From ancient years, both the abuse and murder of children have almost been common practices due to the barbarity of the times, which have become a habit and appear in a number of different forms. Infanticide, as one of these forms, legally became a crime in 318 AD. Sacrifices were often made in the name of a god to infants or even older children, with families often feeling proud that their own child was to be sacrificed for the common good. At around the time of the Renaissance and thereafter, public opinion began to slowly react to the idea of abusing vulnerable children, with the Church taking a more proactive stance, creating shelters in monasteries for abandoned children who were usually unwanted by their families. Later, the first institutions for poor children whose families could not raise them or for orphaned children, appeared in Europe and the USA. However, as the years passed on and there was no care for these institutions, the conditions became unsuitable and the children very often eventually died of hunger, diseases or even abuse. All of this was to take its official place in history with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 and has now been signed by 191 countries. The Convention on the Rights of the Child now formally defines child abuse, violence and neglect.
The physical and mental health of children, as well as the effort to ensure a safe environment for their upbringing, have been the main concern of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) since 1989; a number of countries worldwide have formed numerous organizations to defend these rights. Child abuse, in all its forms, is a major public health concern, affecting millions of children each year worldwide. A number of studies and research have been performed in order to scientifically determine that early social adversity, as well as the physical, sexual or emotional abuse of a child and neglect, lead to alterations in DNA methylation. The present review article summarizes the epigenetic effects resulting from early-life stressful events, such as child abuse, child maltreatment, institutionalization, neglect, orphanhood and/or abandonment. These stressors can lead to a disruption of physiological biological pathways, and alter the methylation profiles in crucial regulatory pathways, such as glucocorticoid receptor signaling and cytokine signaling in immune cell function. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Children living in childcare institutions 3. Institutionalized children and epigenetics 4. Conclusions and future directions
In the first 2 years of the pandemic, from late 2019 to late 2021, several studies were conducted to determine the experience of children during the continuous lockdowns, school closures and isolation from their friends, teachers or relatives. The studies conducted included children being raised in childcare facilities and children being raised in their own homes, in various parts of the world. Numerous children worldwide, in addition to the stress and difficulties experienced by adults and minors during these years of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) pandemic, have experienced physical, psychological and sexual abuse. The available data indicate that the number of children presenting to hospitals with injuries from abuse has increased, despite the fact that there was a decrease in the number of reports of child abuse during the lockdowns. The financial difficulties that a number of families have faced, and continue to face, comprise the most prominent risk factor for child neglect. Additionally, a marked decrease has also been noted in the provision of care to children in care homes as regards quality. This has been mainly due to a reduction in the number of employees, either as they themselves or someone they cared for became infected with COVID-19, or as the employees and care givers suffered from exhaustion brought on by the very difficult working conditions and very strict measures taken during this period of the pandemic.
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