Shannon Lea Dedrick,7 months old, was discovered Wednesday night hidden in a large box with a lid on it beneath the bed of her babysitter, Susan Elizabeth Baker. She was missing for five days. Shannon's mother, Chrystina Lynn Mercer and babysitter, Susan Elizabeth Baker were charged Thursday with several felonies, including desertion of a child and neglect of a child.

Kristy Hammonds could say that 2009 has not been her year. In April, she and a co-worker were arrested for their actions on the now famous YouTube Domino's Pizza video. Now she has been kicked out of college for something that she did years ago. Hammonds and other students are no longer allowed to attend college in North Carolina since the Jessica Lunsford Act was signed into law by Governor Bev Perdue on Friday, August 28th.

A Duke University Official has been arrested and charged with offering his 5-year-old adopted son for sex over the internet.

Childhood physical abuse is associated with elevated rates of cancer in adulthood, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers.

The Telegraph reports that state-funded institutions in Ireland were a "secret and closed world run on fear", where "nuns and priests terrorised children and covered up years of brutality, rape and molestation in workhouse-style schools. Ritual beatings were encouraged and paedophiles were shielded."

In a very unexpected turn of events the Austrian father Josef Fritzl who for decades raped and abused her daughter this morning pleaded guilty in the court.

Linda Nef and Valynne Bowers, 2 teachers from the same junior high school are accused of having sex with same boy. This happened in Bountiful, Utah.

Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza has today rejected a motion by lawyers for French film director Roman Polanski to have charges of unlawful sex with a child dismissed.

Placing vulnerable children with relatives is a viable option, a new study by Cochrane Researchers suggests. In view of several recent high profile child abuse cases, the study may have important policy implications.

Psychology Professor Mireille Cyr has adapted an interview protocol from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) that will enable child victims of sexual abuse to provide better testimony in Quebec courts.

Boys who experienced childhood physical or sexual abuse are more likely to use sexually coercive behavior against an unwilling female partner when they are adolescents and young adults.

Millions of American children are exposed to violence in their homes each year, putting them at risk for a variety of emotional and behavioral problems. According to a new study in the September/October 2008 issue of the journal Child Development, children who are maltreated tend to have a lot of re-exposure to family violence, and this re-exposure often leads to increased psychological problems.