Witnesses testified at a Senate hearing on existing child abuse laws and ways to improve reporting requirements. Witnesses talked about personal stories of abuse, the emotional damage abuse inflicts on victims and their families, the barriers and reluctance of some adults to report suspected or known child abuse, ongoing federal, state, and local efforts to combat child abuse, and whether existing reporting requirements were working. The hearing follows allegations of child sexual abuse at Pennsylvania State University and the failure to report these alleged crimes to law-enforcement authorities. Only 18 states currently required all adults to report suspected child abuse.

TITUSVILLE — A Brevard County father and his girlfriend face serious child abuse charges after police said they found the man’s son locked in a bathroom, lying on the floor and extremely malnourished. Michael Marshall, 38, and his live-in girlfriend, Sharon Glass, 48, were arrested late Thursday afternoon. Titusville police said they received a report about the child’s living conditions. They said the boy had been kept in a cage within a closet, strapped to a bed or locked in the bathroom for days or weeks at a time over the last year. Police said the boy is approximately 13 years old, and weighed only 40 pounds when they found him.

Families dealing with child neglect and abuse often go through lengthy and emotional struggles when dealing with Child Protective Services. But, the question remains: Should CPS be able to take children away at their own discretion, without a court order? Changes could be coming as a review of CPS practices is underway. Police have to get a warrant if they want to search your house. Detectives have to get a court order to seize your property. But, in Kern County, Child Protective Services does not seek court orders or warrants when removing children from their parents.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday hauled up the state government for being more concerned about its image than probing the alleged sexual abuses at a city orphanage. The observation came after the state had hurriedly decided to issue a notification to set up an inquiry commission to probe the incidents without following proper procedure. This, the court observed, was carried out by the government as a knee-jerk reaction to placate the media following allegations of sexual abuse of children and subsequent death of an inmate at Arya Anathalya in February.

A woman who locked her 14-year-old son in a squalid trailer and fed him just a few times a week has been jailed for three years. Amanda Jolliff, 37, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and child abuse after police found the boy living in a rodent-infested mobile home in Erie, Colorado.

A child abuse case that has gripped India for months took a tragic turn last night, with the death of an abandoned baby girl admitted to hospital covered with human bite marks. Doctors in Delhi said the battered two-year-old, named as Baby Falak, suffered a fatal heart attack. When a teenaged girl brought her into hospital on January 18, the child was suffering from horrific injuries including broken arms and a smashed skull.

Lake Jackson, TX – Shelley Linder, a 25-year-old science teacher at Brazosport High School was jailed Tuesday after she allegedly had sex with two students. According to police, Linder had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy in 2009 and then a 17-year-old boy in 2010.

Austin, TX – Holly Lopez, a 32-year-old special education teacher at Lexington Middle School was jailed Thursday after she allegedly had sex with a 13-year-old student and his 14-year-old friend. According to police, an investigation was launched after one of the boys contacted police stating that he was beginning to feel weird about a sexual encounter that involved his teacher.

UTAH–Saturday night, Kasprzak said family members searched that area, but found nothing. They assumed that her phone battery had died in that area. They continued to search for her until about 5 a.m. Sunday, she said. The girl’s body was pulled from the Jordan River near 12600 South Sunday afternoon after police responded to reports of suspicious activity in the area earlier in the day. A bloody sneaker was found on a pedestrian bridge. A shoe found with Anne’s body after she was pulled from the water matched the other on the bridge. She was last seen wearing a red flannel shirt and blue jeans.

SEATTLE—A 3-year-old boy picked up a loaded gun in a vehicle at a Tacoma gas station and accidentally shot and killed himself Wednesday, police said. Tacoma Police Department spokesman Naveed Benjamin said a couple and two children, the boy and a 4- or 5-year-old girl, stopped at a Shell station near the corner of South 54th Street and Tacoma Mall Boulevard about 12 a.m.

As Mark Standish faces the prospect of jail after being convicted of molesting a teenage boy during the sex abuse scandal that rocked Crookham Court School in Thatcham in the late 1980s, his victim Andy Hudson bravely waived his legal right to anonymity to tell Paul Cassell why he finally broke his silence.

The last horrifying moments of an eight-year-old girl’s life were revealed in graphic detail today by a woman who has admitted bludgeoning her to death with a hammer. Victoria ‘Tori’ Stafford was abducted from outside her school in Woodstock, Ontario, on April 8, 2009. Her body was found 103 days later stashed in garbage bags and buried under a pile of rocks. Terry-Lynne McClintic took to the stand for the second day at London, Ontario’s crown court for the murder trial of her ex-boyfriend and alleged orchestrator of the abduction and brutal murder. She broke down as she revealed the little girl begged for help moments before she was killed.

ROSEMONT, Calif. — Detectives say a girl found beaten and stabbed last week spent a several hours in Rosemont Park before she was killed. They also say people heard screams in the park before her death. During a press conference Thursday afternoon, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department released new information about their investigation into the death of Jessica Funk-Haslam and some surveillance video. Haslam was found dead near the dugout of the baseball fields at Rosemont Park on March 5th.

Parents of a young girl are on trial for banishing their daughter to the basement of their home for years. A 15-year-old girl from Madison, Wisconsin has told police detectives that her parents locked her in the basement and only allowed her to eat food scraps and trash. Her father and stepmother have been charged with child abuse, child neglect, and reckless endangerment.