Physical And Psychological Treatment Of Victims Of Child Abuse

While it is always necessary to report suspected child abuse. The Department of Human Services (DHS) does not always do the best at ensuring that the children are in the best place for their own well being. After DHS receives the call that a child may be being abused they send out Child Protective Services (CPS) to evaluate wheiter or not a child is being abuse, treat the children if they are injured, and prevent the cycle of abuse and neglect from happening again. CPS and DHS do try and keep the families together if they can but if that is not possible the child is taken out of the custody of the parents and placed into the DHS custody and eventually introduced to foster parents. Children can receive a recommendation

Every year thousands of children are abused. This abuse can be physical, emotional or sexual in nature. All forms of abuse are wrong, all forms of abuse are harmful, but childhood sexual abuse can cause major emotional and physical harm in our adolescents. Before we can properly treat these victims we must first have a solid grasp of how and why sexual abuse occurs, the typical effects of the abuse and how the abuse changes the child's stages of development.

Published case reviews draw special attention on the professionals lack of knowledge and confidence when assessing risk in children coming from various religions and cultural backgrounds. A lack of understanding of these two key components, might put at significant risk the children's welfare, leading professionals to overlook certain situations and to offer inadequate support or lower standards of care (NSPCC, 2017).

Emotionally a child could receive ill treatment by someone telling them unpleasant things such as: saying they are inadequate, worthless and unloved; humiliation and criticism can also emotionally harm a child; treating a child differently to other children; not interacting with a child etc. The child will need to be taken away from this situation and placed into care either permanently or temporarily until the parent/s are seen fit for care of the child.

What is child abuse? From the word “abuse” we can understand that it is some sort of a maltreatment of a child, causing harm and damage both to his physical and psychological well-being. At the Federal level, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) describes child abuse and neglect as: “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” Child abuse is a very substantial and widely spread problem in U.S. affecting children of any age, gender, race, background or income, with more than 1.8 million investigations done every year and on average, killing more than 5 children every day. The main issue of child abuse is that the abuser is usually someone a child loves or depends on (a parent, sibling, coach, neighbor, etc.), who violates child’s trust putting personal interests first, therefore official numbers of how many children suffer maltreatment might be not accurate enough as remarkable amount of these cases go unreported. Each case of child abuse is unique, with a lot of individual factors involved, nevertheless, we can distinguish some of the common causes, such as poverty, lack of education, depression, mental or physical health

If the signs of abuse is not detected in time it can leave negative traits and will hinder the child’s adult abilities. This can include the child repeat what they with through as a child and committing the same crime to another child or they can commit murder or suicide. Preventions and interventions have to be near in order for healing and rebuilding to occur, and the workers who work around these children can be the ones to prevent this from happening or continuing to happen.

A child who is suffering from child abuse shows signs of depression, their attitudes and emotions change, the appearance of an abused will change, look for weight loss, is the child wearing the same clothes for two or three days, have they bathed, do they appear to be hiding something bruises or marks. Do they look tired or hungry? These are signs to look for. Family members and School officials should be the first the recognize child abuse, and should report it.

Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting, by those known to them or, more rarely, by a stranger for example, via the internet. They may be abused by an adult or adults, or another child or children. Physical abuse: Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.

“There are situations of where the child shuts down and stays in his own world. Studies have shown a link between child abuse and delayed intellectual development. The child loses his ability to adapt to his or her environment leading to poor cognitive development. The child produces feelings of guilt, violation, loss of control and lowered self-esteem sometimes with suicidal tendencies. Common problems include emotional and behavioral problems, poor performance in school, and possible further abuse (Husted).

According to The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, child abuse is defined as “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm,” (www.childwelfare.gov). This could be interpreted as physical, sexual or emotional abuse in childhood for those 18 years of age and younger. Child abuse can cause many risk factors and health issues for those affected which can life in later years.

This also pertains to the children who see the abuse happening to one of their parents. The person being abused might experience fear, depression, shame, anger, suicidal thoughts, use of drugs or alcohol to block the pain of being abused. A person who is being abused might also experience having an injury or death from the hands of their abuser.

Often times when children are abused or neglected its by family or someone the child trusts, It often times occurs when the family is in poverty or there are drugs or alcohol around. It is a major problem when family members notice that a child is being abused and/or neglected and they chose not to stand up for the child, most times young children will not even know that there is nothing wrong. It can be hard to notice “[But] Being able to recognize the physical effects of abuse can be crucial in identifying an abusive situation and taking steps to protect a child from further abuse or neglect” (Effects of child abuse). An abuser will make the children think they are playing some type of game or that what they are doing is okay, in some cases abusers will tell the children that they will get in trouble if they don’t do whatever is being asked. They could go as far as threatening the child if the child refuses to comply. It’s important to take care of cases like this immediately “Research has found that children exposed to violence or abuse, if left unaddressed or ignored, are at an increased risk for emotional and behavioral problems in the future” (Describing the problem). No child should ever have to go through these things much less have anyone to talk about it with and help them get through the terrifying

According to dictionary.com, child abuse is the “mistreatment of a child by a parent or guardian, including neglect, beating, and sexual molestation.” About five children die every day from child abuse and many children who are abused start experiencing it at eighteen months or younger. While abuse can start at any age, more than 25% are under the age of three and over 45% are under the age of five. The younger a child is, the more vulnerable they are. If signs of abuse are discovered at a young age, it is possible to recover from them completely through therapy and patience.

In terms of helping a child who is coping with the emotional abuse, there are many things we can do. As adults helping the abused child, we must provide calm reassurance and unconditional support. We must provide the child with any help possible. Remember when discussing the abuse with the child, remain calm, don’t interrogate, and reassure them that they did nothing wrong. You should also ensure that the child makes it to every therapy or doctor appointment in regards to the management of emotional abuse. If you suspect that a child is being abused it is crucial to speak up. To report child abuse call 1-800-800-5556.

Every child abuse case is different in its own way. Of course child abuse can lead to problems and suffering, but it's not that simple. Every child will have a different way of dealing with the