Discussing specific causes of child abuse is difficult as the definition of child maltreatment is interpreted differently by various agencies and socially accepted cultural norms. Child maltreatment can happen at every level growth with varying levels of consequence as time goes on. Certain risk factors may indicate a higher likely hood of aggression or violence that may get perpetuated onto future generations, while protective factors may mitigate or reduce the amount of future maltreat against children. The long term effects of maltreated children go beyond only physical violence and its perpetuation, but also the psychological consequences of abuse like depression or anxiety in adults. Authors Denise Hines, Kathleen Malley-Morrison, and Leila Dutton (2013) explain the complexities of understanding how physical maltreatment can affect children and how agencies such as the Child Protection Agency are stretched too thin to combat child abuse effectively.
Risk factors that have been
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Young parents face many challenges to raise healthy children, when children are abused it may create a circle of violence that is not easily broken. Access to prenatal care for lower socio economic families can enlighten parents and families about the risks some life style choices may have, for example substance abuse. The kind of effects teratogens have on fetuses, like fetal alcohol syndrome, may limit the kind of development children have to grow in an already challenging environment and frustrate already stressed families beyond their level of resources into long term consequences which may compromise their “financial, social, emotional, marital and behavioral functioning” (Hines, et al., p. 49). These problems are not limited young parents but everyone affected by psychological and physical maltreatment as children. Institutionalized violence like spanking send mixed messages to parents about effective problem solving
Elrod and Ryder (2011) state that child physical abuse is rather more specific than any other kind of “discipline”. There is a difference between spanking and child physical abuse, and that child physical abuse is more of a degree, not kind. There is no specific estimate of the exact role that child abuse and neglect plays in the United States, however, it is certain that there is a significant social problem in this area. Elrod and Ryder (2011) state that even mild forms of violence against children may encourage aggression and that physical abuse is strongly related to a variety of childhood adjustment problems. One of the major areas of childhood adjustment problems lies within the area of violent juvenile crime. Child physical abuse, aside from having physical injuries, affects the mental state of a c...
The primary community resources that could be utilized to help individuals involved in child abuse cases are individual and family counseling, substance abuse treatment, anger management, and parenting classes (Wallace & Roberson, 2014, p. 230). Individual counseling would be offered to help the parent or caregiver work on personal development as it relates to self-exploration and functional behavior. Family counseling would be offered to help build and strengthen family ties. Furthermore, it would be offered to help the family resolve conflicts and improve communication issues. Often in cases of child abuse and neglect, substance abuse is a contributing factor (Wallace & Roberson, 2014, p. 230). Therefore, in cases where substances are being abused, inpatient or outpatient services would be provided. Abusers are typically unable to express their emotions verbally and resort to violence as a way of articulating their feelings (Wallace & Roberson, 2014, p. 230). As a result, anger management would also be an appropriate resource to help abusers learn strategies to channel their anger effectively. Another factor in child abuse cases is parent’s and caregiver’s lack of parenting skills (Hirschy & Wilkinson, 2010, p. 96). Offering this resource is an effective way to provide parents and caregivers methods to care for children properly. In addition, parenting
Child abuse can come in many shapes in forms. There are four different kinds of abuse that I will be encountering in my research paper; they are physical, mental, emotional, and neglect. Most abuse is from neglect and net from physical. The category under physical also brings in the sexual abuse. (Do Something) Drug addicted babies also can qualify under the category of emotional and mental category. Two of the main questions in this paper are what is child abuse and what are drug addicted babies lives like. It turns out that babies lives do get affected majorly after the age of four, we’ll learn more about that later though. (Kronstadt, 2013)
There are even extreme cases where children develop psychopathic disorders or tendencies. Children who are abandoned and maltreated are essentially calloused to life. They do not feel empathy, guilt, and they do not understand right from wrong. Some children kill animals, speak of killing their friends or families, hurt others and or hurt themselves. These children are often depressed, egotistic, entitled, angry, resentful, fearful and have a lack of sense of belonging. These children do not trust and are not trusted because of their actions and psychopathic thoughts. But, does this mean that we should give up on these children and just lock them away? I looked for the answers in real life cases. Mostly these children can be helped and they can go on to live some sort of a normal life. On the other hand, some can turn out to be
A silent epidemic in America is the all too common childhood exposure to interpersonal traumatic stressors (D’Andrea, Ford, Stolbach, Spinazzola, & van der Kolk, 2012). Approximately 6.6 million children were reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) in 2014 with alleged abuse or neglect (ACF, 2014). Parents are the culprit of eighty percent of all children who endure maltreatment (van der Kolk, 2005). According to Fratto (2016), maltreatment is abuse and/ or neglect by a parent or caregiver. Children who have been exposed to emotional and physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, or witness to war can affect the development of a secure attachment between the child and caregiver (Cook et al., 2005). Evidence shows children
The early childhood years are a period of rapid change in the brain, this leaves children exceptionally vulnerable to psychological abuse. Psychological abuse includes rejecting, ignoring, criticizing, belittling, humiliating, threatening with violence, or otherwise terrorizing the child, all of which have the effect of eroding the child's self-esteem and sense of security. Psychological abuse can come as a result of actions that do not specifically target the child. Studies show that children who have experienced domestic violence are more anxious and insecure then those who do not. Children who observe violence react with many of the same psychological symptoms as children who have experienced it directly. Psychological abuse is often accompanied by other forms of abuse. It is difficult to prove, however, and rarely is
Maltreated children have impaired cognitive, behavioral, and social development. The severity of impairment varies on the child’s age during maltreatment, the subtype of maltreatment, and continuous maltreatment through multiple developmental stages (Cowell, Cicchetti, Rogosch, & Toth, 2015). The study done by Alink, Cicchetti, Kim, and Rogosch (2012) focused on the effects on social functioning and the hypothalamic-pituitary -adrenocortical (HPA) axis of maltreated children (Alink et al., 2012). The data was gathered from 125 maltreated children and 111 nonmaltreated children, who attended a week long summer camp for two consecutive years (Alink et al., 2012). The researchers measured social functioning through counselor and peer evaluations.
“Domestic violence is a violent confrontation between family or household members involving physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm” (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). In most places, domestic violence is looked at as one of the higher priorities when trying to stop crime. Domestic violence cases are thought to be influenced by the use of alcohol, drugs, stress or anger, but in reality, they are just learned behaviors by the batterer. These habits can be stopped as long as one seeks help (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). For instance, a child is brought up in a household that is constantly involved in criminal acts.
Child maltreatment can affect any child, usually aged 0-18, and it occurs across socioeconomic, religious, ethnic or even educational backgrounds. Arguably, child abuse and neglect is a violation of basic human rights of a child resulting from social, familial, psychological and economic factors (Kiran, 2011). Familial factors include lack of support, poverty, single parenthood, and domestic violence among others, (McCoy and Keen, 2009). The common types of child maltreatment include physical abuse, emotional maltreatment, neglect, and sexual abuse among others. Abuse and neglect can lead to a variety of impacts on children and young people such as physical, behavioral as well as psychological consequences which will affect the development and growth of the child either positively or negatively based on the environment and agency. More so, emotional, cognitive and physical developmental impacts from child neglect in the early stages of childhood can be carried on into adulthood. Research findings reveal that the experience of maltreatment can cause major long-term consequences on all aspects of a child’s health, growth as well as intellectual development and mental wellbeing, and these effects can impair their functioning as adults. Commonly, the act of abuse/ or neglect toward a child affects the child’s physical, behavioral development and growth, which can be positive or negative, depending on the child’s environment and agency. Another way to understand how the act has affected the child is to look at the child for who they are, and interviewing and observing their behaviors of their everyday life.
Child abuse is a social problem in America that has many contributed factors. Factors that contribute to child abuse and neglect includes poverty, divorce, substance use, lack of education, stress due to unemployment, mental health issues, teenage parent, and a history of child abuse in the family. It took decades for physicians to conclude that parents have been violently assaulting their children. Child abuse, child labor, juvenile delinquency, and similar social questions historically were ethical and moral problems, not strictly medical ones. (Helfer, Kempe, & Krugman, 1997). In 1962, the Journal of American Medical Association published “The Battered-Child Syndrome.” The article transformed society’s views and dates the rediscovery of child abuse as a social problem. Following this article, the U.S. Children’s Bureau adopted the first laws mandating physicians to report any suspicions of abuse and neglect to the police or child welfare. By 1974, some 60,000 cases were reported. In 1980, the number exceeded one million (Myers J. E., 2004).
Child abuse is a problem that affects the well-being of children, and it is something that can be avoided with the proper detection and implementation of interventions (Sanders Jordan & Hatfield Steelman, 2015). Harris discussed bruises and disclosed that detected abuse is relevant to a nurse working with families because they can assess for signs such as suspicious bruising, areas in which this occur include the back, genitals, abdomen, cheeks, and neck (2015). The abuse they experience can result in them obtaining the most mental health problem, compared to other children who do not encounter abuse (Ben-David, 2016). Caneira, & Myrick discussed in their journal that child abuse is important to detect as soon as possible because it can go on to affect them later in life, this is the case with pregnant women who experience post traumatic stress disorder from childhood abuse and end up resulting in adverse perinatal outcomes due to bad self care behaviours (2015). Using screening techniques will reduce the amount of children who experience abuse and go unrecognized. Using these techniques, addition resources, and establishing a therapeutic relationship with the patients, will help in minimizing the amount of child abuse (Caneira, & Myrick, 2015). Child abuse is relevant to health care professionals working with families and should be routinely assessed to minimize the
Child maltreatment is a widespread issue that affects thousands of children every year. There are four common types of child maltreatment; sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. All of these types of abuse are very serious and can have many consequences for the children and families. The most common consequence of severe child maltreatment is the removal of that child from their home (Benbenishty, Segev, Surkis, and Elias, 2002). Most social workers trying to determine the likelihood of removal evaluate the type and severity of abuse, as well as the child’s relationship with their parents (Benbenishty et al., 2002). When children are removed from their homes there are many options of alternative housing. The places they are allowed to live are a relative’s home, foster home, or a group home. In a study of children removed from their homes, 68% went to a foster home rather than a relative or another form of alternative housing (Faller, 1991). Reunification with a parent is the most common goal that is set forth by Child Protective Services even though recurrent abuse is likely to happen based upon the prior type of abuse and the age of the child (Connell et al., 2009). Child maltreatment is becoming a prevalent problem that has numerous consequences for both the child and family.
When the topic of abuse comes up, many different forms of abuse pop into individuals heads. Whether its Physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse or even drug abuse, the list just keeps going. Now take all those different forms abuse and imagine them happening in a family. A father physically abusing his children, a mother verbally berating her daughter about her body image, a child growing up in fear. According to the research by David Wolfe in the Journal of Consulting and clinical Psychology, that the number of children that have suffered a physical injury due to physical abuse is between 1.4 and 1.9 million annually. With such a high number of physical abuse happening to children, one can imagine how high the number of all the
Domestic abuse and child abuse have widespread social and emotional costs. Family violence affects all segments of the family. The impact of violence on childrens' lives appears to be far more substantial than the impact on adults lives(Family, Pg. 1). In most cases of family violence the family has conformed to a pattern in which the line of family violence started generations ago. This pattern must be broken before more children growup and live in a family that resorts to violence. But there are also children who live in loving families who do not resort to violence and as these children mature they start resorting to violence to help solve and deal with their problems. Studies show that physical punishment could cause aggression in children, but other studies show that even abusive parental violence does not always lead to an increase in children's aggression. Only by recognizing and addressing the multifactorial roots of violence in our society can we move closer to living in peace.
One of the most obvious and damaging results of child abuse is death; however, research illustrating the effects on a growing child who has been abused has demonstrated many other lifelong negative factors (Felitti, Anda, Nordenberg, Williamson, Spitz, Edwards, Koss, Marks, 1998). In consonance children who suffer from abuse can show signs of depression, social withdraw, and even violent behavior. As a child grows older, they may suffer from poor physical health, such as high blood pressure, obesity, stress, and psychological disorders and disabilities (Herronkohl, T., Hong, Klika, and Herronkohl, R., 2013). Child abuse and neglect have also been associated with depression, anger disorders, and post-traumatic