David Child Abuse

Dave suffered from severe child abuse at the hands of his alcoholic mother. Child abuse is defined by federal law as “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.” (Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act) Child abuse could be considered as an umbrella term with many different categories such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. David was subjected to physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Physical abuse is when “a child has suffered, or is at risk of suffering, non-accidental physical trauma or injury.” (Department of Communities Child Safety and Disability Services) An example of this would

34) This is just one of the many times his mother harmed him physically. She regularly found new and cruel ways to torture him. Emotional abuse can be defined as “when a child's social, emotional, cognitive or intellectual development is impaired or threatened.” (Department of Communities Child Safety and Disability Services) Emotional abuse includes rejection, hostility, teasing/bullying, yelling, and criticism. An example of this in the book would be all the times David’s mother called him a “bad boy” even though it was not clear to David why he was a “bad boy” or when she started referring to him as “it” and “boy” instead of his name. Neglect “occurs when a child's basic necessities of life are not met, and their health and development are affected.” (Department of Communities Child Safety and Disability Services). These necessities include food, health care, adequate clothing, personal hygiene, hygienic living conditions, and timely provisions of medical treatment. David was denied all these things. He was regularly starved and forced to throw up any food he may have stolen and sometimes even forced to eat his own throw

There may be several different forms and severity of abuse however it is still abuse and can be very traumatizing for the child. I especially like the part of Pelzer’s book labeled “Perspectives on child abuse” which brings awareness to child abuse and the fact that it is roughly estimated “one in five children are physically, emotionally, or sexually abused in our country” (p.161) that is a saddening statistic. It makes me feel so helpless knowing there are plenty of children who are sad and alone due to child abuse. This book solidified my decision to become a social worker. I would love to be able to help children like David get out of abusive