Child Abuse
CHILD ABUSE 7
ChildAbuse
Student’sname:
CHILDABUSE
Childabuse is a big problemaffecting today’s society. The problem has been in existence forquite long,and the scientists realized the adverse effects that resultsfrom it. Abuseand neglect are not much different from one another, its onlythat in negligence,there is no danger intended. Child abuse is an accidental injury orphysical attack to a child by their caretakers, emotional abuseaccount for the majorityof the abuse cases. However,there are more cases of reported physical abuse annually in theUnitedStates,Totaling to 20,000 in a year. Physical abuse involves hurting a childbyway ofhitting. The number of reported sexual assaultcases is more than 115,000 in a year. Sexual assaultis coerced, tricked or forced sexual behavior between an adult and aminor. The world views sexual abuseas the worst type of abuse particularly because it happens within thefamily (Aldridge,2012).
Childabuse in the world is not news. Some society’s patriarchalstructure like in Lebanon allows the father to abuse both the wifeand his daughters. Some societies also allowchildbeatingin the name of ensuring that they grow up straight.
Scopeof child abuse
Takinga case study of Lebanon, child abuse has become a severeissue that requires a very compellingsolution. The emergency rooms are receiving very many cases of childabuse many of whom the parents report that the accident happenedwhile they play. The doctor’s,however,persists that there are evidenceof abuse despite the parents insisting that they are accidental andconsequently these cases are never reported to the authorities(Cicchetti,2013).
Symptomsof child abuse
Thesocialagents who specialize in fighting child abuse in the UnitedStateshave listed sixkey symptoms that may help teachers’ spot cases of child abuse.Teachers spend more time with the children and are hence more likelyto identify abuse cases. Teachers should check for bruises. Thesecond one is to find out whether the kid complains of mistreatmentor ill-treatment.Some child children have the habit of remaining late after school orarriving very early in the morning this might be a possibleindicator of escaping from abuse at home. Some of the children alsobecome aggressive, bully and disruptive. For those that are isolated,they become, withdrawn, shy, since they feel neglected and ignored.Finally,some children tend to wear cloth s that is inappropriate for theweather condition. Some of them lookto be in need of urgent medical attention.
Consequencesof child abuse
Childabuse results in underdevelopmentof a child’s character.  The upbringing is in line with strongviolentstandards that become part of his or her lifestyle, asa consequence of the wrong upbringing process that lasts from theentire childhood to adolescence.The abused child turns violent. The child is brought up knowingviolence as the only solution for dealing with peers in life, hisscope of life is thus affected in the manner in which he deals withothers. Some of the abused children feel isolated and intimidated.They are afraid of expressing their feelings since their upbringingwas under restrictions.
Sexualassaulthas far much more negative impacts. According to studies, teenageprostitution, clinical depression, drug abuse, suicidal behaviorsteenagerunawaysare all associated with sexual abuse,particularly among females. There is not much information about theeffect the abuse has on males since most of the cases gounreported.The main reason is that boys are raised to defend themselves,and they tend to avoid the subject even when it occurs (Morton,2014).
Causesof child abuse
Thereexist different reasons as to why childabuse occurs within families. One of them is when parents fail tounderstand their children’s needs. Some mothers may think thattheir kidsare crying as result of hunger, while in a realsense itisdue to pain. By trying to feed such child results in more crying. Dueto misunderstanding, the parent may become frustrated causing a lossoftemper which is likely to cause pushing or hitting the baby or evencompletely seize to care for the baby.
Anothercauseof abuse and neglect is poverty. Within the low-incomefamilies,parents tend to care less for their children leading to abuse.Poverty may result to frustrations when the parent feels that theyare not in a position to make ahealthyliving. Whenthe father loses a job, the chances of abuse increase further, theparent abuses their children as a way of releasing their anger.Though poverty may play a crucialrole in child abuse, research shows that abuse happens in familiesfrom all forms of social background. Fighting among parents fromsocialhouseholdstheresulting stress may result in parents abusing their children(Cicchetti,2013).
Parents,who are drug addicts, have higher chances of abusing the children.Lack of good relations or communication with the neighbors may resultin isolation and further increasing the likelihoodof child abuse. Psychological research shows that 20% of abusiveparents were also victims of child abuse at a youngage. The violence cycle may pass from parents to the childthis increases the chances of parents becoming abusive. However,it is not always obvious that victims of child abuse will becomechild abusers in adulthood (Goodyear,2012).
Solutionto child abuse
Countrieswith a longhistory of child abuse like the United States have invented manysolutions. In some of the developing countries such as Lebanon, childabuse has only been recognized as a natural disaster recently. Littleefforts have been made to protect the child rights.
Thefirst step shouldbe activation of the legal intervention. The Lebanese law does notallow intervention infamily issues in case of child abuse. There is a need to setlegislationthat protects the rights of children within the family againstpossible family member’s aggression. The laws should also be clearof the child rights while at home (Hermanns,2012).There is a need to punish abusive parents,andthey should be deprived the custody over a childin case they are not in oppositionto raisethem in the right manner.
Thesecond step is to provide a hotlinefor reporting of abuse cases. Children awareness of hotline numbersthat will receive complaints seriously, they will take the initiativeof protecting themselves. Inexistence of such hotline numbers meansthatchildabuseis happeningin silence despite there being strict laws (Morton,2014). The hotline should be available for use by teachers, neighbors, andany other person within the community who knows of abuse taking placein a homestead. The minor may not be in a position to protect themagainst the aggression of their seniors and hence the society shouldtake that responsibility.
Itis also paramountto do public awareness in child abuse prevention. For those thatthink,it is not their business to report child abuse cases, they areindirectly participating in worsening the problem. They have anobligation to report any violation of human rights. Public awarenessmay not be an easy thing the best way to do so is by establishingchild protection agencies and making the public aware of theirresponsibility to the institutionsand the children within the community(Pedro, 2015).
Conclusion
Finally,it is criticalto educate the parents. This process should take place in two phases.The first one is awareness programs in the social agencies and themedia. The parentneedsawarenessofchild abuse, consequences, and causes and also how to deal with it.The second phase should be to educate the children in schoolespecially since they will become parents in future. The child abusenotion should be part of the education program.
Childabuse has been in existence in our societiesit isnow we are acknowledging of its existence. Itisevidence that there lacks enough statistical data to proveit. Its existence isproofas a result of how we see some parents treat their children or thecasespresentin hospitals. These signs are in existence and cannot be ignored bythe society. There are solutions the only thing required is supportfrom the government and child right agencies.
References
Aldridge,J., & Goldman, R. L. (2012). Currentissues and trends in education.Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.
Cicchetti,D. (2013). Childmaltreatment: theory and research on the causes and consequences ofchild abuse and neglect.Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Goodyear-Brown,P. (2012). Handbookof child sexual abuse: identification, assessment, and treatment.Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Hermanns,J. (2012). Fightingchild abuse: an effective approach.Utrecht: Netherlands Youth Institute.
Morton,C. M., Simmel, C., & Peterson, N. A. (2014). Neighborhood alcoholoutlet density and rates of child abuse and neglect: Moderatingeffects of access to substance abuse services. ChildAbuse &amp Neglect,38(5),952-961. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.01.002
Pedro,K. T. (2015). Child maltreatment and military-connected youth:Developing protective school communities. ChildAbuse &amp Neglect,47,124-131. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.06.004
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