When families experience stress, children are the most likely to absorb the trauma associated with the intense stress in families. This extreme stress can result in child abuse, i.e., an act by a parent or caregiver that results in or risks serious harm to a child or child neglect, i.e, when a parent or caregiver fails to consistently provide the basic needs of a child. Child abuse and neglect causes trauma, which can impair brain development in the affected children and is linked to physical, emotional, and behavioral issues later in life. While child abuse and neglect occurs in every country, in developing countries like Sri Lanka, countries with limited resources to provide the proper institutional safeguards to protect children, private organizations intervening to deliver essential services remains critical.
