An explorative study on child abuse was carried with an objective to study the prevalence of different types of abuse and factors influencing different types of abuse among institutional children. The population for the present study comprised children residing in Juvenile Institutions of Belgaum Division, in Karnataka State. Among 9 institutions, four juvenile institutions were selected for the study. 150 children fulfilling certain criteria i.e., children between 10-16 years; who remembered their childhood experiences and could express freely; who stayed in the institution for minimum of one year and who were able to read and write and were selected. Further, 148 children who were neglected, physically and multiple abused were selected for in-depth study. Information about institution, children and their parents, type of abuse was collected with the help of questionnaire. Data was collected by interviewing teachers and probation officers, by referring to case files of each child. The results revealed that the prevalence of neglect was highest among institutional children. Further incidence of neglect was more among girls while physical and multiple abuses were more in case of boys. Caste, size of  family, family structure, alcoholic habit of father had significant influence on different types of child abuse.