Child Abuse Research Paper
Most parents and other caregivers do not intend to hurt their children, but abuse is defined by the effect on the child, not the motivation of the parents or caregiver.Tens of thousands of children each year are traumatized by physical, sexual, and emotional abusers or by caregivers who neglect them.Child abuse as common as it is shocking. Most of us can’t imagine what would make an adult use violence against a child, and the worse the behavior is, the more unimaginable it seems. But the incidence of parents and other caregivers consciously, even willfully, committing acts that harm the very children they’re supposed to be nurturing is a sad fact of human society that cuts
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Mary Ellen Wilson was born in 1864 to Francis and Thomas Wilson of New York City. Soon thereafter, Thomas died, and his widow took a job. No longer able to stay at home and care for her infant daughter, Francis boarded Mary Ellen (a common practice at the time) with a woman named Mary Score. As Francis’s economic situation deteriorated, she slipped further into poverty, falling behind in payments for and missing visits with her daughter. As a result, Mary Score turned two-year-old Mary Ellen over to the city’s Department of Charities (National Network for Child Care.) When a child experiences emotional abuse, the wounds run skin deep. Kids who suffer repeated trauma feel lonely, scared, worthless and unloved, which is exactly the opposite of how children should feel. Abused children often become broken, hollow and bitter, with mental consequences that last long after the physical wounds have healed. The emotional stress it puts on children is tremendous. The most obvious effect of child abuse is physical injury to the child. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, physical injuries can be minor, such as bruises, or severe, such as broken bones or even death, but the pain and suffering leaves much deeper emotional scars. Sometimes, abuse can lead to lasting or recurring health problems, such as shaken baby syndrome
Depression and anxiety, for example, may make a person more likely to smoke, abuse alcohol or drugs, or overeat. High-risk behaviors, in turn, can lead to long-term physical health problems, such as sexually transmitted diseases, cancer, and obesity. Not all children who have been abused or neglected will experience long-term consequences, but they may have an increased susceptibility. The immediate physical effects of abuse or neglect can be relatively minor (bruises or cuts) or severe (broken bones, hemorrhage, or even death). In some cases, the physical effects are temporary; however, the pain and suffering they cause a child should not be discounted. Child abuse and neglect can have a multitude of long-term effects on physical health. NSCAW researchers found that, at some point during the 3 years following a maltreatment investigation, 28 percent of children had a chronic health condition (Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation [ACF/OPRE], 2007). Below are some outcomes other researchers have identified: Impaired brain development. Child abuse and neglect have been shown to cause important regions of the brain to fail to form or grow properly, resulting in impaired development. These alterations in brain maturation have long-term consequences for cognitive, language, and academic abilities and are connected with mental health disorders (Tarullo,
Children who have been abused are left with more than just physical scars. They have many psychological, emotional, and behavioral problems as well. Their social lives are affected dramatically, and they suffer lifelong effects. (Lambert) Children tend to
Child abuse consists of different types of harmful acts directed toward children. In physical abuse, children are slapped, hit, kicked or pushed, or have objects thrown at them causing wounds, broken bones, or other injuries. Severe abuse may result in major injury, permanent physical or developmental damage, or even death. Emotional abuse involves humiliation, dishonoring or other acts carried out over time that terrorize or frighten the child. Sexual abuse consists of a wide
The people doing it or seeing it may not even know that it is happening. Emotional abuse can change a thought of a child. A positive to a negative if you will. Then eventually many thoughts a child may have will direct to completely negative. Emotional abuse can be crippling to a child’s everyday life. Humiliation, judging, criticizing and degradation are just some forms of emotional abuse. Verbal abuse is not the same, but can identify with the silent scars as emotional abuse. These kinds of abuses will interfere with a child’s development and may be more likely to have self-esteem issues than most children. The physiological effect will ultimately damage a bond between the child, and the attacker.
A number of devastating psychological effects have been attributed to abuse in childhood (Sansone, Kelley, & Forbis, 2013). The mental health effects that may be caused are anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), low self-esteem and may cause suicidal thoughts. Usually the aggressor tries to scare the person to not speak about what is going on or they just feel so ashamed it takes time for them to speak up.
There are significant signs of psychological trauma due to any kind of abuse. Children experience feelings of low self esteem and depression. Many exhibit behavioral problems including aggression towards other children. Other emotional problems include hostility, fear, humiliation and the inability to express feelings. The social impacts of physical abuse include inability to form relationships, poor social skills, poor cognitive language skills, distrust of others, over-compliance with authority figures, and tendency to solve interpersonal problems with aggression. (2008, p. 1). Verbal and physical abuse has a cumulative impact on children’s socialization. Abused children are caught in damaged relationships and are not socialized in positive, supportive way (Craig & Dunn, Ex.: 2010, p. 196). They learn defiance, manipulation and other problem behaviors that are used to escape any maltreatment. In turn they will learn to exploit, degrade and terrorize.
“Child abuse can affect the child physically, psychologically, behaviorally, and on some conditions can affect the children in all three ways. ”(Child welfare information gateway) “Young adults who have been abused have experienced many problems after including, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and even suicide attempts. ”(Child welfare information gateway) There are many long term effects that victims can have these also include low self-esteem, depression, and relationship difficulties. “Not all victims of child abuse will experience behavioral or emotional consequences, but they will definitely appear to be more likely among this group.
Child maltreatment is not a new social problem for the United States however, child maltreatment remains to be a substantial social problem that continues to draw the attention of legislators at the federal and state level, the child welfare system, and society as a whole. Child maltreatment includes the unthinkable act of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse inflicted on a child by a parent or caregiver which results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a minor child. In addition to abuse, child maltreatment includes neglect of a child by a parent or caregiver. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) guides the response and treatment to the increasingly recognized issue of child abuse and neglect experienced by children
Children in the foster care system are being constantly abused, how is the government in fault for everything? Various times tragic and violent things happen like children starving or kids being verbally threatened and the government is blamed with no proof making it invalid, in this case there is proof about how they are in fault, as Kubitschek in her 2005 article “ Holding Foster Care Agencies Responsible for Abuse and Neglect” illustrates how the government “removes children from their parents who are claimed abusive and the government places them in a safer environment, most cases this doesn’t happen”. Interesting thing is that although it’s away from their previous abusive home they are being but again into the same situation. As Kubitschek
Children exposed to child and domestic abuse can have very severe mental disorders. “Numerous studies have demonstrated that children exposed to domestic abuse and/or child abuse are more likely to experience a wide range of adverse psychosocial and behavioral outcomes’’(Carrie). Exposure to domestic abuse in childhood has been linked to a similar set of outcomes, including low self-esteem, social withdrawal, depression, and anxiety also aggression, violence, and delinquency. If a child witnesses punching, hitting, and screaming around a preschool age group can affect them through their whole life with horrific memories and/or flashbacks. It's important to realize that domestic abuse has different effects depending on the child. Problems were significantly higher for boys exposed to domestic abuse rather than girls. Other studies have shown boys to be at higher risk of externalizing problems in adolescence after being abused in childhood, but girls exposed to domestic abuse were at higher risk than boys for both externalizing and internalizing behaviors, including
Child abuse is a serious matter and when there is insight of child abuse, the clinician should make sure that child abuse or maltreatment is taking place by confirming with multiple resources, like teachers, the child, parents, CPS, etc. Maltreatment occurs because of multiple factors, like previous parent history of abuse/ maltreatment, poverty, etc. (Lanier, Kohl, Benz, Swinger, and Drake, 2014).Thomas and Zimmer-Gembeck (2011) conducted a research study where PCIT was evaluated to see if it is has an effect on improving or reducing the chances of child abuse and maltreatment. These used observation and multiple paper-pencil measures that they asked parents, observers, and teachers to complete. Results found that PCIT was positively associated
Child abuse is one of the most serious issues in the United States today. Child abuse is the physical, emotional/ psychological or sexual maltreatment of a minor. Neglecting a child is another type of abuse, and includes malnutrition, abandonment, and/or inadequate care of a child’s safety. Additionally, any neglectful act can lead to physical or emotional harm and in some cases death of a child. Unfortunately, young children are the most vulnerable population to child abuse. Statistics indicate that victims in their first year of life had the highest rate of victimization at 21.9 per 1,000 children of
We never know what is going through a child’s mind when being a witness of abuse, especially when they are young. When a child grows up at such horrid environment, they're view in life changes automatically making them believe that this is the way of life. As these abused children get older, they do not know how to control what they feel in the inside and end up expressing it by taking their anger out on others, simply because that’s what they have “learned” in life”. “Abused children cannot express emotions safely. As a result, the emotions get stuffed down, coming out in unexpected ways. Adult survivors of child abuse can struggle with unexplained anxiety, depression, or anger” (Child Abuse and Neglect 1).however, though, the child does not evolve into a negative environment by being abused, the path that could also lead to a young child’s mind into negativity would be witnessing any kind of abuse within the house.
Research indicates that 1 out of every 4 children will be the victim of sexual abuse before reaching age 18
All these types of abuses have a huge effect on the children. These abuses leave long lasting scars whether it is neglect, physical, emotional or sexual. These scars damage a child 's sense of self, abilities to have healthy relationships, ability to function in the world. It gives them a lack of trust. They no longer feel they can trust those they love or think they know really well because of what was done to them. There will always be that fear in the back of their minds wondering if this person will do that to them. For those who have been verbally abused may feel worthless or damaged. After being told over and over again these harsh comments they start to belive they are true. Also