Child Abuse Child abuse is any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act of failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2012a) (Olson, Defrain, & Skogrand, 2014, p. 437). Abuse can happen to anyone at any time, even children of all ages. The abuse can be given by anyone. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nearly 1,500 children died from abuse or neglect in 2003, in the latest year for which reasonably reliable statistics are available (March 2006) (Dudley, 2008). That is four children every day and that estimated number is probably low …show more content…
Children that are abused can range from the ages of one day old to the age of 18 (Dudley, 2008). Whenever I hear or read an article about child abuse, I always picture a man hurting a child in the cruelest manners that anyone can think of. However women between the ages of 20- 39, usually their mothers, are the abusers (Dudley, 2008). According to Dudley, A 1996 study showed that nearly 80 percent of fatal maltreatment cases were attributed to women (Dudley, 2008, p. 23). Siblings may also abuse each other. The most violent person in the household may be the children (Olson, Defrain, & Skogrand, 2014). Sibling abuse can physical, emotional, or sexual of one sibling or another (Olson, Defrain, & Skogrand, 2014). All siblings argue with each other and play games with each other like doctor but there is a difference between normal sibling behavior and sibling abuse (Olson, Defrain, & Skogrand, 2014). Some signs are if one child is always the aggressor and the other the victim, one child avoids the other, a child has sleep pattern changes, the child’s eating habits change, have nightmares, acts the abuse out play, acts sexual abuse inappropriate ways, children’s roles are rigid and roughness or violence between siblings is increasing over time (Olson, Defrain, & Skogrand, …show more content…
Bills have been across many senators desks since 2006 and some have been voted down (Dudley, 2008). Monitoring is set up to watch activity during school hours (Dudley, 2008). When a sex offender is caught, he or she is imprisoned and can have psychotherapy and seek spiritual healing (Dudley, 2008). However, some people believe that child molesters should be executed (Dudley, 2008). Of course there is psychotherapy for the victim or victims as well. If the victims were abused by their parents or guardian, the victim may be placed into another home where it is safe (Dudley,
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Show MoreChild 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.
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
Child abuse is a serious crime, that if violated can come with many consequences, and rules. Reporting child abuse is a mandatory law enacted in 1978 (but amended many times) stating that people must report child abuse immediately1. This law was created to identify children that are victims of child abuse. Relating to the law the Department of Human Services has responsibility to access and investigate suspected child abuse. "Each year Department of Human Services investigators conduct 20,000 investigations involving 30,000 children (in the state of California).2" There are a lot of cases reported each year, involving innocent children, abused by their parents. Although there are thousands of cases reported each year, thousands go unreported. "Child abuse has serious consequences which may remain as indelible pain throughout the victims lifetime3" Child abuse can have permanent negative affects on the child, permanent affects that the child will never forget. The abuse can also bring a better side to the child, making the child wanting to be more independent. Child abuse is very common, and can affect any child of any race, color or religion.
Child abuse can be Physical, Sexual, Emotional, and Physiological Abuse. Child abuse is not only just about abuse but neglect as well. The difference between abuse and neglect is, that abuse is the maltreatment of someone and neglect is failure to give the proper care to a person (Jilani, 2010). Neglect has different types as well, such as Educational, Emotional, and Physical Neglect. Every place in the world has some types of statistics on Child Abuse and Neglect. For example, “The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations – losing on average between four and seven children every day to child abuse and neglect (Childhelp, n.d.).” The fact that so many young lives are lost before they even get to begin is
Family violence encompasses child abuse, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse. Each of these forms of abuse can include psychological, physical, and sexual components (Fife, 2012). Family violence is not discriminate towards one type of individual; instead it crosses all socioeconomic, demographic, educational, and religious boundaries.
To date in HN370: Child Welfare and Family, we have discussed family dynamics and culture. We have dug deeper into the social problem of poverty by defining it and discussing characteristics of poor children, why children live in poverty, the consequences of growing up in poverty and the correlation between homelessness and being poor. We have delved into substance abuse, paying special attention to both addicted parents and children. We have examined the affects of violence in the home, by peers and in schools, as well as the epidemic of bullying.
It has been found that sibling physical abuse occurs much more frequently than abuse by parents. Sibling abuse is defined as the physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse from one sibling to the other. It is estimated that 53% of children physically abuse a sibling each year. Older siblings are much more likely to abuse the younger siblings, especially older male siblings, while younger female siblings are most likely to be victims of sibling abuse. Sibling abuse often goes undetected or slips under the radar because parents think it’s normal, or choose not to take action. A parent’s reaction is vital in sibling abuse, as it gives a chance for remediation and healing for both the perpetrator and the victim.
Research has proven that the statistics of child abuse have risen worldwide. In the United States alone they were over 1,000 child fatalities due to child abuse in 2002(Child). In 2004, The US Department of Health and Human Services estimate that 872,000 children were determined US victims of child abuse. Approximately 17.5 percent of the maltreatment victims were physically abused(Hmurovich). Every year, there are approximately three million children that are involved in cases of child abuse. Of that, about twenty-five percent are just cases of physical abuse(Lansford). The number of abused or neglected children that are killed each year went from 798 in 1985 to 1,185 in 1996(Bean Child). Child abuse is one of the five leading cause of childhood death in the United States. Although there are so many reported cases of abuse, no one will ever know with certainty how many children have or are being abused(Mankiller). Every year, child-protection agencies receive three million referrals of child abuse or neglect involving six million children. The majority of children abused are younger tha...
I am a 15 year old student from Waukon High School in Iowa, and I wanted to talk to you about child abuse. I think that child abuse is a terrible thing, and the people that do it should be sent away for a long time. The people that do it are terrible people because they abuse children that did not do anything to them. They should never gain their right to see their children, or be able to go near any children, and be with them by themselves, or with anybody else that wants to hurt children. The people that hurt the innocent children should be questioned and accounted guilty for child abuse. They could not be ruder and treat the children with more disrespect than they already do.
Childhood maltreatment is defined as emotional or physical maltreatment and sexual abuse that has the potential to cause harm to a child (The relation) while childhood adversity refers to physical or emotional acts that may be potentially harmful to a child’s development (Relationship). Both have similar effects in that they have been found to increase the risk of the development of a psychotic disorder and psychotic symptoms in adults. Childhood maltreatment has been proven to increase the risk of developing depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia in adults. The studies observed in this paper will help to understand if childhood maltreatment and adversity has any effect on the social functioning of people diagnosed with psychotic disorders,
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.
To understand how to prevent child sexual abuse, one must begin by understanding what child sex abuse is. When a perpetrator intentionally harms a child physically, psychologically, sexually, or by acts of neglect, this crime is known as child abuse. Child sex abuse consists of any sexual activity that includes a minor. A child cannot consent to any form of sexual activity. More importantly, when a perpetrator engages with a child this way, they are committing a crime that can have lasting effects on the victim for years. Moreover, child sexual abuse does not need to include physical contact between a perpetrator and child, some forms include but not limited to; fondling, intercourse, sex trafficking, exposing oneself to a minor, masturbation
In addition, single parents are at risk to abuse children along with substance abuse (Gosselin, 2014). Also, poor parent-child relationships and disabilities increase a caregiver’s risk to abuse (Gosselin, 2014). Abusers usually will manipulate the child into keeping child abuse a secret from others (Gosselin, 2014). There are many reasons to why the child will feel helpless to tell on the abuser including embarrassment, no one will believe them, and threats were made towards the child if they did open (Gosselin, 2014). Children under the age of one are at the highest risk of abuse (Gosselin, 2014). A study showed that 74% of child abuse was figured out by symptoms such as sexually acting out, anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem, and self-harming behaviors leading to suicide (Ho, Gross, & Bettencourt, 2017). This shows that emotional abuse is a higher risk than physical damage done to the
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.
A study was done by David G. Gil, author of Violence Against Children: Physical Child Abuse in the United States and Journal of Marriage and Family, conducted a study about the types of child that was abused. His findings indicated that children of all ages are abused. He also found that abused children are more likely to come from single-parent homes or from large families. Income, occupation, and education are all factors that indicate the higher rates of abuse. Most children in his sample were abused by their mothers, and fewer than half the abused children in his sample were living with their bi...