Cruel or inhumane treatment; ill usage; abuse.

Physical abuse; being given inadequate care and nourishment; deprivation of adequate medical care; insufficient encouragement to attend school consistently; exploitation by being forced to work too hard or too long; exposure to unwholesome or demoralizing circumstances; sexual abuse; and emotional abuse and neglect (Kadushin & Martin, 1988)

Physical abuse, child neglect, sexual abuse and emotional abuse. Federal CAPTA legislation (P.L. 104-235) provides definitions that identify a minimum set of acts or behaviors that characterize maltreatment. Each state is responsible for providing its own definitions of child abuse and neglect within the state's civil and criminal context.

to mistreat