Child abuse is the physical, sexual, or emotional mis-treatment or neglect of children by parents or others. Child abuse has many forms and each form affects society on a different level .Those that are being abused, can show serious physiological damage, during both childhood and adulthood. Any type of abuse can play itself out not only in how its victims feel, but also in their actions as adults.
Children are abused in every single cultural, ethnic, and income group that exists, and affects millions of children in all age groups. There are some people who believe that, for the first time in history, we as a society are starting to face the prevalence of child abuse. Other people worry that some have become obsessed with child abuse and take no personal responsibility for their problems choosing to blame them on abuse and bad parenting. It should be obvious then, that some very large contexts and differences of opinions are shaping the debates on certain issues concerning child abuse. We should all agree though, that society as a whole should be educated on the facts of child abuse. Below is a list of very common traits in families that might live with child abuse.
Child abuse is physical — shaking, hitting, beating, kicking or throwing as well as burning, or biting a child.
Child abuse is emotional — consistently blaming or putting down a child along with constant yelling and/or shaming.
Child abuse is sexual — any forced sexual contact or sexual stimulation that is not appropriate for the a lot of the child.
Child abuse is neglect — failure to provide for a child’s physical needs like food, clothing, housing, and medications; failure to provide for the child’s emotional needs, affection, attention, and supervision. Even one encounter with an abuser can encourage the child to lie, resent, fear, and retaliate against their loved ones, instead of loving, trusting, and listening to them.
Abuse can mean all different things to all different children, and can happen once or many times. Child Abuse can happen in any family, period. Abuse is always wrong and it is never the child’s fault. Abusers warn their victims not to tell on them. They will threaten children with violence against loved ones. Abusers are aware that the shame associated with the sexual activity makes the child especially reluctant to tell anyone.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala stated recently that between 1986 and 1993, the instances of children who were being physically abused had nearly doubled. She was based this statement on an increased number of reports of child abuse that had been reported to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Her statement also included policy information on being able to tell the difference between sudden infant death syndrome and child abuse fatalities. Ms. Shalala went on to comment on the treatment of children with disabilities along with guidelines for the evaluation of suspected child sexual abuse.The National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect was released in September 1996, following up on the previous studies that were conducted in 1980 and 1986. The new study found that child abuse and neglect were getting much worse. It definitely makes a lot of sense that the number of cases of abuse might be rising. Child Abuse should be expected to rise when drug and alcohol abuse is at an all time high, and broken homes are becoming the norm for society.
It should be a wake up call for this country to learn that most abused and neglected children never come to the attention of government authorities. This is particularly true for neglected and sexually abused children, who may have no physical signs of harm. In the case of sexual abuse, intense feelings of shame prevent most children, and adults that are aware of the child being abused, from getting help. So it only makes sense then, that official government statistics cannot state the true rates of all child abuse going on in our homes. Government statistics are only based on abuse cases that are;
#1. Reported to a social service agency,
#2. Investigated by a child protection worker, and lastly
#3. Had enough evidence to support that a legal definition of “abuse” or “neglect” has been established in the family.
This process can sometimes take weeks or months and can be understandably frustrating to all that are involved in the process, from the overworked child abuse prevention worker to the parents who are sometimes desperate for immediate help.
Teaching parents how to nurture and discipline their children is an extremely important part in the prevention of child abuse and even though prevention costs a lot less than treatment, less than 10% of government funds spent on child abuse go toward the prevention of it. The Child Abuse Prevention Network gives support to child abuse prevention professionals by providing online resources and electronic mailing lists. Their services also include child abuse prevention and treatment, youth programs, residential treatment, child daycare, and family preservation.
Child help USA is one of the largest and oldest national nonprofit organizations dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect as well as to the treatment of its victims, in the United States. Child Help’s prevention services include parent education classes for high risk parents, respite care for parents of a child with a disability and home visiting programs for new parents. They also provide excellent programs geared toward families that have certain risk factors like substance abuse, parents of special needs children, teen parents, single parents, and low income families.
The NCFV site has a very large Publications section, many issues related to Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Sexual Abuse, and Family Violence can be found there. NCFV also has a ton of videos on child abuse and family violence, for the general public and/or professional people in this field.
The best site (in my opinion) for official statistics on child abuse has to be the The National Child Protection Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse is a great site with a lot of full-text articles on the effects of child abuse and child abuse in general. Interested persons can find sophisticated reports on child abuse, its effects, and how to prevent it.
If you or anyone you know suspect that any child is being abused, get involved. Contact your local Social Services office, you will remain anonymous and in most cases, the child will be visited by a social worker within 24 hours. We can all do our part in winning the battle to eradicate child abuse and neglect from our society. Remember, Child Abuse, in any form is everyone’s business, and effective prevention must be woven into the fabric of our communities, into the structure of our schools, hospitals, places of work, communities of faith, and childcare facilities. The battle against child will continue to rage on and it’s a fight we can win.
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