental instability. When a child is taken in by Child Protective Services, the diagnosis is based off of physical examination of the child, lab testing’s, and recent history. In my opinion child maltreatment is a cowardly, nauseating act based on pure ignorance and insecurity. Children deserve to be safe. Physical abuse involves a caretaker inflicting harm or engaging in actions that inflict harm upon a child. Specific forms include shaking, punching, burning, and dropping. This form of abuse causes serious head injuries to infants and toddlers. Babies are the most vulnerable to maltreatment and also kids that reach their adolescent years. Some signs of physical abuse inflicted on a child would be handprints, bruises, round burn marks often from cigarettes, and long abrasions caused by belt whippings. Sexual abuse cases vary between forms of intercourse, molestation, and subjection that involves no physical contact but exposes the child to genitals or sexual acts. Any action with a child that is done for the sexual gratification of an adult constitutes sexual abuse and pedophilia. Some signs of sexual abuse inflicted on children involve difficulty walking or sitting down, bruises or tearing, and vaginal discharge or bleeding. Emotional abuse is psychologically harming a child through use of words or actions. Specific forms include threatening, encouraging deviant or criminal