Child Abuse and its Potential Impact on Children - Essay Example

Child Abuse and its Potential Impact on Children Child abuse is defined as any form of sexual, physical, emotional, or psychological maltreatment of a child, which is likely to affect the safety, survival growth and development, as well as the self-esteem of the child. According to Kissane (2003), there are four main types of child abuse, which include emotional abuse, physical abuse, child neglect and sexual abuse. Matthews (2004) claims that physical abuse is the most visible sign of child abuse. However, emotional abuse, child neglect and sexual abuse also leave a child with deep, long lasting scars, which shows that there is more to child abuse than broken bones and bruises. Nevertheless, all types of child abuse usually leads to serious emotional damage. Keen and McCoy (2009) argues that ignoring the needs of children, making them feel stupid and worthless, as well as leaving them in unsupervised, dangerous situations is also considered as child abuse. Child abuse does not only occur in poor families or neighborhoods, but it happens across all economic, cultural and racial lines. Additionally, many people believe that only immoral people abuse children, but this is not so because not all child abusers abuse their children intentionally. In fact, although some children are abused by strangers, child abusers are mostly family members or people close to the family who are supposed to take care of them. According to Kissane (2003), some abused children are likely to repeat the cycle unconsciously when they grow up because of what they experienced when young. However, many adults who experienced abuse as children usually have a strong motivation to protect their children against child abuse and become adept parents. In addition, there are several laws enacted by the state in order to protect children against abuse and neglect. Thus, this paper will explore understandings of child abuse, its causes and impact on children, as well as the principles of the current focus on safeguarding the welfare of the child and the relevant legislation and laws enacted by the state. Child abuse and neglect happens when a child is maltreated leading to injury or risk of being harmed. This abuse can be emotional, sexual, physical or verbal. As stated by Myers (2011), physical abuse is an injury or non-accidental trauma inflected on a child by their parent or caregiver. Also, it involves the failure of the parent or caregiver to protect a child from a person who caused physical abuse on the child. It is severe and can cause serious bodily harm to a child or even death. There are several behavioral and physical indicators, which show that a child has been physically abused. Behavioral indicators in a physically abused child include behaviors such as a child being wary of adults, always frightened of parents, flinch if touched unexpectedly and extremely aggressive and withdrawn among others. Physical indicators include injuries on the child’s body that are not consistent with their explanation, facial injuries, several injuries in different stages of healing, presence of injuries on the child’s body over long time and injuries that are inconsistent with age and development stage of the child among others. Sexual abuse refers to external touching or penetration into a child’s intimate parts, indecent exposure, and oral sex with a child or any other sexual act done in a child’s presence for sexual pleasure. Sexual abuse also includes making of child pornography and use of a child for prostitution. According to DePanfilis (2006), sexual child abuse also refers to the failure of a parent or caretaker from protecting a child from being sexually abused by another person. There are several behavioral and physical signs of sexual abuse in children. Behavioral indicators include sleep disturbances and nightmares, changes in appetite, fear states such as anxiety, obsession, and depression, sexual themes in their artwork, play or stories among others. Physical indicators of child sexual abuse include bruises and bleeding in the genital or rectal parts, presence of semen, sexually transmitted diseases, foreign bodies in genital areas, itching, or infection of vaginal, urethral or rectal openings and abdominal pains among others. If anybody observes such indicators in a child, to is essential to consider whether the child is been sexually abused or not and take the necessary action if they are being abused. Child neglect is also another form of child abuse. It is defined as the failure of the caretaker or parent to provide the necessary physical needs required by a child for survival, which may cause harm to the child’s safety and health. This may include lack of child supervision, abandonment, lack of proper physical hygiene that is life endangering, and inadequate nutrition. In addition, lack of shelter, clothing and other basic needs required by a child is also considered as child abuse. Fong and Smith (2004) state that physical neglect in its most severe status leads to serious harm to the child’s body or even death of the child. There are several behavioral and physical signs of a child experiencing physical neglect. Physical indicators include inadequate clothing, poor personal hygiene and dirty, the child may be underweight or overweight, developmentally delayed. In general, the child looks unhealthy and is always sick or tired all the time. Behavioral indicators include poor performance in school, the child is always alert and watchful, compliant, withdrawn, and the child hates going home especially after school. Also, problems in learning and concentrating, which cannot be attributed to specific psychological causes, are present among others. Emotional abuse includes constant family conflicts, verbal assaults, indifference and ignoring of the child by either the parents or caretakers. Daniel and Taylor (2005) argue that emotional abuse can severely harm the mental health of a child, and their social development, resulting in lifelong psychological scars. If a child is always degraded, he or she is likely to live up to the example communicated by the abusing people; hence, resulting in life long psychological scars. Indicators of emotional abuse include constant belittling, humiliating and shaming of the child, name calling and negative comparisons, bullying, threatening and frequent yelling. Also, using rejection or ignorance as a way of punishing a child, or giving him the silent treatment can lead to emotional abuse. In addition, exposing the child to the abuse of others and violence, as well as limiting contact such as hugs and other forms of affection, with a child is likely to lead to emotional harm to the child. Child abuse and neglect occurs in all types of families and children are at high risk in certain situations, even those families that appear happy from outside probably have a lot to hide from the public (Lampinen and Sexton-Radek, 2010). Risk factors to contribute to child abuse and neglect include can be divided in several categories, which include the family environment, social economic causes, child-related characteristics, and parental profiles. Social-economic causes of child abuse include the financial status of the child’s family, different cultural values, and institutionalized manifestations of abuse. For instance, a study of child abuse and neglect done by the U.S government, reported that children in families that lived on less than $15,000 a year were at a risk of being hurt by some variety of abuse, which includes physical abuse, as well as sexual abuse than those children in families with incomes above $30,000 a year. The family environment is another category that contributes to child abuse. This includes domestic violence, single parenting, and child rearing practices or parenting skills. According to Clark (2002), parenting can be quite a difficult job and time-intensive for the parents; thus, it can be quite stressing if one is a single parent and is raising children without support from family members, friends or even the community. Moreover, witnessing domestic violence can be quite terrifying for children and even affects them emotionally. Potts and Mandleco (2011) claim that no matter how much the mother may try her best to protect children from physical abuse, domestic violence is still damaging to their emotions. Therefore, the only way to keep children from suffering emotionally through domestic violence is to get out of the abusive relationship in order to protect children. According to Haugaard and Reppucci (1988), lack of parenting skills affects how children are brought up by their caregivers and parents. People claim that parenting skills come naturally to most parents. However, it is essential to learn the basic skills necessary for parenting in order to avoid having unrealistic expectations about the needs of children. For instance, children who are parents who experienced child abuse while young may not know any other way to raised their children; hence, they may raise them the way they were raised. For this reason, parenting classes, caregiver support and therapy are the best resources for available for teaching parents and caregivers parenting skills. Parental profile also contributes to child abuse. This include factors such as age of the parent, low self-confidence, their history of abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, and mental illness of the parents or caretakers. Potts and Mandleco (2011) adds that parents suffering from mental illness such as depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety among others affect their children emotionally; thus, resulting in emotional abuse. This is because mentally ill parents may be withdrawn or distant from their children, or even exhibit quick anger towards children without any reason. Therefore, treatment for mentally ill parents and caretakers helps to provide children with better care than with mentally ill parents. Alcohol and drug abuse also affect children both physically and emotionally through abuse and neglect. Alcoholic parents are not capable of making satisfactory parenting decisions; thus, they may be unable to care of their children as expected. Also, alcoholic parents lack self-control and are likely to abuse their children physically or even sexually while under the influence of alcohol (Clark, 2002). This is the same case with parents who abuse drugs because they lack control over their actions. In addition, parents with low self-confidence/esteem are likely to abuse their children because they see themselves as worthless; hence, take out their feelings of anger and inadequacy on their children. This can either cause physical or emotional damage to the children, which can be considered as child abuse. A parent with a history of abuse is may do the same to his children especially if they did not learn any new strategies and skills to deal with abuse. Moreover, the age of the parent may also contribute child abuse. For instance, teenage parents are likely to abuse their children due to lack of full knowledge on the necessary parenting skills. Also, they are not well-equipped to care of a child since they are not fully developed adults. Caring for a child with extraordinary needs, or with disability, financial difficulties, and relationship problems also contribute to parenting stress. If parents experience stress while taking care of a child, they are likely to abuse their children emotionally or physically unconsciously. Some parents have a wrong mentality of how parenting should be done. For this reason, they are likely to use abusive parenting tactics by claiming that that is how they were raised and turned out excellent. In addition, some parents may have expectations for their children that are unrealistic, as well as lack enough knowledge of the developmental stages that children pass through; thus, lead to physical neglect and abuse. Moreover, in case a child was born out of an unwanted pregnancy especially out of rape, and he or she reminds the parent of the trauma she went through, the child is likely to be abused by the mother. Other factors that contribute to child abuse include the age of the parent, physically or mentally handicapped child, child’s gender and lack of enough interaction between the child and his/her parents especially due to separation during the child’s critical, developmental stages (Lampinen and Sexton-Radek, 2010). Child abuse can have several effects on children depending on the child's age, severity of the abuse, the duration of abuse. The effect may occur during childhood, adolescence or even adulthood, and affect their development physically, psychologically or even behaviorally. Besharov (1990b) argues that people believe that what children learn especially in terms of discipline, they usually carry it over into adulthood. However, this is not a certainty because a child’s parents may abuse them emotionally or physically, but it does not mean that the child will mature to be an abusive parent to his/her children. The impact of child abuse ranges from minor physical injuries, substance abuse, feeling helplessness, low self-esteem, angry outbursts, extremely violent behavior, and in extreme cases death may occur. Therefore, the effects of child abuse can be classified into three main categories, which include health and physical effects, intellectual and cognitive development, and emotional, psychological and behavioral consequences (Finkelhor and United States Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2009). However, it is necessary to note that not all children who have been abused will have severe effects, but may be stimulated by type and frequency of the abuse among others. According to Covitz (1986), health and physical effects could be long term such as brain damage, permanent disabilities and hemorrhages, or short term such as bruises, lacerations, burns and broken bones. Neglect and physical trauma like blows on the head and body, scalding with hot water and violent shaking can result in poor physical development for the child. Violent shaking of a child especially an infant may lead to bruising, swelling, and bleeding in the brain. A child suffering from shaken baby syndrome exhibits several signs such as vomiting, irritability among other severe effects like seizures, and respiratory distress, which may lead to death. Moreover, paralysis, mental retardation and cerebral palsy may result from shaking of a child. Walker (1988) claims that a neglected and malnourished child may experience nonorganic failure to thrive. This is a condition in which the weight of a child, motor development and height decrease below age-appropriate ranges without any medical or organic cause. This mainly results in the child’s death. Nonorganic failure to thrive results in growth retardation, as well as psychological and cognitive problems, which even with the treatment they remain long term effects. Studies have shown that adverse effects of maltreatment on children affect early brain development. A research conducted by National Research Council (U.S.), Panel on Research on Child Abuse and Neglect (1993), report that physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect causes chronic stress in a child. This causes the child’s brain to react to the persistent stress by strengthening the pathways among neurons, which are involved in the fear response. Hence, the brain may be set in such were way that the child starts viewing the world as a hostile and uncaring place, which may later affect his/her interactions later in life and forcing him to become highly aggressive or withdrawn. Moreover, child abuse and neglect may inhibit the appropriate development of certain brain regions. For instance, an abuse or neglected child may not get a chance to be exposed to stimuli that would activate suitable regions in the brain necessary in strengthening cognitive pathways. Also, the connections among the neurons in the inactive regions of the brain can wither away, inhibiting the functioning of the child’s brain later in life. Therefore, if these parts of the brain responsible for regulating emotions are not activated, the child may experience problems in controlling his own emotions; hence, likely to behave and interact inappropriately with people. Studies have shown that abused children have lower intellectual and cognitive functioning than those children who are not abused. Abused children are likely to attain lower grades than those that are not abused. In addition, Finkelman (1995c) all types of child abuse such as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as psychological maltreatment have an impact on the psychological and emotional well-being of a child and result in behavioral problems. According to Finkelman (1995a), there is no set of behavior that can be used to characterize all abused children. However, the presence of emotional and psychological problems among the abused children has been documented, which include passive, as well as withdrawn, active and aggressive behavior. Besharov (1990a) states that sexually and physically abused children show both internal and external problems. Some of the psychological and emotional problems found in children who have been abused include low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, poor peer relations, self-injurious behavior, and post-traumatic stress disorder among others. In addition, individuals who experienced child abuse are likely to engage in adult criminality, juvenile delinquency and other violent behaviors. A study conducted by the National Institute of Justice revealed that neglected and abused children had a high chance of juvenile arrest of about 53% and 38% as an adult compared to those that are not abused and neglected. Moreover, physically abused children had the highest chance of being committing violent crime and being arrested, then followed by neglected children. Other studies have also revealed that abused children are at a high risk of about 25% of engaging in various adolescent problem behaviors such as delinquency, substance abuse, alcoholism, teen pregnancy, mental health problems and low academic performance (Haugaard and Reppucci, 1988). Also, research has shown that there is a relationship between sexually abused children and later substance abuse. However, is necessary to note that not all neglected and abused children will experience adolescent problem behaviors, become delinquent or engage in violent crime. This is because some of the children are able to adjust and fight the effects of the negative consequences of child abuse. This is due to several protective factors such as social support and healthy relationships with supportive relatives. Also, personal characteristics such as optimism, high intelligence, high self-esteem, and a sense of hopefulness in life play a significant role in inhibiting the negative effects of child abuse (Finkelman, 1995b). Therefore, people who work with children have a responsibility to safeguard and promote their welfare, which requires a lot of attention and time. This means that people should be able to identify when a child is not achieving his or her developmental potential, or have impaired health, and identify sources of help for the child, as well as their families. It is, therefore, essential to identify the concerns quite early so that the children, families, young people and caregivers can be provided with the help they need; also, to ensure that the young people are free from abuse of any form in order to promote their well-being and quality of life. Every country has put in place various legislation and laws against child abuse. For instance, all states in the United States have statutory provisions outlining programs of protective services for abused and neglected children. These laws have been significantly shaped by two federal initiatives, which include The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, and The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 (National Research Council (U.S.) Panel on Research on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1993). Starr and Wolfe (1991) argue that The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1995 have changed the federal commitment to neglect and child abuse, which may affect the future of state legislation. Thus, these two state laws focus mainly on three discreet situations when the child being abused and neglected is in danger. This includes removal of the child from its home, returning the child to its home after its removal, and termination of parental rights and seeks a place for its adoption. This is because the state believes that a permanent family relationship is the best place for a child to live. Thus, these three measures help to safeguard the welfare of children against abuse and neglect within the family environment. Child abuse and neglect laws were started in the 20th century. At first, these laws focused at identifying abused children and protecting them against further abusive treatment by removing them from unsafe environments. In 1970s, these laws focused at identifying abused children and setting legal procedures in order to investigate the abusive situation that the child is in, and to provide services for them while still in their homes, or remove them and take them to safe environments such as orphanages (Cicchetti, 1993). However, after removing abused and neglected children from their homes into orphanages, the government realized that the best place for a child to grow would be in a permanent home with either its family or adoptive family. For this reason, the efforts to safeguard the welfare of abused children now focuses at helping children in their own homes, as well as their families. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 formed the national Center on Child Abuse and Neglect in order to make grants to states so that they can implement child abuse and neglect prevention programs. In addition, the states formed Child Abuse and Preventions Boards in order to make grants emphasizing on early intervention, which is the best approach for helping abused and neglected children (Wolfe, 1999). An example of an initiative in the United States that supports early intervention is the proposed legislation in Wisconsin state, which plans to allocate about 2% of the corrections budget for prevention of child abuse and neglect. The guardian ad item is also another program that has been established to provide protection to children who are abused and neglected. According to The Child Abuse and Prevention Treatment Act of 1974, a guardian ad litem should be appointed to represent a child during the judicial proceedings involving an abused and neglected child. However, although the law does not exactly define the roles of the guardian ad litem, almost all states have statutory provision for the guardian ad litem in which some require the guardian litem to be a lawyer. Crosson-Tower (1999) claims that when a child is removed from its home, efforts are made to reunite him with their families. Thus, The Adoption assistance and child welfare act of 1980 was established to enable states to reunite families. The program offers family counseling, counseling to drug and alcohol abusing parents, and parenting classes. In order to monitor these programs, the national law required states to keep records of children in foster homes, as well as develop individual permanent plans for each child. The judicial or an administrative review of each child’s plan is expected to be done within eighteen months and each child reunited with the family, or parental rights terminated and the child given up for adoption. However, in cases where reuniting the child with its family may put the child’s safety at risk, the law has the right to terminate the parental rights so that the child can be placed for adoption; thus, provide it with a safe and permanent home. The Federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 changed the law such that, in a situation where the safety and health of a child is at risk, it is not necessary to use reasonable efforts to reunite the child with its family. This includes situation where the parent rights to the child have been terminated, when the court discovers that the parent has subjected the child to aggravated situations like abandonment, chronic abuse, torture, and sexual abuse. Also, when the parent is said to be involved in a homicide of another child, assaulted the child, or a sibling leading to serious body injuries (National Research Council (U.S.), Panel on Research on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1993). Moreover, The Adoption and Safe Families Act claims that if a child has been in a foster home for about fifteen recent months, the state must file a petition to end the parental rights. In the UK, the law states that people, who work with children, must keep them safe from any form of suffering and harm. Thus, a safeguarding legislation was set out in The Children Act of 1989 and 2004. This legislation is also present in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and states that the children should be protected from abuse. According to Willis, Holden and Rosenberg (1992), The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups’ Act of 2006 introduced a list for those who are not allowed to work with children and another list for those not allowed to work with vulnerable adults in the society. Therefore, child protection is part of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, which is highly significant in protecting them from abuse and neglect. According to safeguarding legislation and government guidance, safeguarding means preventing impairment of children’s health and development, protecting children from abuse and neglect, making sure that children grow up in situations that are consistent with the provisions of effective and safe care. Additionally, it means undertaking the role of ensuring that children who are abused have optimum life chances and enter adulthood without any difficulties. Moreover, there are several main principles involved in underpinning work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. These principles support working with children and their families in order to safeguard and promote their welfare. Therefore, work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children should be child centered, rooted in the development of the child, focused on outcomes for children, have a holistic approach, involve children and families and ensure that there is equality of opportunity (Holden and Rosenberg, 1992). Other principles include having an integrated approach, building on strengths and identifying difficulties within the child, and being informed by evidence. People working with children are required to deeply understand the development of children, as well as understand the quality of care and how it impacts the health and development of children. They should recognize that each stage in a child’s life lays a foundation for further development. Thus, work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children should be deep rooted in child development. Also, it should focus on the outcomes for children where a plan should be developed for the child, their care takers and family that should be based on an assessment of the development of the child. In conclusion, child abuse and neglect does not only occur in poor families or neighborhoods, but it happens across all economic, cultural and racial lines. This occurs in all types of families and children are at high risk of being abused and neglected. Also, even those families that appear happy from outside probably have a lot to hide from the public (Lampinen and Sexton-Radek, 2010). Whether it is physical abuse, emotional abuse or sexual abuse, abused children usually suffer from severe psychological problems, which they might never recover. For this reason, the various governments world-wide have developed a variety of legislation and laws in order to and safeguard the welfare of children. Bibliography Besharov, D. J. 1990a. 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