Child Abuse Research Paper

Recognizing, Preventing, and Recovering from Child Abuse

Child Abuse is an issue that affects all kinds of people worldwide something’s we fail to do is recognized the signs, try to prevent the abuse, and get people the proper help and treatment they need to recover. According to Tollefson (2011) Child abuse generally refers to mistreatment of a child by a parent or another adult. However, there is no standard definition of child abuse. A narrow definition is limited to life-threatening physical violence. Such violence might include severe beatings, burns, and strangulation. A broader definition includes any treatment that may harm a child. No one knows how many instances of child abuse occur each year because many cases of child abuse are never reported. Child abuse takes many forms. It includes physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Another form of child abuse is neglect. Neglect is the failure of a parent or caregiver to provide for the basic needs of a child. It is the most common form of child abuse (Tollefson, 2011). Whether you are the abuser or the victim, both parties need to be treated in order to be able to heal. There are many ways in which someone can recognize abuse exist within a family, but we just fail to see the signs. One must have situational awareness in order to be able to see the signs. There is many ways to recognized sexually abused children. Sexually abused children will sometimes act out sexual, they can become hostile and aggressive, you can start noticing changes in their behavior, and they can become reluctant or fear certain places or people. Some may develop advance sexual knowledge. Physically abused children will often wear clothing that will allow them to hide their injuries, marks or scars. Some may show no distress or little distress when separated from parents. And their alertness for possible danger may become heighten. Besides recognizing children that are being abused, there are also ways to detect and become aware of the offenders too. Some offenders behavior can vary and change, but some of these signs for the sexual abuse offender might be that they are extremely over protective towards their child, may show great parental dominance in the home, could have been a victim themselves when they were a child. They can also see their children seductively and refer to their children in sexual manners. And the most common one is those who like to spent a lot of time with children and inviting children to their home. For offenders that like to physically abuse children some may also have a history of sexual abuse, blame their child for their hardship and misery, constantly emphasizing bad qualities instead of good ones. They will also use harsh discipline or offense not appropriate or accordingly to that Childs age. And the most obvious one will be showing no concern about their child, treatment, injuries, and health. A neglected child is another form of recognizing child abuse. Some signs of neglected child is a chi that is frequently absent from school, will beg or even steal food or money, shows lack of medical care, a child who is dirty and possesses a bad odor, lack of food and clothing. Besides recognizing a neglect child you can also recognize a neglectful parent. A neglectful parent will appeared indifferent of their child, will seem depress or even apathetic, will sometimes behave irrational and may be abusing alcohol or drugs. Abusing alcohol and drug as a neglectful parent can contribute for a child to also abuse and seek refuge in alcohol and drugs. Overall according to Crosson-Tower (2009) Neglect of children is a result of parental failure to meet basic human needs— adequate food, shelter, safety, and affection. Several authors have attempted to define neglect— first by the creation of the Childhood Level of Living Scale, developed by Polansky and col-leagues, and later by the creation of Trocmé’s Child Neglect Index. It is difficult to determine the cause or causes of neglect. Some theorists feel the economic factors should be considered, along with deficits in the personality structure of the parent. Today, many theorists favor an ecological view— that is, the parent within the con-text of the environment. Children who have been neglected demonstrate retarded growth, poor motor and language development, flat affect, indications of malnutrition, unattended medical problems, and an inability to conceptualize. Older children often seek early emancipation and may begin the cycle all over again. Neglectful parents are largely children themselves. Their infantile personalities seem to be largely the result of their own unmet childhood needs. They are isolated, have difficulty maintaining relationships, are verbally inaccessible, and lack the knowledge, judgment, and maturation to adequately parent their children. From their studies of neglectful mothers, Polansky and colleagues identified five types of personalities: the apathetic–futile, the impulse ridden, the woman in reactive depression, the mentally retarded, and the psychotic. Parents may also neglect (or abuse) under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Neglect may also go hand in hand with domestic violence. Knowledge about maltreatment is increasing. We need to strive to understand the large numbers of neglectful families and, by understanding, hope to break the cycle (Crosson-Tower, 2009, p. 92). Now that we can understand and become of aware and are able to recognize abuse we have to be able to prevent the abuse from happening or continuing. We need to understand child prevention and what do to when a child is at risk. Public awareness is a good way to prevent child abuse; getting the pubic involved and feeding them with the right information will educate them and help them understand child abuse and the signs. Another way of prevention is to educate the children. I strongly believe child abuse prevention counseling should be given in every school. It helps us educate these children, help them cope, understand, while also given them options. Educating children so they won’t be susceptible to this behavior and know they have someone they can know there is help out there, to help them not be a victim of child abuse. Child abuse can also be prevented by prevention programs. An example of a child abuse prevention program is CAPP, its mission is to make sure all children have the right to safety in order for them to strive and grow. They teach children to recognize, resist and report physical and sexual abuse. This program has helped over 400,000 New York City school children. Crosson-Tower (2009) states Prevention efforts must also be directed toward families. Parenting education enables parents to perform their roles more effectively and can alleviate some of the stresses unsure parents feel. High-risk parents can be identified by medical, social services, or school personnel and can be offered additional resources. Parent support groups can promote more positive parenting if directed at specific behaviors. Such support, as well as culturally specific information, should be given to immigrant parents to help them understand appropriate and inappropriate child management practices. Parents who educate their children about potential sexual abuse make them less vulnerable to the advances of an abuser. Allied professionals are becoming more aware of the need for prevention, but they need to concentrate on combating child pornography. Engaging teams of professionals and laypeople in prevention efforts should begin to make our communities safer places in which children can grow. But this commitment must be community wide in order to make a significant impact. (Crosson-Tower, 2009, p. 414). Once we recognize and start preventing child abuse the final step is the recovery process and treatments for both the abuser and the victim. In order to properly treat and help families is to provide treatment to the child being abuse and the offender. We must understand that even though we have our own opinions, and cultural beliefs a majority of these offenders were either sexually abused or physically abused some time in their life time. We must also understand it is critical to provide abuse children with the right treatment in order to help them heal and most important preventing them from later on the line becoming an offender themselves. Some ways to help both child and parent recover are counseling to help them deal and aid in the psychological effect. Medical help can also be a good form to aid children who are physically abused, and also to help heal those sexually abuse offender, like men who can get the depo-vera shot in order to minimize and lower their sexual urges. Another way of helping a child recover from abuse is to remove the cild from that environment. Although it can have a great impact on both child and parent, sometimes removing the child from that environment is the best option, some might be looked after by other family members and others will go into foster care. Crosson-Tower (2009)The primary goal with physically abusive parents is to stop the battering. In addition, it is hoped that these parents develop coping skills for the future. Treatment for the child necessitates attention to the medical problem resulting from the abuse, providing a safer environment, and attending to the psychological scars from the abuse. Treatment of the parents necessitates patience and understanding. They must learn to trust the helper and learn to cope with the frustrations of their own lives in order to nurture their children. Such issues as symbiosis, isolation, poor self- concept, and impulse control must be addressed in treatment. The services for abusive parents may include group or individual therapy, marital therapy, the use of homemakers and parent aides, and participation in self- help groups such as Parents Anonymous. Ideally, cases are not closed until the battering has ceased and parents have developed coping mechanisms to deal with their frustrations (Crosson-Tower, 2009, p. 414). Child abuse is a worldwide issues that has been going on for centuries, whether a child is being physically abused or sexual abuse public awareness has to continue in order to help the recognition of abuse, the prevention of abuse, and the recovery phase of abuse. Child abuse is not something that should be taken lightly and be dismissed because child abuse can lead to death. The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) reported an estimated 1,770 child fatalities in 2009. This translates to a rate of 2.34 children per 100,000 children in the general population. NCANDS defines “child fatality” as the death of a child caused by an injury resulting from abuse or neglect, or where abuse or neglect was a contributing factor (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011).

References
Child Welfare Information Gateway (2011). Chils Abuse and Neglect Fatalities 2009: Statistics and Interventions (How Many Children Die Each Year From Child Abuse or Neglect?). Retrieved from http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/fatality.pdf
Crosson-Tower, C. (2009). Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect, Eight Edition. Boston, MA: Ally & Bacon.
Tollefson, Derrik R. "Child abuse." World Book Advanced. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar110710&st=child+abuse

References: Child Welfare Information Gateway (2011). Chils Abuse and Neglect Fatalities 2009: Statistics and Interventions (How Many Children Die Each Year From Child Abuse or Neglect?). Retrieved from http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/fatality.pdf Crosson-Tower, C. (2009). Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect, Eight Edition. Boston, MA: Ally & Bacon. Tollefson, Derrik R. "Child abuse." World Book Advanced. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar110710&st=child+abuse