OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of violence against children and adolescents through the records of Child Protection Councils, associating this violence with the age of the victims and their links with the aggressor. METHOD: Data were collected from the records and the prevalence rates were calculated through the Prevalence Ratio (PR), together with the associations among variables, with a critical level of 5%. RESULTS: Out of 1,293 records of violence, 1,011 (78.1%), originated in the home. The most frequent types of violence were: neglect (727), failure to provide basic care (304) and abandonment (259); physical violence (455), beatings (392) between 2 and 13 years old; psychological violence (374) through threats (219); sexual violence (68) through abuse (58), mainly among adolescents. Denunciations were mainly (398) anonymous (30.8%); the aggressors through neglect were the parents; through physical violence, the stepmother and "other aggressors"; through sexual violence, the stepfather and "other relatives / aggressors"; psychological violence was prevalent among all aggressor categories. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate the need to extend the Anti-Violence Hot-line facilities, training Council Members in terms of keeping proper records, and implementing policies designed to prevent violence against children and adolescents.
Violence; Childhood; Adolescence; Child Protection Councils
