Child Abuse

Child Abuse

Introduction

Child abuse is a terminology that has always been in the past and up to today it is an issue that is still being addressed in the society. Regionally and globally child abuse has been initiated in different ways that explain the mistreatments of a child and more so it is the responsibility of both the guardians and the government to define specific measures that deter the occurrences of child abuse in the society. Therefore, Child abuse is defined as any form of sexual harassments, emotional or physical mistreatment of a child. It may either be physical or emotional. Physical child abuse includes the aspects of non-accidental causes that are either caused by punching, beating burning or harming the child. One of the occurrences of physical child abuse is as a result of taking excess disciplinary actions against the child.   Parents’ immaturity, anger, and lack of the required skills on parenting, social isolation, domestic violence and use of substances for instance alcohol and drugs are some of the factors that contribute to physical child abuse.  Sexual harassment occurs when a child is mistreated by a individual on sexual concepts for instance showing interests on sexual basis or introducing the child to sexual behaviours. Emotional child abuse occurs when a certain norm affects the child emotional perception and development. Emotional child abuse is defined by the aspects of the guardian showing aggressive, unreasonable explanations that do not concur with the child expectations and capability.

Problems of child abuse and the scope

Child abuse is the global problems impacting children from the period they are born up to the age of eighteen years the national child abuse and neglect system has served as one of the sources of providing information on child abuse and neglect and it is widely known to protect such occurrences form children. It has served in American countries since 1990 and through the reports and data that it has provided shows that since 2005 up to date there is an increase in child abuse and mistreatment. According to the data that was presented in 2009 by NCANDS it approximates that almost 3 million reports are provided on child abuse and almost 5.5 million children are detained in protective services locally. In addition 888000 of the total 5.5 children are mostly affected by child abuse and out of these 16% of the children are abused physically. Approximately 1500 children have died in USA as a result of child abuse. National child abuse and neglect Data systems have seen a tremendous increase in child mistreatments and abuse according to the data that was provided in 2009.

CHILD ABUSE DATA

According to the data that is presented above, it indicates the percentage of child abuse as from 2005 to 2009. It is true that as from 2005 to 2009 child abuse rates have increased tremendously globally. As a result there are fundamental aspects that have enhanced to the increase in child abuse and more so parents and guardians are the main theme of such an increase.

What can be done to prevent child abuse/ recommendation

Child abuse is an act that can be avoided; prevention activities can be adapted to the general population with the goal of stopping the occurrence of maltreatment before it occurs. Child abuse can be prevented at an early stage, there is need to focus on families on children that have faced such abuse therefore they are supposed to search and look for assistance on the ways they can avoid such circumstances occurring. Prevention to child abuse should work as a strategy. This means that prevention should occur earlier before a major problem is developed or it can be stopped. Programs should also be organised to focus mainly on the women with children. There should also be chances to communicate with children’s social services and reporting systems. People should also report cases of child abuse to the relevant authorities. Information should also be shared or any problem leading to maltreatment. This is because a problem shared is half solved and this will prevent the act of child abuse. Prevention programs should also be organised to focus on the relationship between child and family. Children also need to help protect them from sexual abuse. In this case of child abuse, parents are the most affected because they are the ones who start the act of maltreatment towards their children. So parents should promote a healthy and positive interaction with their children and also parents should have the knowledge and skills needed to raise happy and healthy children.

Public awareness activities should also be created in order to raise community awareness of child abuse and neglect as a public issue and to provide the public with information about available resources and solutions. The purpose of such activities will be to reach to the community especially parents who are critical to identify and report child abuse. Rather than only focusing our limited resources on trying to repair damaged children and adults, as how we do know, a more effective approach would be to increase the general level of competent parenting and positively affect the generation to come (Westman J. C p5).

Factors that contribute to child abuse

The following are factors that have contributed to child abuse

Parent factors

There are different aspects that have enhanced parent contribution to child abuse. They include individual character, the use of substance and the mode of teen parenting. In analyzing the individual characteristics of the parent, most of the parents put their children at a greater risks of abuse in this case they provide stressful environments that do not cope with the child hence creating a sense of depression to the child. The use of specific substance for instance alcohol has contributed to child abuse. According to NCANDS data   approximately 55% of the children face abuse as a result of their caretaker or parents taking substances.  For example, a parent can use alcohol and become drunk and use some violent actions on the children.  This is brought about by the economic aspects, inadequacy on social protections and stress contributions that have linked between many of the teen’s parents and child abuse.

Family factors

Family factors include the aspects of a single parents, domestic violence and stressful conditions that relate to child abuse. These occurs as a result of isolation of the parents in terms of social issues and the lack of providing the required emotional as well as financial support, therefore there are two family factors that can contribute to the aspects of child abuse and they include, parenting and the structure of the household and domestic violence that is brought by the parents.  Domestic violence is one of the common issues that have contributed to childhood and more so, research has shown that approximately 30% to almost 70% of the families’ worldwide domestic violence has played a critical role in child abuse; hence many children in violent areas are likely to face domestic violence as a result of their parents.

Child factors

Factors such as age, the stats of the child health and factors of disability have contributed to the facts of child abuse. Young children and infants are highly affected due to their size and developmental structures. Hence the demands that are concerned with such children are usually seen as a burden by their parents

Norms

Norms in the society also contribute and also makes environment hospitable for child abuse. This may be applicable during norms protecting female circumcision. For example in the case where a woman or a girl is circumcised by a woman with no medical training, this is viewed as a barbaric form of child abuse. But this is highly allowed by institutionalised attitudes of the society. Due to all this factors, family violence has plagued countries and despite of the efforts of many different protective agencies, it continues to be an epidemic (Arkow P and Ascione F. R p77).

Effects of child abuse

Child abuse may lead to effects on the child’s life. Some of these factors may include Drug and alcohol abuse. This is because the child may be affected psychologically and it may lead to alcohol and drug abuse problems in adolescence and adulthood. Evidence show that all types of harassment and abuse go proportionally to the abuse of drug and alcohol the child will consume. Child abuse also leads to eating disorders. It may also lead to mental health problems. These are such health problems such as depression and anxiety and it is more likely to affect an individual in adulthood than in childhood.

Child abuse also changes individual behavioural problems. It is likely to affect in childhood and adolescence. This because the earlier children are maltreated, the more likely they are to develop behaviour problem. They grow having a different form of behaviour or life from the other children who are not maltreated. The worst part of it all is that child abuse can lead to Youth suicide. The child may feel not loved in the family hence end up committing suicide. It can also lead to teenage pregnancy is a child is mistreated sexually. Maltreatment also lowers a child’s self-esteem towards formulating a life span (Wolfe D. A and Starr .R p4).

Role of the government in addressing child abuse

The government is responsible for the development of the action plan that caters the consequences if child abuse and it contains all the information that is defined by the government on its role. For instance the government is responsible for offering any disciplinary actions and initiates any laws that define child abuse measures. The national action plans are mainly developed by the organizations or any other institutional that define the way forward in prevention of child abuse. Action plan that are developed by the government on child abuse define to the society the kind of actions that will be taken on the basis of child abuse and the people who responsible on the issue of child abuse. For instance the government is responsible for initiating actions plans by defining that people who are engaged in child abuse are likely to face imprisonment hence people are in a position to understand the way the government handles the issues of child abuse and neglect.  The government has provided also engaged in the following steps in addressing the issues on child abuse

The provincial child abuse protocol concerned on child abuse and issues on domestic violence

The government of Saskatchewan and global police stations improved the life of children through the provisional of child abuse protocol that has been on rise since 2006, and explains a significant stage that is detailed on the action of specific expertise that is initiated with domestic violence and child abuse. Therefore, the introduction of the protocol is defined to serve as a central concept that prevents the occurrence of child abuse and domestic violence.  The provisional of child abuse protocol has also enhanced to the protection of the children form any physical, emotional and sexual abuse and it states that it is the responsibility of the society or individual to ensure that the e wellbeing of children is enhanced. Hence it enhances a coordinated approach as well as an integrated aspect that are defined in the investigation of child abuse.

Campaign on child abuse

These campaigns are usually carried out by the government and an example of such campaigns includes Stop child abuse campaigns that helped in wiping out the concept of child abuse. The major importance of the campaign is to enhance the law and eventually stop child abuse.

The major importance of these campaigns introduced by the government is to enhance and create awareness between people on any signs of child abuse, this means that child abuse aspects are easily identified and addressed. The introduction of these campaigns has made easy for the interventions of child abuse hence issue is approached significantly. Additionally, the campaigns focus mainly to the people or parents having children.

Disciplinary actions on the issues of child abuse

The society and the government are highly involved in the issues of child abuse. The government has adopted disciplinary actions that have brought different parties in enhancing child abuse measures. This means that children are in a position to receive the right assistance of only research is done on the on different disciplines such as medical centres and criminal justice.

Everyone can help prevent or stop child abuse. Providing assistance to parents under stress in children caring and in other duties related to the family. Always support all the programs set to offer care to children, family counselling, child safety and parental education thus parents are supposed to be helped with resources and other parental stress program. Parents and guardians under the influence of alcohol or use of other substances can indulge in counselling problems on how to deal with the concept of child abuse.

Conclusion

Child abuse has been a long term concept and a history globally, and it impacts many children negatively. Approximations of the total number of children that have suffered in the arms of child abuse either by their parents and guardians have always increased annually. Therefore, this paper has explored the concept of child abuse on different criteria through the outlook of NCANDS child abuse data. The data that was included has shown that child abuse has increased tremendously within the period of five years 2005-2009. Through the definition of the problem and scope of child abuse, it is true to conclude that child abuse is a concept that has to be discussed widely on how to prevent its occurrence and protect the children. The government is one of the fundamental approach on addressing the issues of childhood, but it is likely that the government has played a critical role by defining the strategy that are function effectively on the issue of child abuse. Parents and guardians are not exempted from the duty of child abuse; they are highly responsible for figuring out how children are supposed to be protected from this ideology and how certain circumstances for instance domestic violence can be regulated to avoid child abuse.

References

Understanding child abuse and neglect. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1993. Print.

Westman, Jack C.. Licensing parents: can we prevent child abuse and neglect?. New York: Insight Books, 1994. Print.

Ascione, Frank R., and Phil Arkow. Child abuse, domestic violence, and animal abuse linking the circles of compassion for prevention and intervention. West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, 1999. Print.

Starr, Raymond, and David A. Wolfe. The Effects of child abuse and neglect: issues and research. London: Guilford, 1991. Print.

Lau, Kenneth J., Kathryn Krase, and Richard Morse. Mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect: a practical guide for social workers. New York: Springer Pub. Co., 2009. Print.

Clark, Robin E., Judith Freeman Clark, and Christine A. Adamec. The encyclopedia of child abuse. 2nd ed. New York: Facts on File, 2001. Print.

Appleton, Jane V., and Nicky Stanley. “Communicating With Children’s Social Services And Reporting Systems.” Child Abuse Review 19.3 (2010): 153-157.