It was not that long ago that what transpired at home was considered a secretive, a personal matter and was not looked at by the public. Within the last few years, there has been an rise in awareness of the importance of child abuse and negligence, spouse/partner mistreatment, and elder cruelty not only as serious societal problems but also as crimes. The PEACE Domestic Violence Agency was step up to help individuals break through the barriers.…
Susan Smith’s life was plagued with tragedies and abuse. When she was seven years old, hear parents divorced, then just five weeks later, her father committed suicide. This devastated Susan to the point that she became very distant(Montaldo, 2010). It wasn’t long before Susan’s mother remarried to a successful businessman. On the surface, the family appeared to be normal, but underneath the all-Amaerican family facade, incest was the families deepest secret. For many years, Susan Smith’s step father carried on an inappropriate sexual relationship with her. When Susan tried to report the abuse to her mother and to social services, little was done other than the step father moving out for a short while. Susan’s mother and the rest of the family was more concerned with their reputation being publicly questioned rather than the safety and metal health of Susan. Susan’s stepfather eventually moved back in only to continue to…
In 1874, Mary Ellen’s case shined a light on Abuse of children and was brought by American Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Animals, which later passed a law to protect children from physical abuse from their parents. During the trial, the judge ordered for Ellen to be brought into the court room and from there she gave her heart-wrenching testimony. This testimony made such an impact in history that the author, physician, and writer Howard Markel revealed her story in the New York Times in 2009. In this composition Markel uses appeals as strategies to reveal and remind the audience of Ellen’s case and form a movement to prevent it and protect victims, which is an effort that continues today. In Markel strategies he mostly uses an emotional appeal which is more effective in this composition because the language used in Ellen’s testimony evokes the senses and brings emotion to the audience and helps them to relate her. Her testimony provides concrete evidence which Markel used to give his composition a logical appeal.…
This editorial is about Jeffrey Baldwin, a little boy who was killed by his grandmother, after he was placed in her care by Children’s Aid. She had previous allegations of child abuse but no one looked into it. They ignored all the signs that could have saved this boys life.…
O’Grady speaks about a case, Sandusky’s, that happened around 2008 which started to come out in public. Various mothers decided to stand out for their children since they lacked defending themselves, due to their knowledge. Children thought adults did acceptable things, so they did not question the adult. It develops in a child’s mind assuring them that being abuse is something common and natural when it is not. O’Grady states how children do not react well to the abuse they went through. The problem with today’s society is to maintain their families name clean without a stain of mistake. Matthews-Creech offers examples how one should notice the signs and symptoms of an abused child. The authors contribute a help by identifying a victim by the form of the way they act.…
Aileen was born in 1956 to her 16 year old mother. She was not born with any physical or mental disabilities. At the time of her birth her father was incarcerated for child molestation and he was also believed to be a schizophrenic, he hung himself in jail and Aileen never met him. When Aileen was 3 years old her mother abandoned her and her 4 year old brother and left them with her own parents who legally adopted them. The family struggled economically and by age 11 Aileen would engage in sexual activities for food, drugs and alcohol. Home life was not easy for Aileen as she claims to be sexually abused by her alcoholic grandfather and beaten by her grandmother. She would also engage in sexual activities with her brother and at age 14 she became pregnant and there was confusion on whether the father of the baby was her brother, Keith, or her grandfather’s friend who had raped her. She birthed the baby and put it up for adoption as well as dropping out of school. Shortly after all of this her grandfather kicked her out on the street. To stay alive she was forced to cling to prostitution to meet her basic needs and to stay alive. Growing up was extremely difficult and Aileen often felt worthless.…
Shari Davies was once a carefree, optimistic young woman. This all changed one night twenty years ago, giving way to an unexpected course of injury, pain, fear, and anger. On November 5, 1986, Shari was abducted, raped, and almost killed (Davies, 1997, pp. 3-4). Rape is a very horrible crime that affects its victims both physically and psychologically, and these affects can last for years (Cooper, 2004). Shari even admits in the book that she still experiences grief, pain and confusion and shares that elements of these emotions will never leave her and her family (Davies, 1997, p 3). How family, friends, and authorities react to a victim has a major impact on how she will deal with the pain and heal. Rape victims who feel ignored or treated negatively may encounter what is known as secondary victimization. When police and other legal and medical providers put the needs of their agencies in front of the needs and psychological boundaries of the victim, victims often feel violated. The disregard of victims' needs by providers can so closely mimic victims' experiences at the hands of their assailants that secondary victimization is sometimes referred to as "the second rape" or the "second assault" (Schultz, 1999). Two sources of frustration and pain to Shari and her family were the police and the media. In this paper I will share how I interpreted Shari to be treated by these entities during her recovery process and the possible implications of such treatment. I will also delve into the issue of the scarcity of resources that Shari and her family encountered and how this has changed both in Australia and the United States.…
Many people use their childhood as a way to justify the means of their adulthood. This is especially the case when we talk about abused or neglected children. Statistics comes to show that children who suffered from an abusive parent tend to grow up and become the abusers themselves. These children might even become involved in criminal activity. This was not the case for Dave Pelzer. When Dave Pelzer woke up one morning to an abusive mother, he didn’t use this as a reason to behave a certain way in the future. Instead he took it to himself as a duty. He took it to himself that as a survivor of this tragic event to help others and to spread awareness through his memoirs and self-help books.…
“Prominent studies of child abuse and maltreatment point to several unfortunate outcomes for victims as they grow up. Adolescents who were victims of sexual assault are three times more likely to suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, be abused again be dependent on drugs and alcohol, or commit delinquent acts compared to adolescents who were not victimized, according to a nationally representative sample.…
People are too busy running away from their monsters to check over their shoulders, missing the opportunity to see a small shadow running after them. The novel, “The First Time She Drowned” by Kerry Kletter targets the theme on parental mental and physical abuse. The main idea of the novel is that the transgenerational cycle of abuse can only be broken through confrontation. Three points to help understand the main idea of the novel is, first, Cassie O’Malley’s (the protagonist) mother never truly resolves her own abusive past. Secondly, Cassie opens a door to healing by confronting her inner demons through a therapist. The last point is the final confrontation that gives Cassie a sense of clarity and freedom from the cycle of abuse. For example, when Cassie O’Malley went through the years of abuse from her mother and enrols herself into a college, she thinks those years of abuse are far behind her, but she doesn’t realize that the only way her past…
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a diagnoses for individual with a group of complex disorders of brain development. This disorder is characterized in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1 in 68 children are diagnosed as being on the spectrum, with boys being four to five times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls. As there is no cure for autism, research is on-going to help children and families to decrease the negative effects autism has on those with the diagnoses and this includes studies on medications. In the article, Cognitive Effects of Risperidone in Children with Autism and Irritable Behavior, the effects of the popular drug Risperidone is tested on children on the autism spectrum who also have irritable behaviors, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or disruptive behavior disorders. The focus is on what question the authors are trying to answer by doing this research and what hypothesis is being tested and the concepts that were applied in this process. Other important aspects of this study include the statistical analysis employed in this studies, the variables used and the possibility more and/or different variables may have been used to enhance the outcome of the study. As with any statistical research study, there are going to be limitations. The fact that autism affects so many people, the better understanding we can gain about possible medications and therapies will be helpful to families and educators of people on the autism spectrum.…
Our memories and experiences from a young age shape our reality and what we see as our identity. As youngsters our understanding of who we are is very little. We are often too worried about seeking adventure and amusement that we do not take into consideration much our identity and who we really are. We all have an identity and how much we understand of it has a lot to do with how our memories and experiences have shaped our realities to who we are today. Through experiences and memories we build for ourselves a reality and we can see this through Keith and his experiences with his domineering father. Through experiencing abuse from his father and control, Keith builds a reality for in which he mirrors his father’s trait in possessing dominance and control over his one and only friend, Stephen. This signifies how Keith’s experience leads him to hold an identity of an oppressor when he is in is his own playing field with people his age. Likewise, as we go through school we see bullies and right them off as horrible people. But often are these bullies’ victims themselves of abuse and themselves use abuse on others to free their minds of the burden of their own trauma. What they understand of their identity consists of oppression both on the receiving and distributing ends of…
The need for safe, affordable housing for victims of domestic violence is well documented. Without access to housing options, women fleeing from abusive relationships are often forced to live in substandard conditions or return to their batterers (Fontes,2008, para. 4). While many battered women need only short-term, emergency shelter, others face numerous barriers to achieving independence free from the abuse and require long-term housing assistance and a variety of support services.…
Diehl, D. C., Howse, R. B., & Trivette, C. M. (2011). Youth in foster care:…
The question of why men or women abuse and why men and women are reluctant to end abusive relationships may seem abstract, but theories have important implications how to understand the problem (Sampson, 2006).…