"Sexual abuse is any activity with a child, before the age of legal consent, that is for the sexual satisfaction of an adult or older child. This includes, among other things, touching and pornography" (Baker, Howard. "The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine"). Sexual abuse is at times hard to detect because most children are ashamed to come forward. Another reason a child might not come forward is that the abuser may threaten them into not telling someone about the abuse. Neglect is the improper care of a child by failing to meet their basic needs. This also includes not providing proper schooling and medical care. All these different forms of abuse leave lasting and permanent damage. All these forms of abuse are extremely harmful to the physical and emotional state of a child. .
There are usually natural instincts that arise when one becomes a mother. Some of these instincts are compassion, patience, and understanding, the yearning to keep your child safe at any cost, and love. The most important of these traits is the ability and desire to love your child. Love is a tremendous part of an infant's life. Without love a child will have no sense of how to properly treat people on daily basis in society. When children do not receive the love and support that they need from their families it has a profound effect on the child's emotions. Infants need to feel loved and form bonds with a parental figure immediately after they are born. If there is not a bond formed immediately after birth or in the following weeks and months the child runs a risk of detachment in varying degrees. Without attaching to parental figure it is more difficult for that child to become accustomed to receiving love from others the older the child becomes. John Kennell defines attachment as "an affectionate bond between two individuals that endures through space and time and serves to join them emotionally" (Magid and Mckelevey 58).