Running Head: CHILD ABUSE 1

CHILD ABUSE 2

Child Abuse

Savannah Carter

Dr. Russell CRIJ 3382 P01

March 3, 2022

Introduction

Child abuse is unfair treatment to children either sexually, psychologically, or physically. The issue is a matter of concern to every stakeholder, including healthcare and law enforcement. Child abuse cannot be ignored since it has a long-lasting effect on the growth and development of a child. Child abuse is a severe problem in many societies (Schneider, Waldfogel & Brooks-Gunn, 2017). Sometimes child abuse is conducted by outsiders and by the biological parents of a child. Many forms of child abuse are common in almost every country and include mental abuse, exploitation, physical abuse, abandonment, and sexual abuse. This assignment aims to provide evidence-based information to create awareness on various types of child abuse, identify cases of child abuse, and recommend the best method to reduce the barbaric practice across the globe.

Literature review

Based on Yang et al. (2013), the child is more likely to experience abuse from the immediate family members. The parents should be at the forefront to fulfill their parental responsibilities. Before the government institutions provide recommendations on ways to prevent child abuse, the parents should first act in the best interest of their children. Smith et al. (2014) indicate that government institutions from various countries have policies and laws that ensure maximum protection of children from abuse from any individual, including parents. Based on the authors, parents continue to abuse their children since they believe that they have the final say on the discipline and the life of a child. According to the authors, the most common law that has shown a lot of contribution in protecting a child's life is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The UNCRC protects a child from all forms of abuse, including abandonment by parents, sexual harassment, and physical violence.

Based on the article written by Morin, 2019, is that parents carry the more considerable blame for psychological abuse to their children. Psychological abuse is also known as emotional abuse. Children are mainly affected psychologically when parents and caregivers use excessive physical punishment on their children. Various forms of abuse can be initiated by parents and include manipulations, terrorizing and isolation, ignoring them, and rejecting them. Sugaya et al. (2012) believe that physical abuse has a long-lasting effect on the growth and development of children. The physical abuse includes burns and fractures. Some parents punish their children excessively, sometimes even burning and fracturing them.

Sexual abuse is also a common method to violate a child's rights. Sexual harassment includes rape, touching a child's genital parts, forcing a child to touch an adult's genital parts, sexual exploitation, and having intercourse with a child (Murray, Nguyen & Cohen, 2014). The authors also indicate that a child is more likely to be exposed to sexual abuse by close family members. (Mathews, Pacella, Dunne, Simunovic & Marston, 2020) indicates that child neglect is a form of child abuse. There is various type of neglect as a form of child abuse. The most common type of negligence is physical, where many parents leave their children without food, clothing, and shelter. On the other hand, educational neglect is when parents fail to provide education support, such as buying school uniforms and paying the school fees. The authors indicate that emotional neglect is when parents fail to support and love their children, mainly when they are sick in a particular abnormal challenge.

Gaps and possible research questions

In most cases, the adults understand the repercussion of child abuse, but the children older enough to know their rights lack enough information on where they can report when they are abused (Bartlett, Kotake, Fauth & Easterbrooks, 2017). How can children know their rights, and where can they report when their rights are violated? Future researchers should concentrate comprehensive information on laws and policies that facilitate awareness to children about their rights. Secondly, most of the rules are general, such as UNCRC. How can human rights activists and children access laws that specifically address child abuse? Future researchers should be aggressive and proactive in investigating specific laws that protect a child. For instance, the researchers should categorize various laws and address laws that prevent parents from using excessive force when punishing their children.

There is a huge gap between the collaboration between the law enforcers and medical interventions when protecting children from any abuse. The law enforcers should access information from the healthcare professionals regarding children abuse. The lawbreakers should be prosecuted based on the clinical evidence provided by doctors and nurses regarding physical and emotional damage to a child due to misuse.

Conclusion and solution

The government official from the department of children writes you should establish community-based education to create child abuse awareness in areas with high child abuse cases. The education program will enable individuals to have the courage to report people who abuse a child to the relevant authorities. Parents should be actively involved in setting policies that guarantee child protection. It is critical to impose high penalties, fines, and jail terms for individuals violating children's rights. Child trauma is likely to affect a child even in their adult age. We must protect children from all forms of abuse to create a better society in the future.

References

Bartlett, J. D., Kotake, C., Fauth, R., & Easterbrooks, M. A. (2017). Intergenerational transmission of child abuse and neglect: Do maltreatment type, perpetrator, and substantiation status matter?. Child abuse & neglect, 63, 84-94.

Mathews, B., Pacella, R., Dunne, M. P., Simunovic, M., & Marston, C. (2020). Improving measurement of child abuse and neglect: A systematic review and analysis of national prevalence studies. PLoS one, 15(1), e0227884.

Morin, A. (2019). How to Recognize If a Child Is Emotionally Abused. Retrieved 5 August 2019, from

Murray, L. K., Nguyen, A., & Cohen, J. A. (2014). Child sexual abuse. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 23(2), 321-337.

Schneider, W., Waldfogel, J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2017). The Great Recession and risk for child abuse and neglect. Children and youth services review, 72, 71-81.

Smith, A. L., Cross, D., Winkler, J., Jovanovic, T., & Bradley, B. (2014). Emotional dysregulation and negative affect mediate the relationship between maternal history of child maltreatment and maternal child abuse potential. Journal of Family Violence, 29(5), 483- 494.

Sugaya, L., Hasin, D. S., Olfson, M., Lin, K. H., Grant, B. F., & Blanco, C. (2012). Child physical abuse and adult mental health: a national study. Journal of traumatic stress, 25(4), 384- 392.

Yang, B. Z., Zhang, H., Ge, W., Weder, N., Douglas-Palumberi, H., Perepletchikova, F., … & Kaufman, J. (2013). Child abuse and epigenetic mechanisms of disease risk. American journal of preventive medicine, 44(2), 101-107.