Introduction
‘Who Owns Child Abuse?’ is a piece of literature drafted by Dr. Gerald Cradock. The article touches on child abuse in terms of how the meaning has changed over time. Cradock compares the nineteenth and twentieth centuries’ ideologies on the origins of the child abuser. The two centuries convey a distinct approach to differentiating between the abusers and the non-abusers. My perspective on the statements Cradock discusses is generally in agreement. I understand that people’s points of view change over time. There is a fundamental core of an ideology, but there is never constancy in the components that follow.
Summary
Cradock’s viewpoint on this topic comes from the symbolic interactionism perspective. We live in a symbolic world
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More specifically, it is a highly constructionist position that he takes on the topic. Cradock’s constructionist explanation regarding how child abusers are categorized goes beyond mere physical abuse. He emphasizes that there is no fixed interpretation of what child abuse consists of. In the past, people thought of child abuse is anything that can be seen or heard, completely ignoring the monumental sociological and psychological forms of the issue. This is one of the most important statements in the article. I agree with him in regards to the mistake of child abuse being a fixed ideology. If it were decided that it is to be seen as only a set of elements that constitute the problem, this would only make the issue more problematic. Cradock argues that if child abuse were a fixed property, then it could be eliminated by establishing guidelines to repair the complication. Shifting to my perspective, I think that child abuse needs to have an open-minded approach, rather than fixed. Having an unprejudiced view gives the ideology flexibility to change over …show more content…
The purpose of the article was presented clearly and in a method that catches the reader’s interest in the topic immediately. Although the author uses a constructionist approach to his findings, it would have been more effective if there was some form of statistical proof provided to back up his explanation on orphanages in North America and Europe. Stating that there were thousands of children being put in orphanages in Britain forces the reader to assume a number ranging from, 10,000 to possibly 100,000 children. Consequently, the connection the reader is meant to develop with the material is not
Parameswari, B. (2015). Domestic Violence and Child Abuse. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 20(2), 56-59. Retrieved from http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol20-issue2/Version-3/I020235659.pdf
deMause, Lloyd . "The History of Child Abuse." The History of Child Abuse. N.p., 25 Sept. 1997. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. .
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
Giovannoni, J. M., & Becerra, R. M. Defining child abuse. New York: Free Press, 1996.
Magnuson, Ed. “Child Abuse: The Ultimate Betrayal.” TIME for Kids. 05 Sep. 1983:7. 6 May 2011. Web.
Child abuse is an issue in every state, every country, worldwide. There is no place that is immune to child abuse. This being stated they need better policies in place regarding the education on child abuse. Many people have many different opinions on how to lessen the amount of child abuse that goes on in this country, however many of them focus on stricter punishment for the abuser’s (Hmurovich, 2009). However, they know that stricter punishment will not lessen the amount of child abuse; it would truly have little to no impact on...
Since the case of Mary Ellen Wilson in 1874, child abuse has seen it’s share of light in published news. It is disheartening to read countless stories of future generations being harmed to the extent of psychological damage or even death. Child abuse as a whole has been addressed multiple times in various news blogs, however, nothing has been done to work towards abolishing it at a larger level. The future of America is in jeopardy based on the level of abuse that children endure. Childhelp states that approximately 5 children die every day at the hands of child abuse. America struggles to find equality, and by bystanding the stripping of its youth, continual prolonging is inevitable. Raising this nation’s children in means of nurturing and care is the first step to uplifting America as a whole. In 2012 alone, 1593 of America’s children died at the hands of child abuse, 70.3% of which were younger than the age of three (Safe Horizon). In order to prevent further child abuse, the American government should address stricter child protection laws, psychological stability, and an increase the recognition of those that have released their stories.
Psychological maltreatment, like many other forms of abuse can also be passed down through intergenerational transmission. It is not unlikely for parents to psychologically mistreat their children due to their own past or childhood experiences with psychologically abuse. For example, it is not uncommon during the course of an investigation of physiological maltreatment that it is discovered that the perpetrator had their own form of abuse history in the past. Often time’s people look at psychological maltreatment as a consequence resulting from some other form of abuse, mainly physical and sexual, but tend to overlook the fact that it may also occur as an individual form. Psychological maltreatment can take more than one form. During the course of researching for this paper I learned that there are three typical forms of behavior in which people follow when displaying this type of abuse against children. The three types are acting in an aggressive, rejecting, and lessening
A very common fate of orphans was adoption. They were often taken in by relatives or neighbors, and even, on occasion, strangers wishing to raise them as their own children. In England, there were no laws concerning adoption until the 1920s, so most adoption was informal. Children who were adopted by their own social class were usually treated fairly and equally… however, if they were adopted by a family whose status was above and beyond their original class, they were frequently mistreated and neglected. Children of different social classes were not encouraged to fraternize, so if an orphan was taken into a household where higher class children lived, they could be forbidden to even speak to them (Czarnik).
Debatably, child maltreatment can be viewed as a human rights violation that is caused by various factors involving the individua...
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).
Did you know that in 2011, nearly five children died every day in America from child abuse and neglect? In this research paper I will discuss what is child abuse and neglect. Then, we will discover why some parents choose to abuse their children. Next, I will dive into a discussion about the long term effects of child abuse. Finally, we will explore what age groups are affected by abuse.
When thinking about statistics on child abuse, it’s very helpful to know that the idea of “child abuse” is very controversial. Recently, in particular homes and cultures, child abuse has come to be seen as a major social problem and a main cause of many people’s suffering and personal problems. Some believe that we are beginning to face the true prevalence and significance of child abuse. There is more to child abuse than just the physical scars; children are affected socially, mentally, and emotionally. According to the American National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, in 1997, neglect represented 54% of confirmed cases of child abuse, physical abuse 22%, sexual abuse 8%, emotional maltreatment 4%, and other forms of maltreatment 12%.
The effects of child abuse are multiple. The pain and trauma the abused child goes through is just a small part of how this cauldron of hidden depravity in our society affects all of us. Wrecked lives can be seen in persons of all ages and in all walks of life. Society as a whole is also effected by child abuse both in negative and positive ways. In this essay I will present some of the factor and results of this violent behavior on individuals as well as our culture.
...al ways which can last for a lifetime. Effects of child abuse such as psychological and physical issues may become permanently harmful to a child’s body increasing the amount of suffering that the child has to endure. Poor communication abilities and the lack of trust of a sexually abused child prevents him or her from maintaining healthy social relationships and limits the child’s potential to thrive. Abuse in children must be ceased to ensure delightful childhoods for many young individuals who will represent our future. With support, these children can be obstructed from becoming criminals who may imperil our future and instead be guided positively which can cause our future to grow with prosperity. People can help minimize the numbers of daily occurrences of child abuse in this world by paying attention and taking action to save the lives of many young children.