Recognising non-accidental physical injury in children and knowing how to respond appropriately.
Physical Abuse is the deliberate use of force against a child that causes, or risks causing, injury, including hitting, shaking, burning, or otherwise physically hurting them.
Physical abuse involves deliberately causing physical harm to a child. It includes hitting, shaking, throwing, burning, poisoning, or otherwise causing non-accidental physical injury. It may also involve fabricating or inducing illness in a child. Physical abuse causes both immediate harm and long-term psychological damage.
Physical abuse often occurs within the home but can also happen in institutional settings such as schools, sports clubs, or care settings. Abusers may minimise or explain away injuries. Children may not disclose abuse due to fear, loyalty, or because they have been told the injuries were their fault. Repeated physical abuse can cause serious and cumulative harm.
In your child's behaviour
Know the signs and take injuries seriously
Any unexplained or inconsistently explained injury in a child should prompt careful consideration and recording. Do not accept implausible explanations without seeking advice from your DSL or children's services.
Create a culture where children feel safe to speak
Children are more likely to disclose abuse in environments where they trust adults and where they know they will be believed. Pastoral and PSHE programmes play an important role in this.
Follow safer recruitment and supervision practices
Ensure that all adults working with children in your organisation have been appropriately DBS checked and that safeguarding training is up to date. Physical abuse can occur in institutional settings as well as in the home.
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
Myth: A quick smack now and then is a one-off and won't turn into anything more serious.
Fact: Physical punishment carries a real risk of escalating over time into more serious physical abuse. This is exactly why professional guidance encourages parents to build a toolkit of non-physical strategies for managing difficult behaviour, rather than relying on physical punishment as a first response.
Myth: Physical abuse only happens in troubled, chaotic, or 'obviously' dysfunctional families — not in ordinary homes.
Fact: Physical abuse can happen in any family. Certain pressures — such as poverty, housing problems, substance misuse, domestic abuse, or a parent feeling isolated — are linked to higher risk, and children with disabilities are also more vulnerable, but no type of family is automatically exempt from concern.
Myth: Bruises are just a normal part of childhood, so there's no need to think about a bruise on a baby any differently than one on an older child.
Fact: Context matters enormously. Once a child is crawling, cruising, or walking, everyday bumps and bruises on the shins, knees, and elbows are common and usually nothing to worry about. But a baby who isn't yet independently mobile bruises very rarely by accident, so any bruising on a non-mobile baby — especially to the head, neck, or other soft areas — is unusual and worth having checked by a health professional.
Babies who aren't yet crawling or walking rarely bruise, break a bone, or burn themselves by accident, so any unexplained injury at this stage deserves prompt medical review — this isn't about assuming the worst, it's simply what good paediatric practice recommends. As toddlers become mobile, occasional bruising on the shins and knees becomes a normal part of exploring the world.
Active children of this age commonly pick up bruises over bony areas like knees, shins, and elbows through ordinary play. Bruising in less typical places — the ears, cheeks, back, or buttocks — or a cluster of injuries with a shifting or unclear explanation is more concerning and worth raising with a GP, health visitor, or your child's school.
Alongside any physical signs, watch for behavioural changes — a child becoming unusually wary or fearful of a particular adult, flinching at sudden movement, or reluctance to go somewhere or to someone they used to be comfortable with. A pattern of injuries, or explanations that don't quite fit, matters more than any single incident.
Physical abuse doesn't always leave marks a teenager will show you, and it isn't limited to the home — it can occur in institutional settings such as schools, sports clubs, or other activities too. Make sure your teenager knows who their trusted adults are, including their school's safeguarding lead, and that Childline is there if they're not ready to talk to someone they know.
Was this page helpful?
Get practical child safety updates in your inbox. No spam.