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Sociological effects of child abuse
The Effects Of Child Abuse In Society
Sociological effects of child abuse
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While reading the semi-autobiographical, Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison, I was stunned by the explicit nature of the novel. We were introduced to a young narrator and protagonist named, Ruth Anne “Bone” Boatwright. Bone's family, like that of the author, experienced a impoverished life, all the while she tried to find her place in a society that had literally labeled her “illegitimate.” Merriam-Webster defines illegitimate as being: (1) not recognized as lawful offspring; specifically: born of parents not married to each other (2) not rightly deduced or inferred- illogical (3) departing for the regular- erratic (4) not sanctioned by law- illegal (5) not authorized by good usage. As a young girl, how would it feel being known as illogical, erratic, illegal, not for good usage, and, in Bone's case, being constantly reminded of not knowing the identity of your birth father? According to helpguide.org, a non-profit online resource for mental health, the article “Child Abuse & Neglect” addressed how constantly being told you are stupid or no good, as a child, is very difficult to overcome. You may accept these negative thoughts and believe them to be reality. In this research paper, I am looking to unveil the truth of child abuse by focusing on the history, myths, and victim rehabilitation of child abuse. From a very young age, Bone was sexually abused by her step-father, Glen Waddell. Like Bone, Dorothy Allison also suffered abuse from her step-father, starting at the young age of five years-old. During the time of the novel, and until recent years, it was unthinkable to speak of any sort of abuse outside the household. Throughout history, children have been victims of abuse by their parents or other adults, and fo... ... middle of paper ... ...ting and Reporting Child Abuse. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014. deMause, Lloyd . "The History of Child Abuse." The History of Child Abuse. N.p., 25 Sept. 1997. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. . "illegitimate." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. . "Mary Ellen Wilson." Mary Ellen Wilson. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. . "The Story of Mary Ellen." The Story of Mary Ellen. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. . Watkins, S.A. (1990). The Mary Ellen myth: Correcting child welfare history. Social Work, 35(6), pp. 500-503.
The job of a child welfare worker appears to be a demanding profession that promotes the child’s safety, but also strengthens the family organization around them in order to successfully raise the children. This child welfare workers work in the system known as the Child Protective Services whose initiative is to protect the overall welfare of the child. The short novel From the Eye of the Storm: the Experiences of a Child Welfare Worker by Cynthia Crosson-Tower demonstrates the skills necessary to deal with the practice of social work along with both its challenges and its happy moments. The novel consists of some of the cases involving Tower’s actual career in social work. In reading the book, I was able to experience some of the actual cases in which children dealt with physical and mental abuse from their families that caused them to end up within the system. Also, some of these children had issues in adapting to foster and adoptive families based on the issues they faced earlier in life. As we have learned earlier in the course, the violence that a child experiences early in life has an overall affect on the person they become as they grow into adulthood. When children deal with adverse childhood experiences, they are at a higher risk for abusing drugs and/or alcohol, increased likelihood of abusing their own child or spouse, higher rates of violent and nonviolent criminal behavior, along with several other issues throughout their lifespan.
Obviously, working with survivors of child sexual abuse, neglect, and trauma: The approach taken by the social worker in the Brandon’s case shall begin with “assessment and beginning treatment of the family because child abuse is one of a wide range practice situation in which systems concepts can be applied to help to understand the dynamics involved” in the road for healing and recovery from the physical and psychological effect of the trauma by providing adequate resources available for counseling and therapy due to the devastating impacts of child sexual abuse can be heartbreaking for the victim and the family. However, social worker approach to understanding and responds efficiently by being empathetic to the complex situation as a result; the perpetrator is the father such as in the case of Brandon (Plummer, Makris, & Brocksen, 2014).
“We aren’t the weeds in the crack of life. We’re the strong, amazing flowers that found a way to grow in the challenging conditions.” (McElvaney, 1057) The book entitled “Spirit Unbroken: Abby’s Story,” offers a perspective on child abuse providing a positive outlook on a tragic situation. Even in the best of circumstances, however, victims of abuse can see the effects of the trauma for the rest of their life. For each individual person affected by this form of trauma, the reactions can vary. The same type of abuse in two different people can have very different outcomes – one could be that of coping, and the other a life of brokenness. Especially at impressionable ages, any form of abuse can be a hindrance in living a normal life. Children
Brott, A. (2010). A System Out of Control: The Epidemic of False Allegations of Child Abuse. Retrieved from http://www.fathersmanifesto.net/armin.htm
She is brutally honest about her background and tragedies she endures, to show others that it is acceptable to have a voice in this world. In a raw moment on her 16th birthday, she speaks up to her abusive stepfather, after he spanks her in front of her friends, saying, “You can’t break me…and you’re never going to touch me again” (Allison 68). In this moment Allison realizes that she is the girl who “stood up to the monster” (68). At the same time, she realizes that she is capable of reclaiming herself and her life from the grasps of this monster that is her stepfather (Allison 69). At one point, she lets the tragedies in her life take over and reinvent who she is, making her nothing more than a victim that society has assigned a stereotype to, she writes, “I did not want to wear that coat, to be told what it meant, to be told how it had changed the flesh beneath it, to let myself be made over into my rapist’s creation” (Allison 70-71). Ultimately, Dorothy Allison defines herself and her voice through the progression of her
David suffered physical, mental, and emotional abuse from the age of four to 12-years-old. As his teachers and principal, neighbors, and even his maternal grandmother and father stand by and let the abuse happen, it makes me wonder what they could have done differently. For example, David’s father saw the abuse firsthand and he would try to intervene to help him out initially. David’s father was caught by the madness of his wife in calling him, ‘the boy’ and ‘It’. As much as his father tried to comfort David, he did not have the will to stand up against his wife. Another example, the maternal grandmother commented on bruises visible on David’s body and she did not take action to report her daughter for abusing her grandchild, David. Instead, David’s grandmother stated that she should stay out of it and let David’s mother raise her children as she saw fit. I believed the unreported instances observed by the public to be just as substantial a crime as the child abusers themselves. Also, the Department of Children and Social Services were contacted because of the alleged child abuse events that occurred previously; however, he was not taken from the home because the social worker of the agency sided with David’s mother. The social worker did not complete a thoroughly
I remember always going straight to the “tough section” of Chicken Soup for the Soul books. I was always amazed with how these children, who have gone through extremely traumatic incidents, manage to turn their lives around for the better. This interest is what lead me to read Three Little Words; and while reading it I couldn’t understand how these people could treat children so terribly. I managed to come out with an unanswered question. How does child abuse affect children? Three Little Words follows Ashley up to her twenties, but it never goes into detail how the abuse affected her. Luckily, Ashley is adopted into a loving home, where she can thrive. She became a New York Times bestselling author, a philanthropist, a child welfare advocate, and a public speaker. Her brother was sadly not so lucky; the family that was planning on adopting him sent him back due to his behavioral issues. The book does not go into detail much about what happens after that incident, but it does state that he had developmental problems, and was extremely attached to his sister. While researching Ashley, I discovered that her brother had died at age twenty-nine due to a drug
In the essay "Overcoming Abuse - My Story", Shawna Platt talks about her childhood with her alcoholic parents and her struggles. She has experienced neglect, domestic, emotional and sexual abuse. She also talks about how she overcame all the abuse, the way the abuse effected her mental health, and how she broke the cycle with her children. While reading this essay, the one incident stood out the most was that her parents left Shawna alone with her newborn sister. At the time, Shawna was only ten years old.
“ The Broken Chain”, by M.F.K Fisher is an essay about a young girl history of child abuse. During her childhood, she often spanked by her father. She thought being spanked or smacked was a good punishment for mistakes she would make. The only time she feels abused was when she was twelve. After she dropped her baby brother on the floor, she gets hit in the face so hard that it sent her across the room by her father. That was also the last time her father punished her because her father had break the chain of violence.
Maier, Timothy W. “Suffer the Children.” Insight on the News 24 Nov. 1997: Pg. 11.
As a result of the small number of mothers in jail or prison, the stigma surrounding these women and their families is extremely negative (Wright and Seymour 12). The stigma is not only placed on the mothers themselves, but almost always extended to their children. This can lead to children keeping their situation a secret from friends, teachers and peers out of fear and insecurity. In a study done with the Bi...
Sandy Wilson, the author of Daddy’s Apprentice: incest, corruption, and betrayal: a survivor’s story, was the victim of not only sexual abuse but physical and emotional abuse as well, in addition to being a product of incest. Sandy Wilson’s story began when she was about six years old when her birth father returns home from incarceration, and spans into her late teens. Her father returning home from prison was her first time meeting him, as she was wondered what he looked like after hearing that he would be released (Wilson, 2000, p. 8). Not only was her relationship with her father non-existent, her relationship with her birth mother was as well since she was for most of her young life, cared for by her grandmother and grandfather. When she was told that her birth mother coming to visit she says, “…I wish my mother wouldn’t visit. I never know what to call her so I don’t all her anything. Not her name, Kristen. Not mother. Not anything (Wilson, 2000, p. 4).” This quote essentially demonstrated the relationship between Sandy and her mother as one that is nonexistent even though Sandy recognizes Kristen as her birth mother.
What is child abuse? Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, whether through act or fault to act, causes harm, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. There are many forms of child abuse, including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, mistreatment and emotional abuse. Every year, more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States alone. Those are the only ones that are on record, but how many more cases are there that Child Protected Services aren’t aware of.
Abuse and Neglect. We will also touch upon the basic questions of this report. and that is, "How has child abuse changed over the last 100 years and what? effects has this had on the family?" This brings us to our first research area.
Early American culture did not consider child abuse a crime. Children over the age of 7 were made to work as hard as adults of the time period. They were often beaten if they did not. This changed in the late 19th century when 9 year old Mary Ellen, who endured physical beatings from her foster mother, was reported to the authorities by concerned neighbors who heard Mary’s repeated cries at the hand or switch of her foster mother. In 1874, a mission volunteer named Etta Wheeler was informed of Mary’s cruel life of beatings, imprisonment and cold-hearted servitude. When Etta Wheeler was finally permitted to observe Mary in her living quarters, appalled she began to do everything in her power to get Mary out of her horrid situation. Wheeler convinced the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to intervene and by legal means have Mary removed from the home. Their argument was that “Mary Ellen was a member of the animal kingdom, and thus could be included under the laws which protected animals from human cruelty” (Bell, 2011, p. 3). Out of this advocacy for Young Mary was formed the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The overall effect of young Mary’s abuse was permanent changes in United States law making abuse, violence, and negle...