Too many children each year are touched by the harmful hands of their abusive parents or superiors. Most of us could hardly imagine what it would be like to have parents who do not love us dearly. Our parents are the people put in our lives who are supposed to keep us from harm, while often the opposite is the case. There are many circumstances that lead to child abuse; there are also many effects of abuse on the child.
What is child abuse? “Child abuse or maltreatment includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, and general, medical, and educational neglect” (Gerdes 19). Abuse will usually happen as a punishment for something the child has done. On most occasions of abuse parents use it to control the way their children act (Pacheco).
Abuse
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Parents who are unable to control themselves or their children see abusive measures as the only way to establish structure in the home. When a pregnancy is unwanted or unplanned, this is usually the problem. The parents were not expecting the responsibilities that come along with family life, and neglect their children as a result (Pacheco). “Even more responsibilities come along with children with chronic illness or disabilities; they a place higher emotional, physical, economic, and social demands on their families” (Gerdes 42). Infants who are handicapped, premature, having feeding problems, or show persistent crying may experience …show more content…
After only being assaulted once, a child experiences the fear and anxiety of it happening again (Gerdes). Paranoia is a very common reaction to neglect. Since paranoia is associated with the anticipation of pain, when a person feels that he/she is at risk they may experience this. “Anyone that has experienced child abuse at one point may display shortages of self-esteem, social capability, and relationships” (Grapes). It has also been proven by the National Child Abuse Association that children have a high tendency to react with bad grades in
Chronic abuse and neglect is a huge part of the foster care system. According to the Children's Rights website, “Nearly 700,000 abused and neglected children will spend time in foster care in the United States this year.” Many children find themselves being looked after by a social worker, and eventually into the arms of a new family. The authors of Foster Care Placement, Poor Parenting, and Negative Outcomes Among Homeless Young Adults state that “More than half a million American youth currently [are] in foster homes due to child abuse and neglect,” (Tyler, Kimberly A., and Lisa A. Melander). This is a very terrifying statistic. It’s hard to think that there are that many children in foster care, let alone that over half a million are in the system because of child abuse and neglect. Some have even dealt with abuse before, during, and after foster care (787). This leads me to my first point; if foster care is so great, why are children still having to deal with abuse once they’ve been placed in foster care? Why are children like Krystal Scurry being raped and killed by those who are supposed to be offering better living conditions (Ambrose, Jeanne). Why are little children like Joshua Lindsey being beaten to death by their foster parents (1)? Who is re...
What is child abuse? Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, cause injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. It happens every day, where a child is being abused. National Football League runner back Adrian Peterson was accused of abusing his 4-year-old son. “Peterson has said he never intended to harm his son and was only disciplining him in the way he had been as a child growing up in East Texas.” No one has the right to tell you how to chastise your child but, there are other ways to go about the situation. You may never mean to harm your children and the way you discipline them may be considered child abuse to others.
What is Abuse? Abuse is not just being hit. Abuse is any action that is harmful or controlling and that affects the well being of another person. Many people use the term "Abuse" to signify physical abuse, but there are many more ways of abusing someone than beating them. Physical abuse is the most horrifying and most noticeable of them all, but it is only one of the many types of abuse. Here are some of the names for different categories of abuse: Physical abuse, Sexual abuse, Psychological and Verbal abuse, Forced confinement, abuse towards pets or property, Financial abuse, and Child abuse. The two abuses that I will be focusing on will be physical and mental abuse.
Child abuse happens when an adult be it a parent, caretaker or a member of the family intentionally hurts a child or an adolescent physically, emotionally, sexually or fails to adequately supply for the material needs of a given child
Child abuse is a social problem that spans the entire world. Child abuse is defined, “When a parent or caregiver, whether through action or
The term child abuse was once as rarely heard as that of pink elephants. However rare the term has once been, it is now a term used consistently throughout the news and various other publications today. Along with the progressing decline in society's morals, has come the rapid increase of crime. One such crime is child abuse. Although child abuse is common, the act is defiling. As a result of the abuse, children who fall victim to this often need psychological treatment and counseling. Often, the child is never the same as he or she once was before. The dictionary defines child abuse as: "the physical, or emotional, or sexual mistreatment of children" (Dictionary.com). Everyday thousands of children are the victims of this abuse. The abusers range from parents, friends, total strangers, to even day-care workers.
“About two-thirds of children admitted to public care have experienced abuse and neglect, and many have potentially been exposed to domestic violence, parental mental illness and substance abuse” (Dregan and Gulliford). These children are being placed into foster care so that they can get away from home abuse, not so they can move closer towards it. The foster children’s varied outcomes of what their adult lives are is because of the different experiences they grew up with in their foster homes. The one-third of those other foster children usually has a better outcome in adult life than the other two-thirds, which is a big problem considering the high percentage of children being abused in their foster homes. Although, the foster care system has most definitely allowed children to experience the positive home atmosphere that they need there is still an existed kind of abusive system in the foster care program that is unofficial but seems to be very popular. Foster care focuses on helping children in need of a temporary stable environment; however, foster care can have negative impacts to the children and the people around them concerning the foster child going through the transition, the parents of the foster child, a new sibling relationship, and problems that arrive later influencing the foster child long-term.
Parenting is not instinctive, it must be learned. While this is often done through experience, education courses for individuals prior to their becoming parents, and close evaluation of questionable homes could enhance parents' knowledge and the childrens' well being. A high percentage of abusive parents have histories of physical and emotional abuse inflicted upon them during their childhood. Thus, they were deprived of parents who taught them how to be good parents. Child abuse scenarios that seem tragic to others are ordinary to parents from abusive backgrounds, and often overlooked. The absence of good parents is detrimental to a child's learning how to fulfill parental roles. The children from abusive households think that an abusive environment is normal, correct, and acceptable. They grow up believing that and emulate that lifestyle.
When a child is born people normally think of that as a positive and wonderful thing happening in a person’s life. It should be a paternal instinct to love and cherish, and protect this little person’s life. Unfortunately sometimes this is not always the case, and those parents mistreat or allow someone else to mistreat their children. There also those parents that it happens to their child that gets neglected or abused without their knowledge. The issue of child abuse and neglect is something that happens every day to children and ruins their childhood and makes a big impact on them for rest of their life.
However, child abuse is still an ongoing issue in all country’s still today. Most people are not aware of exactly what is considered child abuse. Child abuse means doing something that hurts a child. Neglect means not giving or doing something that a child needs. (Child Abuse and Neglect - Topic Overview)
Child abuse is an issue within society that effects the lives of not only the victims but also the lives of many people in the social order. Child abuse is any mistreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental injury or harm and which cannot be logically explained. There are several forms of abuse and neglect and many state governments have developed their own legal description of what constitutes child maltreatment for the purposes of removing a child and prosecuting a criminal charge. Child abuse consists of different forms of harm including physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines child abuse as any act or series of events that results in harm, potential harm, or threatens the child’s safety (Webb, 2007). While many people believe that child maltreatment is simply physical, many other forms of maltreatment occur; sexual abuse, neglect and abandonment are also common forms of abuse. Domestic violence is also included in the definition of child maltreatment.... ... middle of paper ...
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
Child abuse refers to lack of care or any type of emotional, physical or sexual mistreatment that results in emotional damage or physical injury to a child or a youth. In most countries, children are considered to be anyone below 18 years of age. Child abuse can occur directly by harming a child or indirectly by failing to prevent the child from any form of harm or injury. Child abuse can occur either in the family set up, in the community set up or in an institution such as a school. Also, children can be abused by adults or by other children or by people who know them or people who are complete strangers to them.
Child abuse is a very serious problem that continues to happen all over the world. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, defines child abuse as a failure to act as a parent or caregiver which results in physical/emotional harm, sexual abuse, and in some cases death. There are many different types of child abuse such as emotional, physical, neglect, and sexual. With each type of abuse there are warning signs you can spot before it is too late. When a child is abused there is a huge possibility that it can cause them to have many long term effects.