Essay on Child Safeguarding

Throughout this work I will relate to a case study. I will provide a definition of abuse using both sociological and psychological perspectives to contribute to our understanding of the causes of abuse. I will define the types, indicators, signs and symptoms of abuse and its impact on families and individuals, identifying factors relevant to the case study, recognising and explaining current legislation making reference to Government reports/inquiries and research into failures to protect from harm and abuse. I will consider the policies and procedures that my work place use and I will identify some statutory and voluntary agencies and their roles in supporting those affected by abuse, relating specifically to the abuse of children.

As a practitioner we need to have knowledge of different signs and indications for when a child is abused and harmed. Abuse, harm of Children and Young People can be in different forms. It’s critical that we have the most up to date training in safeguarding as the signs and symptoms, indicators and behaviours of abuse in children and young people. The signs may include both physical and behavioural changes. Can often affect their health and their development. There are four types of abuse:

The topic of child abuse is one of the hardest topics to write about. It is imperative to have a profound understanding of this topic and its consequences specially when working in the field of human services. Professionally and personally, I have encountered situations where child abuse is present. This reality has touched my life in many ways and these experiences continue shaping me as a human being and as social service provider. I will try to cover in this paper the subject of child abuse, its definitions, and the scope of the problem and the proper prevention of it.

Child abuse may start when mothers “spank” their children. Spanking means to strike quickly and sharply with the hand or belt. Repeating this punishment will teach some children some lessons. But when this punishment no longer has much affect, a mother may apply more force; there for mishandling her child. Sometimes the mother may hit the child in ways where they temporarily bruise. Later

Physical abuse is considered to occur, “when a child undergoes or presents with a serious risk of being subjected to physical violence or when he or she is faced with unreasonable disciplinal methods” (Fontaine & Nolin, 2012). “Since physical abuse is a violent action, it is often believed that its effects are easier to detect” (Fontaine & Nolin, 2012). This particular article also compared physical abuse to neglect. The article stated that, “Neglect is defined as a lack of action or attention, and is the most common form of child maltreatment” (Fontaine & Nolin, 2012). Another article defined physical abuse as, “the use of physical force against children and subjecting them to hard work that exceed their capabilities, actions that result in

In terms of area of social policy, child protection and safeguarding plays a critical role in justifying its importance to children and families under the New Labour government 1997 – 2010. For instance Kirton (2009) mentions how a social construction approach may be useful when considering about child abuse. The advantage of adopting this approach is that it identifies how children develop at different rates also it considers how children’s view and participation may be important in relation to any discussion about harm. Moreover the statutory guidance DFE (2015) mentions about the various types of child abuse which could take place. These are physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and exploitation. From your views and opinion

“One study suggests that about 1 in 20 children has been physically abused in their lifetime”(Indiana). Physical abuse of a child is when a parent or caregiver causes any non-accidental physical injury to a child. There are many signs of physical abuse. If you see any of the following signs, please get help right away. Even if the caregiver didn’t mean to cause injury, when the child is injured it is abuse. Physical discipline from a parent that does not injure or impair a child is not considered abuse; however non-violent alternatives are always available. There are multiple signs of physical abuse in parent or caregiver. These would include: can’t or won’t explain injury of the child being harmed, or explains it in a way that doesn’t make sense, displays aggression to child or is overly anxious about child’s behavior, indicates child is not trustworthy, a liar, evil, a troublemaker, delays or prevents medical care for child, and it also could be that the parent or caregiver takes child to different doctors or hospital. The signs of physical abuse in a child can physically be any injury to a child who is not crawling yet, visible and severe injuries, injuries at different stages of healing, on different surfaces of the body, and unexplained or explained in a way that doesn’t make sense. The behavioral side of signs would lead to aggression towards peers, pets, other animals, seems afraid of parents

The department of education published the statutory guideline ‘working together to safeguard children. A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in March 2013.’ This replaces several previous documents including initial and core assessments by the common framework assessment (CAF). (www.workingtogetheronline.co.uk)

The legal definition of child abuse is deliberately broad to cover any situation where there is ‘reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering, or likely to be, significant harm’ (Children Act 1989:C41:PV:S47). To bring clarity, Working Together (2015) identifies four main areas of child maltreatment, including abuse in terms of physical, emotional and sexual, as well as neglect. The policy also gives a brief overview of typical scenarios appearing within each category. For instance, physical abuse entails acts like poisoning and hitting, failure to protect a child from harm constitutes as neglect, whilst making a child feel inadequate or humiliated is classified as emotional abuse. It can be stated that the three categories and examples highlighted particularly appertain to the case study.

Child abuse has been an ongoing problem throughout the years that can affect a child from infancy all throughout adulthood. There are three kinds of child abuse. The first one is emotional abuse, it involves the psychological and social aspects of child abuse. It is usually seen when a parent cares more about their personal needs and goals rather than their children. The type of parenting style is characterized as overt aggression towards children or intimidation and manipulation. The parents usually yell, bully and humiliate their child. Characteristics of emotionally abusive parents are: Calling names and comparing their child to others, parents are unrewarding and difficult to enjoy, associating their own negative behaviors with the child’s difficult behavior, no affection to their child like kisses or hugs. Another type of is called physical abuse. There is an equal probability for both females and males to get physically abused. There is a peak between ages 4-8 and a lot more deaths within toddlers and infants. Most cases of physical abuse may be confused for discipline when in reality it is actually physical abuse inappropriate for the children’s age or any age in general. There is a line between disciplining and making a child fearful towards an adult. Signs of a child in a physical abusive home includes children finding it hard getting along with their peers even other adults, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and low academic achievements. Sexual abuse is the

By definition, child abuse is the deliberate physical maltreatment or sexual molestation of a child by a caretaker. Hitting, beating, slamming against a wall, burning, and in severe cases, even killing. Why would anyone want to purposely hit an innocent child? While this is a question that many people wonder child abuse is actually more common than most people think. Every year more than 3.6 million referrals are made to child protection agencies with reports of child abuse. I argue throughout this paper that child abuse is a major social problem that obviously needs to be prevented. This paper begins by defining the different types of child abuse to inform the reader. Secondly the paper will state some common signs and symptoms of

Child abuse is a worldwide problem. According to the Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect, it is interpreted as any recent act of failure to act the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, which is an action or the failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm. Abuse comes in many forms such as: emotional, physical, sexual, verbal and neglect. Neglect is the failure to care properly; It has been proven as the most common form of maltreatment. Furthermore, some foresee physical abuse is just getting bruised up or thrown around or hurt in an aggressive way; however, physical abuse can not only be physically traumatizing, but also emotionally traumatizing. Physical assaults are usually paired with verbal insults and unreasonable expectations. Although it is difficult to detect a child abuser, the problem is more frequent than many people think and abuse of a minor in any way is extremely perverse.

The consequences of maltreatment can be devastating. The consequences of abuse and the failure to take care of their child or children affect the victims themselves and the society in which they live in. it is important, crucial even, to further investigate child abuse because it could tell us a lot about the thoughts in our society and the value of children to people. We should put stock into what children must say because it is always difficult in legal situations when children are involved because we think so little of what they should say. Therefore, being exposed to child abuse can lead into delinquency. The affects of child abuse are plentiful, particularly in relation to their physical, psychological and emotional needs and development. In addition to the damage caused to these aspects, this also can turn abused children to lives of delinquency. Physical consequences range from minor damage to severe brain damage and even death. Psychological consequences range from chronic low self-esteem to severe dissociative states. Behaviourally, the consequences of abuse range from poor peer relations all the way to extreme violent behaviours.

Child abuse is an all too common social problem in our society. Historically, child abuse has always been present, however, most commonly ignored due to parents being able to do what they please with their children who were viewed as one’s property. Today, this is no longer the case due to various laws and consequences towards the abuse of a child. As an illustration, child abuse is commonly presented in four categories: neglect, physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.

Currently in the UK around 50,500 children are experiencing some form of abuse (NSPCC, 2013a). It is shown that around 11.5%, or one out of nine young adults, during their childhood, experienced harsh physical abuse from an adult (NSPCC, 2013b). Radford and colleagues interviewed children below the ages of 11 and up to the ages of 24, but one of the group of children this study is interested in is 11 years and younger, of which he interview 2,160 parents of children aged 11 years and below (NSPCC, 2013b). He found that 1.3% or 1 in 80 of these children had experienced physical abuse