It is to deliberately hurt a child, causing injuries such as bruises, broken bones, burns, or cuts. It isn’t accidental – children who are physically abused suffer violence such as being hit, kicked, poisoned, burned, slapped, or having objects thrown at them. Shaking or hitting babies can cause non-accidental head injuries. Sometimes, parents or carers will make up or cause the symptoms of illness in their child, perhaps giving them the medicine they don’t need and making the child unwell – this is known as fabricated or induced illness (FII). There’s no excuse for physically abusing a child. It causes severe, and often long-lasting, harm – and in extreme cases, death.

Adults who physically abuse children may have: emotional or behavioural problems such as difficulty controlling their anger, family or relationship problems, experienced abuse as a child, parenting difficulties including unrealistic expectations of children, not understanding a child's needs or no idea how to respond to a child's health issues.