The proposed change to make the emotional cruelty of children in England and Wales illegal, follows a three-year campaign by the charity Action for Children for current laws surrounding child neglect to be urgently updated.
At the moment, the law on child neglect, which was passed in 1933, only covers physical harm, which the charity says is too narrow and fails to take into account all forms of neglect.
According to Action for Children, emotional abuse, which can include forcing a child to witness domestic violence and the enforcement of ‘degrading’ punishments, can be as damaging as physical harm, with long-lasting effects on a child.
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