Essays

Child Abuse, intentional acts that result in physical or emotional harm to children. The term child abuse covers a wide range of behaviour, from actual physical assault by parents or other adult caretakers to neglect of a child's basic needs. Child abuse is also sometimes called child maltreatment.

Although the extent of child abuse is difficult to measure, it is recognized as a major social problem, especially in industrialized nations. It occurs in all income, racial, religious and ethnic groups and in urban and rural communities.  is, however, more common in some groups, especially those below the poverty line. Cultures around the world have different standards in deciding what constitutes child abuse. In Sweden, for example, the law prohibits any physical punishment of children, including spanking. By contrast, in some countries of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, parents are expected to punish their children by hitting them.

There are several different types of child abuse and some children experience more than one form. Physical abuse includes deliberate acts of violence that injure or even kill a child. Unexplained bruises, broken bones or burn marks on a child may be signs of physical abuse. Sexual abuse occurs when adults use children for sexual gratification or expose them to sexual activities. Sexual abuse may begin with kissing or fondling and progress to more intrusive sexual acts. Emotional abuse destroys a child's self-esteem. Such abuse commonly includes repeated verbal abuse of a child in the form of shouting, threats and degrading or humiliating criticism. Other types of emotional abuse are confinement, such as shutting a child in a dark closet and social isolation, such as denying a child friends.

The most common form of child abuse is neglect. Physical neglect involves a parent's failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter or medical care to a child. It may also include inadequate supervision and a consistent failure to protect a child from hazards or danger. Emotional neglect occurs when a parent or caretaker fails to meet a child's

basic needs for affection and comfort. Examples of emotional neglect include behaving in a cold, distant and unaffectionate way toward a child, allowing a child to witness chronic or severe spousal abuse, allowing a child to use alcohol or drugs and encouraging a child to engage in delinquent behavior. Another form of neglect involves failing to meet a child's basic education needs, either by' failing to enrol a child in school or by permitting a child to skip school frequently.                                 

Many researchers believe that statistics based on official reports do not accurately reflect the prevalence of child abuse. Definitions of maltreatment vary from state to state and among agencies, making the statistics unreliable. Professionals who interact with children—such as teachers, day-care workers, paediatricians and police officers- may fail to recognize or report abuse. In addition, acts of abuse usually occur in the privacy of a family's home and often go unreported.

It has been estimated that 2000 children under the age of 18 are killed by parents or caretakers each year. Annually, more children under the age of four die from abuse and neglect than from falls, choking on food, drowning, fires or motor vehicle accidents. More than 18,000 children suffer permanent disabilities from abuse or neglect annually. Many people have difficulty understanding why any person would hurt a child. The public often assumes that people who abuse their children suffer from mental disorders, but fewer than 10 per cent of abusers have mental illnesses.

Most abusers love their children but tend to have less patience and less mature personalities than other parents. These traits make it difficult to cope with the demands of their children and increase the likelihood of physical or emotional abuse.

However, there is no single explanation for child maltreatment. Child abuse results from a complex combination of personal, social and cultural factors. These may be grouped into four primary categories:

(1) Intergenerational transmission of violence,

(2) social stress,

(3) social isolation and low community involvement and

(4) family structure,

Intergenerational transmission of violence: Many children learn violent behaviour from their parents and then grow up to abuse their own children. Thus, the abusive behavior is transmitted across generations. Studies show that some 30 per cent of abused children become abusive parents whereas only 2 to 3 per cent of all individuals become' abusive parents. Children who experience abuse and violence may adopt this behaviour as a model for their own parenting.                                          

However, the majority of abused children do not become abusive adults. Some experts believe that an important predictor of later abuse is whether the child realizes that the behaviour was wrong. Children who believe they behaved badly and deserved the abuse become abusive parents more often than children who believe their parents were wrong to abuse them.                           

Social stress: Stress brought on by a variety of social' conditions raises the risk of child abuse within a family. These conditions include unemployment, illness, poor housing conditions, a larger-than-average family size, and the presence of a new baby or a disabled person in the home and the death of a family member. A large majority of reported cases of child abuse come from families living; in poverty. Child abuse also occurs in middle-class and; wealthy families, but it is better reported among the poor for several reasons. Wealthier families have an easier time hiding abuse because they have less contact with social agent than poor families. In addition, social workers, physicians and others who report abuse subjectively label children from poor families as victims of abuse more often than children from rich families.

Alcohol and drug use, common among abusive parents, may aggravate stress and stimulate violent behavior. Certain aggravate strees and stimulate violent behavior. Certain characteristics of children, such as mental retardation or physical or developmental disabilities can also increase the stress of parenting and the risk of abuse.

Social isolation and low community involvement: Parents and caretakers who abuse children tend to be socially isolated. Few violent parents belong to any community organizations and most have little contact with friends or relatives. This lack of social involvement deprives abusive parents of support systems that would help them deal better with social or family stress. Moreover, the lack of community contacts makes these parents less likely to change their behavior to conform with community values and standards.

Cultural factors often determine the amount of community support a family receives. In cultures with low rates of child abuse, childcare is usually considered the responsibility of the community That is, neighbours, relatives and friends help with childcare when the parents are unwilling or unable. Parents often shoulder child-care demands by themselves, which may result in a higher risk of stress and child abuse.

Family structure: Certain types of families have an increased risk of child abuse and neglect. For example, single parents are more likely to abuse their children than married parents. However, single-parent families usually earn less money than other families, so this may account for the increased risk of abuse. Families with chronic marital discord or spousal abuse have higher rates of child abuse than families without these problems. In addition, families in which either the husband or wife dominates in making important decisions—such as where to live, what jobs to take, when to have children and how much money to spend on food and housing—have higher rates of child abuse than families in which parents share responsibility for these decisions.

Effects on children: The consequences of child abuse and neglect can be devastating and far-reaching. Physical injuries can range from bruises, scrapes and burns to brain damage, permanent disabilities and death. The psychological effects of abuse and neglect can last a lifetime and may include a lowered sense of self-worth, an inability to relate to peers, reduced attention span and learning disorders. In severe cases, abuse may result in psychiatric disorders like depression, excessive anxiety or dissociative identity disorder, as well as an increased risk of suicide. Behaviour problems often develop after abuse, including violence and juvenile crime.

Long-term effects in children who are sexually abused may include depression, low self-esteem and sexual problems, such as avoidance of sexual contact, confusion about sexuality or involvement in prostitution. Despite being abused, the majority of maltreated children do not show signs of extreme disturbance and many can cope with their problems. A number of factors help insulate children from the effects of maltreatment. These include high intelligence, good scholastic achievement, good temperament and having close personal relationships. Protecting children: Since the 1960s efforts to ensure that abused children are identified have increased greatly worldwide. As a result, the number of children reported as abused or neglected has increased substantially Child-welfare workers who confirm that a child has been abused or neglected usually have two options. These are

(1) separate the child from the parents and place him or her with a relative, foster home or state institution or

(2) keep the child with the parents and provide the family with social support, such as counselling, food stamps and child- care services. Child-welfare agencies work to avoid out- of-home placements and to reunify children in foster care with their biological parents.

The decision to separate one or more children from an abusive parent or parents must be weighed against the risks. The children may not understand why they are being removed from their home. Children may not realize they are being abused or neglected, so the removal might seem like another instance of them doing something wrong and being punished. Also, child-welfare agencies often have difficulty finding suitable placement for abused children because such children frequently require special care. If they become a burden for any foster parent or institution, the risk of abuse might actually be greater than in the home of the biological parents.

There are also risks to keeping children in abusive homes. The support services may not resolve the problems that led to the abuse and the child may be abused again or killed. Of children killed by parents or caretakers, from 30 to 50 per cent have been previously identified by child-welfare agencies and either left in their home or returned home after a short-term removal.

However, many prevention and treatment programmes may not reduce the incidence of child abuse significantly. Studies indicate that the more intervention services a family receives, the more abuse occurs in the family. Intensive Family preservation programmes, for example, provide short-term relief, but they do not seem to reduce placement of children in foster homes or lower the risk of maltreatment.