Child Abuse

Is it child abuse to get a child to exaggerate injuries to make a false compensation claim?

Peregrinus

"Child abuse" is not a legal concept — there's no crime of "child abuse" — but it is a concept employed in child protection policy and social work practice.

It's generally analysed into neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse. Whether and to what extent a particular practice is abusive depends mainly on how the child is affected.

This is clearly not neglect, physical abuse (unless you are injuring the child and suggested that the injuries were caused by the accident for which compensation is claimed) or sexual abuse so, if it's anything, it's emotional abuse. But simply encouraging the child to lie, I think, would not in itself be emotional abuse, unless you were reinforcing this with threats, withdrawal of affection, persistent hostility, etc.

Thank you