I believe the term 'child abuse' is not understood.
Naive libs would generally think it means something like parents spanking their child too much, maybe slamming the kid around til there are bruises, maybe an estranged spouse 'kidnapping' their own child from the spouse that has custody, maybe punishing the child severely if they make a mistake or do poorly in school.
People who lack understanding are going to downplay 'child abuse'.
HOW are we going to cross that gap between what they imagine child abuse consists of, and what is really consists of?