Maltreatment is a term that denotes long-term violence, which includes an imbalance in power between the victim and the attacker, where the victim cannot defend himself or herself and where he or she often feels fear, helplessness, despair, etc. Various forms of maltreatment are known: physical maltreatment, psychological maltreatment, sexual abuse, neglect and peer abuse. Maltreatment is a phenomenon in which someone acts with the intention of hurting somebody else. In Slovenia and elsewhere in the world, maltreatment has been a taboo topic for many years, only in today's society, we have started to look on this topic in a less stigmatized way, we talk more about it and we are aware of the urgency of its treatment. This is also a prerequisite for identifying and preventing maltreatment. Identifying and preventing maltreatment of children in kindergarten is an important task of educators, professional workers and at the same time the central topic of this bachelor’s thesis. First, an educator must know the signs of the consequences of maltreatment, only then can the changes related to maltreatment be detected in a child, and an educator can effectively prevent further maltreatment with appropriate measures. In the bachelor’s thesis, we have explored and defined different definitions and forms of maltreatment, how to recognize the signs of maltreatment, and how to treat and prevent this kind of behaviour. In the empirical part, we focused on what forms of maltreatment experts are familiar with, how they recognize violent, aggressive, inadequate relationships with children in a family, school and environment, and how to help a child experiencing maltreatment as a professional pedagogical worker. We have found that professional workers know mostly the following forms of maltreatment: physical (body related) and psychological (emotional) maltreatment, neglect, sexual abuse and peer abuse. A less known form of this behaviour is Munchausen's syndrome. We have also found out that the experts recognize maltreatment mainly after visible physical injuries or typical behaviour that is shown by a child, such as fear of sudden movements and sadness. This study also shows that in the case of maltreatment or suspicion of maltreatment educator would look for help in a colleague, the leadership or the social service of the kindergarten, either of which would be available, and the child would be comforted, talked to and given a sense of security. Although some of the results of the survey have shown that the surveyed professionals consider that they are not sufficiently familiar with the topic of child maltreatment and that the vast majority believe that they cannot easily identify the signs of maltreatment themselves and take appropriate actions accordingly, research has shown that in the event of maltreatment or mere suspicion of maltreatment, they would be able to take appropriate actions. The fact is that professionals (as well as all others) cannot act if they do not perceive the problem at all, so we believe that it would be sensible to organize trainings in public institutions on the topic of how to recognize child maltreatment and how to approach it appropriately.
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