Explain The Factors That Would Lead To Suspicion Of Child Maltreatment Or Abuse
In this assignment, I will be explaining the factors that would lead to suspicion of child maltreatment or abuse.
It is important that everyone working with children and young people are prioritising child protection. Children and young people may get bruises and minor injures during playing, so it is important to listen to children and take note of their body languages and general behaviors and appearance.
Type of maltreatment
There are many different type of maltreatment such as physical abuse, intellectual, emotional, sexual, bullying, harassment and neglect.
Physical
Sign of physical maltreatment would include hitting, nipping, burning and any kind of inflicting physical harm. Therefore, in order to protect children early years …show more content…
worker must be able to recognise these signs of abuse and take action towards it.
Bruising can be caused when children are punched and beaten several times, this can also cause fractures, damage to tissues, organs and even death. Bruising can lead to soreness, children tend to experience soreness and tenderness but if this is persistent then it may need attention as it could be a form of abuse.
Burns can be identified by looking out for small round burns, this is usually caused of lit cigarette or something similar. Also, hands and feet may be put into extremely hot water as a form of punishments. Burns are extremely painful and prone to infections, thus it would require medical attention immediately.
Children can get infections occasionally, but if a child is continue ill and had regular infections when they may not racings the care, attentions or nutrient that they need in order to build a strong immune system, this could be physical signs of neglect. Non- accidental injuries may occur because of stress and strain in the families situation, but some things children can be beaten and ill treated and parents would not have an explain to it, and early care workers would need to be alert.
Since birth children are weighed and this would continue through childhood in order to check the progress of development for the child, and if there is to see if there is an underlying cause to it such as not receiving the right diet to grow at the normal rate. As a result of neglect children may lead to poor hygiene and wearing clothes that are dirty and toss small or big.
Intellectual
Intellectual abuse occurs when the child’s cognitive development is affected. There could be many reason to this such as being abused in other ways, resulting the child not being able to think well as they may be in pain, hungry, and scared for their safety. Also, if they are not able to afford material they need such as educational material, they would not be able to function effectively.
Emotional
There are many forms of emotional abuse such as constant shouting, dominating adults, threatening behavior, verbal abuse belittling and underminding. Constant shouting would lower the self esteem of the child and would make them not want to talk to the person. Dominating adults would lead to effects on the development process of the child and they may not be able to develop well, as they may not be allowed to do things that may help their development. Threatening behaviour would lead to lack of confidence in the child and their behaviour may start to change, therefore, if early age workers see this they should investigate more about the child. Believing , undermining and verbal abuse is also form of emotional abuse, this would affect the child’s self-esteem and confidence and may also lead to reculant in trying something new.
Sexual
Sexual abuse can also take place, there are many forms of sexual abuse that can take place such as inappropriate touching and inappropriate sexual advances, this would involve inappropriate touching and making moves to children and may involve adults touching areas which are inapposite. In a similar, way, children should not be exposed to sexual language and pictures as it can be used to engage in sexual activities with children. Signs of sexual abuse can be seen in by bruising, gasping, and swollen parts of the body mainly being genitals and mouth areas. Infections may also be passed to the child as result of sexual abuse. Additionally, confidence and self-esteem would also be affected in the child and the child may be reluctant to go home as they are afraid of doing home becuase they know they will be abused.
Bullying and harassment
Bullying and harassment is also form of maltreatment, it mostly occurs between young people, but adults can also be bullies and bully children. In most cases, children would hide that they are being bullied as they may be intimidated and feeling vulnerable, since it would affected their self-esteem and confidence. There are many forms in which bullying and harassment may take place. For example, variable, psychically and stealing, all these things would affect the person and they would start to feel reluctant.
Neglect
Neglect is when a the child does not have the things they need in order to be able to function well. This means that they be not have shelter, food, love, security and basic needs of living. Neglect can also be form of abuse but in some cases, neglect may not be deliberate. Signs of neglect would include, inappropriate clothing, being dirty, smelly, low self esteem, being isolated, being underweight. All these factors would lead to a child being neglected, even though its not on purpose, therefore, parents need to develop the right parenting skills in order to be able to care for the child in the right manner.
Risk of Maltreatment
Within the family
Abuse and maltreatment can occur by family, strangers and even in care settings.
Abuse and maltreatment does not usually occur in families but in some cases parents may take out their anger on the child, in most cases this would be thought physically abuse and emotional abuse but intellectually, sexual abuse and neglect can take place.
Outside of family
Abuse outside the family is more popular, this can be in form of bullying which mostly is mostly done by young adults and abuse mainly being from adults and relatives. In school children and young people learn about staying away from strangers. This is important so that children stay away from stranger in order to protect themselve as stranger may seem to be nice but actually they are cunning and children may fall for them. In order to overcome this it is important to ensure that children have high self-esteem and confidence as they would be less likely to be targeted by strangers.
In care setting
There could also be abuse in care home and there are many cases where this has happened, in most cases the abuse is in form of bullying and harassment, but in rare cases there could be other abuse such as sexual, physically and others. Care professional are trained and have severe consequences if they are found to abuse or maltreat children and young people in order to prevent abuse from …show more content…
happening.
Wider factors suggesting risk of maltreatment
There are could be wider factors that suggest risk of maltreatment such as dysfunctional family relationship.
For example, if a mother, has a new partner and the partner's friend or family move in the house. This may lead to different types of abuse since the partner or friend may think that the child is not needed in the family.
Young people may start to act out abuse if they are viewing things that may contain abuse, for example, movies or animal abuse. This would lead to the young person being abusive and start to behaviour in that way to the others. They would put their thoughts in action at school, by telling others to show that they are powerful compared to others.
Family history may lead to abuse abuse occurring in a family because parents may think that it is normal to hit a child since they have as well. Therefore, parents may not find it strange to abuse their children.
Poor or impaired parenting skills may lead to abuse occurring because the parents do not understand what is right or wrong for their child. Therefore, this would lead to the parents treating the child in a way which may not be right or end up neglecting the child. This can be improved by supporting parents in getting the right skills to care for the
child.
Lack of attachment would lead to abuse and maltreatment because parents may not feel that the child is worth the attention, this may lead to neglect.
Substance abuse in household would lead to abuse because the abuse may not have control over their actions, therefore they would not be in their right senses cause abuse. In a similar way, the person may alway be high on substance therefore they would not be able to care the child in the right way.
Theories of maltreatment
There are four different theories to abuse, medical, sociological, psychological and feminist.
The medical approach of maltreatment is that child abuse can be treated and cured. There are some disease with specific signs and symptoms that can be treated with a medical approach. For example, with sexual abuse this can be put in place to change the way that people think in order to prevent them from abusing children. The doctor would need to find the cause of this in order to give the right treatment to support the abuser overcome their problem.
Sociological theory is the idea that the changing society affects the way that families function. Factors such as unemployment, low wages, poor housing disadvantages and poor health are all seen to contribute to abusive situations. Although, that is it more likely that children in those families would get abused but studies show that abuse also occurs in families with high income and good housing. In most cases, families are helpless and lead to abuse such as neglect in an unintentional way. For example, a family is on low wages, they may not be able to afford the needs of the child, which would lead to neglect of the child, but the parents are doing this by purpose, it happens because they are helpless and have no money to cater for the needs of the child.
Psychological theory is that family functioning and how people relate to each other within the family unit. It emphasis on family breakdown and dysfunction as factors and suggest that the use of therapy and prevent or reduce abuse. For example, in the case of baby P, the family was a dysfunctional family because the mother’s partner’s brother was living with baby p and his mother, this would not how a family with run as in most cases it would be the parents and children living together and all would all be related. However, in the case of baby P the partner and his brother had no relationship with baby P, which lead to abuse.
Feminist theory focuses on the power relationships between men and women within a family and asserts that most abusers are male. In most cases this argument may be true in sexual abuse and 10 percent of abusers are known to be female and the victim of abusers are both male and female. This shows that most abusers tend to be males.
It is important that everyone working with children and young people are prioritising child protection. Children and young people may get bruises and minor injures during playing, so it is important to listen to children and take note of their body languages and general behaviors and appearance.
Type of maltreatment
There are many different type of maltreatment such as physical abuse, intellectual, emotional, sexual, bullying, harassment and neglect.
Physical
Sign of physical maltreatment would include hitting, nipping, burning and any kind of inflicting physical harm. Therefore, in order to protect children early years …show more content…
worker must be able to recognise these signs of abuse and take action towards it.
Bruising can be caused when children are punched and beaten several times, this can also cause fractures, damage to tissues, organs and even death. Bruising can lead to soreness, children tend to experience soreness and tenderness but if this is persistent then it may need attention as it could be a form of abuse.
Burns can be identified by looking out for small round burns, this is usually caused of lit cigarette or something similar. Also, hands and feet may be put into extremely hot water as a form of punishments. Burns are extremely painful and prone to infections, thus it would require medical attention immediately.
Children can get infections occasionally, but if a child is continue ill and had regular infections when they may not racings the care, attentions or nutrient that they need in order to build a strong immune system, this could be physical signs of neglect. Non- accidental injuries may occur because of stress and strain in the families situation, but some things children can be beaten and ill treated and parents would not have an explain to it, and early care workers would need to be alert.
Since birth children are weighed and this would continue through childhood in order to check the progress of development for the child, and if there is to see if there is an underlying cause to it such as not receiving the right diet to grow at the normal rate. As a result of neglect children may lead to poor hygiene and wearing clothes that are dirty and toss small or big.
Intellectual
Intellectual abuse occurs when the child’s cognitive development is affected. There could be many reason to this such as being abused in other ways, resulting the child not being able to think well as they may be in pain, hungry, and scared for their safety. Also, if they are not able to afford material they need such as educational material, they would not be able to function effectively.
Emotional
There are many forms of emotional abuse such as constant shouting, dominating adults, threatening behavior, verbal abuse belittling and underminding. Constant shouting would lower the self esteem of the child and would make them not want to talk to the person. Dominating adults would lead to effects on the development process of the child and they may not be able to develop well, as they may not be allowed to do things that may help their development. Threatening behaviour would lead to lack of confidence in the child and their behaviour may start to change, therefore, if early age workers see this they should investigate more about the child. Believing , undermining and verbal abuse is also form of emotional abuse, this would affect the child’s self-esteem and confidence and may also lead to reculant in trying something new.
Sexual
Sexual abuse can also take place, there are many forms of sexual abuse that can take place such as inappropriate touching and inappropriate sexual advances, this would involve inappropriate touching and making moves to children and may involve adults touching areas which are inapposite. In a similar, way, children should not be exposed to sexual language and pictures as it can be used to engage in sexual activities with children. Signs of sexual abuse can be seen in by bruising, gasping, and swollen parts of the body mainly being genitals and mouth areas. Infections may also be passed to the child as result of sexual abuse. Additionally, confidence and self-esteem would also be affected in the child and the child may be reluctant to go home as they are afraid of doing home becuase they know they will be abused.
Bullying and harassment
Bullying and harassment is also form of maltreatment, it mostly occurs between young people, but adults can also be bullies and bully children. In most cases, children would hide that they are being bullied as they may be intimidated and feeling vulnerable, since it would affected their self-esteem and confidence. There are many forms in which bullying and harassment may take place. For example, variable, psychically and stealing, all these things would affect the person and they would start to feel reluctant.
Neglect
Neglect is when a the child does not have the things they need in order to be able to function well. This means that they be not have shelter, food, love, security and basic needs of living. Neglect can also be form of abuse but in some cases, neglect may not be deliberate. Signs of neglect would include, inappropriate clothing, being dirty, smelly, low self esteem, being isolated, being underweight. All these factors would lead to a child being neglected, even though its not on purpose, therefore, parents need to develop the right parenting skills in order to be able to care for the child in the right manner.
Risk of Maltreatment
Within the family
Abuse and maltreatment can occur by family, strangers and even in care settings.
Abuse and maltreatment does not usually occur in families but in some cases parents may take out their anger on the child, in most cases this would be thought physically abuse and emotional abuse but intellectually, sexual abuse and neglect can take place.
Outside of family
Abuse outside the family is more popular, this can be in form of bullying which mostly is mostly done by young adults and abuse mainly being from adults and relatives. In school children and young people learn about staying away from strangers. This is important so that children stay away from stranger in order to protect themselve as stranger may seem to be nice but actually they are cunning and children may fall for them. In order to overcome this it is important to ensure that children have high self-esteem and confidence as they would be less likely to be targeted by strangers.
In care setting
There could also be abuse in care home and there are many cases where this has happened, in most cases the abuse is in form of bullying and harassment, but in rare cases there could be other abuse such as sexual, physically and others. Care professional are trained and have severe consequences if they are found to abuse or maltreat children and young people in order to prevent abuse from …show more content…
happening.
Wider factors suggesting risk of maltreatment
There are could be wider factors that suggest risk of maltreatment such as dysfunctional family relationship.
For example, if a mother, has a new partner and the partner's friend or family move in the house. This may lead to different types of abuse since the partner or friend may think that the child is not needed in the family.
Young people may start to act out abuse if they are viewing things that may contain abuse, for example, movies or animal abuse. This would lead to the young person being abusive and start to behaviour in that way to the others. They would put their thoughts in action at school, by telling others to show that they are powerful compared to others.
Family history may lead to abuse abuse occurring in a family because parents may think that it is normal to hit a child since they have as well. Therefore, parents may not find it strange to abuse their children.
Poor or impaired parenting skills may lead to abuse occurring because the parents do not understand what is right or wrong for their child. Therefore, this would lead to the parents treating the child in a way which may not be right or end up neglecting the child. This can be improved by supporting parents in getting the right skills to care for the
child.
Lack of attachment would lead to abuse and maltreatment because parents may not feel that the child is worth the attention, this may lead to neglect.
Substance abuse in household would lead to abuse because the abuse may not have control over their actions, therefore they would not be in their right senses cause abuse. In a similar way, the person may alway be high on substance therefore they would not be able to care the child in the right way.
Theories of maltreatment
There are four different theories to abuse, medical, sociological, psychological and feminist.
The medical approach of maltreatment is that child abuse can be treated and cured. There are some disease with specific signs and symptoms that can be treated with a medical approach. For example, with sexual abuse this can be put in place to change the way that people think in order to prevent them from abusing children. The doctor would need to find the cause of this in order to give the right treatment to support the abuser overcome their problem.
Sociological theory is the idea that the changing society affects the way that families function. Factors such as unemployment, low wages, poor housing disadvantages and poor health are all seen to contribute to abusive situations. Although, that is it more likely that children in those families would get abused but studies show that abuse also occurs in families with high income and good housing. In most cases, families are helpless and lead to abuse such as neglect in an unintentional way. For example, a family is on low wages, they may not be able to afford the needs of the child, which would lead to neglect of the child, but the parents are doing this by purpose, it happens because they are helpless and have no money to cater for the needs of the child.
Psychological theory is that family functioning and how people relate to each other within the family unit. It emphasis on family breakdown and dysfunction as factors and suggest that the use of therapy and prevent or reduce abuse. For example, in the case of baby P, the family was a dysfunctional family because the mother’s partner’s brother was living with baby p and his mother, this would not how a family with run as in most cases it would be the parents and children living together and all would all be related. However, in the case of baby P the partner and his brother had no relationship with baby P, which lead to abuse.
Feminist theory focuses on the power relationships between men and women within a family and asserts that most abusers are male. In most cases this argument may be true in sexual abuse and 10 percent of abusers are known to be female and the victim of abusers are both male and female. This shows that most abusers tend to be males.