{"id":6582,"date":"2025-07-22T10:21:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/?p=6582"},"modified":"2025-07-22T10:27:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:27:46","slug":"can-a-child-report-abusive-parents-to-the-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/can-a-child-report-abusive-parents-to-the-police\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a Child Report Abusive Parents to the Police?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Parents are the foremost guardians in a child\u2019s life, nourishing and protecting them during the most vulnerable stages. Parents are expected to be loving, kind and understanding of their children\u2019s needs. However, in rare cases, parents become the very individuals from whom the children need protection.<\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/can-a-child-report-abusive-parents-to-the-police\/#Rights_of_children_under_Wadeemas_Law\" >Rights of children under Wadeema\u2019s Law\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/can-a-child-report-abusive-parents-to-the-police\/#Penalties\" >Penalties\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/can-a-child-report-abusive-parents-to-the-police\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>The UAE government stresses the importance of the protection and upliftment of children. The country has a dedicated law for the welfare of children and their protection under Federal Law No. 3 of 2016 on Child Rights Law. The law is commonly known as\u00a0Wadeema\u2019s law.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Rights_of_children_under_Wadeemas_Law\"><\/span><b>Rights of children under Wadeema\u2019s Law\u00a0<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Basic Rights\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The law guarantees children the right to life and safety and states that the government will ensure children\u2019s growth, development and protection. This includes ensuring that children have a respectable name, birth certificate, appropriate nationality, and legitimacy. Article 14 prohibits child employment below the age of 15 and ensures that children are able to express themselves freely.<\/p>\n<p><b>Family Rights\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Family rights provide children the right to be introduced to his natural family, and receive their care. A child will have the right to\u00a0custody, feeding, education, financial protection and protecting himself, including his body, religion and property.<\/p>\n<p><b>Health Rights<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The law provides every child the right to health services in accordance with the laws and regulations of health care in the country. The law also states that the government will develop substantial health services and provide guides to better child health and nutrition. In pursuance of the same, Article 21 prohibits the selling of tobacco to individuals below the age of 18. It also prohibits smoking in the presence of children, or selling intoxicants to children.<\/p>\n<p><b>Social rights<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Under the social rights provided to children, the state provides mechanism such as foster care or other social care institutions to ensure that children obtain a standard of living appropriate for the physical, mental, psychological and social growth of the child in accordance with the laws in force.<\/p>\n<p><b>Cultural rights\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The law provides for the establishment of guidelines and institutions that regulate cultural, artistic and scientific knowledge for children. The law also highly regulates inappropriate content and access to media that may be detrimental to a child\u2019s development.<\/p>\n<p><b>Educational Rights\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The law provides children the right to education, and equal opportunity. It also provides for the government to establish mechanisms to prevent children\u2019s school dropout, prohibit violence in school, and promote the participation of parents in the decisions relevant to children.<\/p>\n<p><b>Right to protection\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>One of the most important provisions under Wadeema\u2019s law is the right to protection. This guarantees that a\u00a0custodian\u00a0must not abandon a child, physically, mentally or financially. It is the duty of a custodian to ensure that the child is enrolled in school. It is prohibited to make a child engage in beggary, or other illegal occupations, or engage them in any work that hinders their education, or endangers their health.<\/p>\n<p>Article 36 of the law safeguards a child from torture, physical assault or any action that compromises the child\u2019s emotional, psychological, mental or moral safety.<\/p>\n<p><b>Protection mechanism\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The government has set up a series of helplines to help children report instances of domestic abuse. Complaints can be made to the Ministry of Interiors (MOI), the Dubai Police, Community Development Authority and many more. Apart from toll free helplines, one may seek assistance through certain government websites, and government Applications.<\/p>\n<p>You can report child abuse through the following channels<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>MoI through the hotline number 116111 or through the MoI\u2019s Child Protection Centre\u2019s website and the \u2018Hemayati\u2019 app.<\/li>\n<li>Community Development Authority- CDA on hotline: 800988<\/li>\n<li>EWAA Shelter for Women and Children on hotline: 8007283<\/li>\n<li>Dubai Foundation for Women and Children on 800111<\/li>\n<li>Child protection centre in Sharjah on toll-free helpline number 800 700<\/li>\n<li>Hemaya Foundation for Children and Women \u2013 Ajman on hotline: 800 or 800446292<\/li>\n<li>Aman Centre for Women and Children through RAK Police \u2013 07-2356666<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b>Child protection specialists<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Wadeema\u2019s Law provides for the presence of child protection officers in institutions that work with child welfare, to assist and investigate matters related to child abuse, and raise awareness in the matter.<\/p>\n<p>Article 43 of the law states that anyone who has attained the age of 18 and becomes aware of a case of child abuse, must provide help to the child facing abuse, including reporting to competent authorities regarding the abuse.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Penalties\"><\/span><b>Penalties\u00a0<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If a person is found to have tortured a child, or physically assaulted a child, or performed any activity that compromises a child\u2019s emotional, psychological, mental or moral safety, he or she will be punished by a minimum imprisonment of one year and\/or a fine between AED 50,000 and AED 100,000.<\/p>\n<p>However, if this act is committed by the child\u2019s parent(s) or custodian, they may instead be subject to one or more of the following measures:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Performing community service.<\/li>\n<li>Placement in a therapeutic shelter.<\/li>\n<li>Subjecting them to one or more rehabilitation and guidance programs.<\/li>\n<li>Suspension of custody of the child.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>In the UAE, a child is well protected and provided with a number of resources that enable the child to seek help from abusive parents. However, acknowledging that children may be unaware of these channels, or ill-equipped to seek assistance, the law places the onus on responsible adults and trained individuals to look for signs of abuse and report such cases to the competent authority.<\/p>\n<p><b>References:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>https:\/\/www.professionallawyer.me\/legal-articles\/family-law\/all-you-need-to-know-on-child-protection-law-in-uae<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parents are the foremost guardians in a child\u2019s life, nourishing and protecting them during the most vulnerable stages. Parents are expected to be loving, kind and understanding of their children\u2019s needs. However, in rare cases, parents become the very individuals from whom the children need protection. The UAE government stresses the importance of the protection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"two_page_speed":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[394],"tags":[28],"class_list":{"0":"post-6582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uae-laws","7":"tag-top-news"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}