...Child Abuse Name Institution Child Abuse Child abuse is when one jeopardizes or damages a child’s health, physical or emotional growth. Basically, it can be explained when one hurts a child with no valid reason and at times, it can be represented with an injury which emerges to be non-accidental (Help, 2010). Child Abuse can be in different forms the first one is sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is when an adult has sex with a child. It also includes child prostitution, exhibitionism or even forcing a child to watch any sexual acts (Help, 2010). The second one is physical abuse this is when one causes an intended injury to a child it also includes biting, burning, hair pulling, kicking, slapping and many others. The third one is emotional abuse it means behaving in a manner that affects the social or mental development of a child. When one screams or yells at a child, it affects their emotional growth. Calling them names or a shaming them affects their social life at a certain level (Help, 2010). The last form of abuse is when one neglects a child. This is when one stops to provide the basic or physical needs (adequate food, housing, medical attention and clothes) of a child it also includes not supervising a child. There has been a number of theories over years trying to explain the history of child abuse. Currently only six theories try to explain the source of child abuse. These theories use two main methods to explain...
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...With both parents struggling with drug abuse, Savannah was a victim and started using drugs at the age of ten. Consistently, she was taking pills, smoking marijuana, and drinking. Struggling with depression, bulimia, anorexia, and her parents’ physical and verbal abuse was demanding. In 2009, she ran away from home. At 15 years old, when the cops found her, her eyes were sunken in, her skin was black and blue and littered with cuts; she did not recognize herself. When Savannah entered the juvenile hall, sobriety began. At 18, she now works as a project coordinator for a drug recovery center (“True Story: Savannah”). Though Savannah's story ends well, this is not common for kids living with addicted parents. Ordinarily, kids from drug addicted parents do not end up in recovery, and often struggle with physical and psychological problems. Studies reveal, “25 percent of American kids grow up in households where substance abuse is present” (“Guide for Children of Addicted Parents”). Therefore, substance abuse affects children in numerous ways, including impacts of drug addiction, abusive parents, and involvement in rehabilitation programs. Similarly, substance abuse affects...
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...References 10-12 The topic of Child Welfare has a plethora of issues and problems that can be addressed to better serve the victims and families. In the Child Welfare profession, one of the biggest misconceptions is the agency wants to permanently remove children from their families and because of this many times Child Welfare workers receives constant ridicule and backlash for carrying out their job duties. In order to properly protect children, Child Welfare workers require a substantial amount of support from other local agencies, state and federal governments. Often in time, when working with families dealing with maltreatment, the individual committing the maltreatment has no idea that what they did was wrong. It is during the removal of the victim(s) and the court hearings where the perpetrator gains insight on what was wrong. In some situations, maltreating parents and guardians simply need help with learning how to cope differently with what is sometimes determined to be misguided anger. Research shows that if a parent or guardian has maltreated a child in the past they are likely to continue the maltreatment if there is no form of intervention and parents or guardians who were maltreated against as a child are likely to maltreat against a child. In the grand scheme of things, if there were programs geared to help new parents and repeat offenders of maltreatment to gain insight into maltreatment, there may be a reduction in the number of abuse and neglect cases reported....
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...Dysfunctional Family Systems and Disordered Self-Image Abstract: Disordered self-image, sense of self, and self-esteem are affected negatively by dysfunctional family systems. Maladaptive perfectionism affects mood, causes decreased self-esteem, and contributes to the development of avoidance tactics. Adolescent dysregulations includes disordered eating behaviors and/or eating disorders, anxiety, depression, body dissatisfaction, and extreme attempts at weight control; all of which can be caused by child sexual abuse, maladaptive perfectionism, parental attachment issues, and the development of alexithymia. Other dysregulations include faulty coping mechanisms, which are also affected by anxiety, depression, and neuroticism. Thesis: An adolescent’s sense of self, self-image, and self-esteem are affected by dysfunctional family systems, including family systems that reflect child sexual abuse, poor attachments, alcoholism, and the development of alexithymia. The adolescents in families such as these have psychological reactions to their disordered self-images and the dysfunctional family systems. Dysfunctional Family Systems and Disordered Self-Image Adolescent development of eating disorders, disordered eating behavior, and/or subclinical eating behaviors may be caused by perfectionism, child sexual abuse, or other trauma such as having alcoholic parents. Poor self-esteem, poor sense of self, and family dysfunctions may be caused by perfectionism, childhood sexual...
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...year old child who is left home with my uncle. I watched from my room as my parents drove away and the fear began. I entered the room to watch TV with my uncle. He put in a video of a sexual nature, as I get up to leave the room, he makes me stay. He touches me; I tried to get away but was over powered. Then it happens again, the sexual abuse and I was afraid to tell and face the consequences if I did. Child sexual abuse, is one of the most traumatic and devastating crimes with far reaching and sometimes, lifelong and lasting negative effects. It encompasses a wide spectrum of conditions and situations that at times may be difficult to delineate clearly and separately. Child sexual abuse is usually found in combinations rather than alone. Child sexual abuse is a problem of epidemic proportion in the United States as well as worldwide with many cases going unreported. Every day more than four children die as a result of child sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse is a crime that does not discriminate; it crosses all ethnic, social economic and racial lines. Key words: Effect, psychological, Self-Esteem, Child Sexual Abuse The Federal Government has established a very broad definition of child sexual abuse but has left it up to each state as to specific and detailed provisions. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment (CAPTA) amendments of 1996 defines child sexual abuse as * The employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticements, or coercion of any child to engage...
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...Divorce and the Destruction of the Family Ron Swanson Western Washington University The Destruction of the Family Throughout history, societies that valued traditional marriage and sexual abstinence were able to remain fundamentally strong and have flourished. Once a society decides to abandon these simple principles, destruction inevitably follows. J. Unwin (1934) wrote, “In human records, there is no instance of a society retaining its energy after a complete new generation has inherited a tradition which does not insist on prenuptial and postnuptial continence” (Unwin, 1934, p. 174). In today’s society, family and marriage are not defined by the traditional definition handed down through several millennia of history; rather the definition has been warped, and a new unstable version of the family has been accepted by our society. Traditional marriage is by its nature, the foundation of the family. The family is the building block of society, and marriage is the basis of the family. The devaluation of the conventional family, and more specifically, the destruction of traditional marriage by divorce, can have no other outcome but the destruction of our society. There are many reasons to evaluate why we have arrived at this state in our society: the growth of consumerism and commercialism, influence of Hollywood over our lives, the decline of religiosity in the United States, the decline of the social order and neighborhood relationships. All of these reasons are legitimate...
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...Child Abuse 2 Just about all children have many different experiences that will have a major impact on their lives before they reach full maturity. A child can face a lot of dangerous things from the environment surroundings them which might seriously affect their whole life. The definition of Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act: Child abuse is any action from adult to a child that can be harmful to the child’s body or mental (Children Welfare Information Gateway 2007). In the year 2005 there were about 3.6 million investigations by Child Protective Services Agencies in the U.S. an estimated 899,000 children (24.97%) were confirmed to be victims of child abuse (Children’s Bureau 2005). In general there are 4 different types of child abuse and they are as follows neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. In the case of neglect this is a parent or guardian is not meeting the primary needs of a child. The second is physical abuse and this is any physical injury inflicted upon the child with cruel or malicious intent. The third type of abuse is sexual abuse this is when an adult is involve in any sexual activity with a child. The last type of abuse is emotional maltreatment this is simply known as a behavior of children abuse that affects to the psychology life or social Child Abuse 3 Skills of a child. We can classify the reasons of child abuse into three different categories parental causes, ecological causes, and child problems...
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...The Affects of Abuse and Neglect Later in Life Word Count: 2,036 Literature Review The purpose of this study is to determine if child abuse and neglect affect social status, grade point averages (GPA), or psychological imbalances of individuals later in life. This study is important to address to the public of the long-term affects of abuse and neglect in relation to such topics. The subjects surveyed are college-aged students ranging from ages 18 to 25. This survey is based on abuse or neglect from the subject’s parents or guardians at any point from birth to age 16 or 18. The cut off age group is dependant upon how old the subject was once they moved out of the household. This study defines abuse as any form of intense ongoing verbal battery, unnecessary physical harm, or illegal sexual encounters directed to the subject via the parent or guardian. “The official federal definition of child abuse, state in the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, states, ‘…the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child under the age of eighteen by a person who is responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances which would indicate that the child’s health or welfare is harmed or threatened thereby’” (Gelles 1985). This study defines neglect as any form of lack of physical, cognitive, or affective care and support for the subject via parent or guardian. Physical care and support is based on the behavioral...
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...Many children suffer from different forms of child abuse such as physical, mental, and sexual abuse. The definition of child abuse according to (child help.org) “is when a parent or caregiver, fails to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child”. There are two types of child abuse that takes place every day, physical and sexual abuse, but the major form of child abuse based on years of research and study is physical abuse. According to (childhelp.org) physical abuse is define as “when a parent or caregiver causes any non-accidental physical injury to a child. Physical abuse can have detrimental effects on children. “The effects of child physical abuse may last a lifetime and can include brain damage and hearing...
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...The Unknown Predator: “Child Sexual Abuse” Denise Parnell Professor: Lisa Smoot Sociology January 29, 2012 Child Sexual Abuse Abstract: Child sexual abuse encompasses a wide, variety of abuses acts or experiences involving children private body parts. Sexual abuse is question when a child disclosure of intrafamily child abuse is complex. Child sexual abuse is more than bruises and broken bones. Physical abuse might be the most visible sign, other types of abuse such as sexual abuse, emotional abuse or child neglect, also leave deep long lasting scars. Child sexual abuse happens in situations where the child trusts or is dependent on the offender. People who sexually abuse children do so in order to meet their own needs. Some forms of sexual abuse involve physical contact. These include masturbation, intercourse, fondling, oral sex, and anal or vaginal penetration with objects. Other types of sexual abuse, such as exhibitionism, leering, and sexual suggestiveness, do not involve physical contact. Most children are too young and are unable to consent. Most children are abused by someone they know and trust. Abusers need not be strangers. They can be anyone in a position of power or trust: fathers, uncles, cousins, stepfathers, siblings, mothers, teachers, babysitters, neighbors, grandparents, peers, clergy, or doctors. And contrary to thinking family structure does play a part in abuse. That is, not all types of family structure are the same, and some are more likely...
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...will discuss the vulnerable population of child abuse caused by the children’s parents. It will include a description of the populations’ demographic based on research of professional literature. It will also include the description of my personal awareness of population before studying the demographics. It will state the effect of research on personal attitudes after gathering knowledge. It will then describe how knowledge might affect health care delivery. Finally, I will use self-reflection to evaluate my perception before and after learning about the population (University of Phoenix, 2013). Description of the Population’s Demographic The population’s demographic affected by the child abuse by parents, are both the parents and the children. Children affected by parental child abuse are a vulnerable population because often time children do not know who to seek help from. The children demographic are affected greatly because many times children feel that they do not want to get their parents in trouble because of the abuse. Children abused by parents are often considered a social problem, which is often silent. “Child abuse and neglect by parents remains a salient social problem, thus warranting a continued evaluation of measurement tools used to assess child abuse potential” (Merritt, 2009, para. 2). The populations of children being abused by their own parents are actually at a high percentage. “Approximately 40 percent of child victims were maltreated by their mothers...
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...within the household has touched everyone in some form or fashion. You may have known a family member, friend, co-worker or a neighbor who has been involved in domestic violence. It’s easy to say, why not pack and leave that type of environment; however, it is not always that straightforward, the battered person could be in love, cannot support the family financially, or just in fear of their life. Anyone can say what goes on in a domestic violence relationship, but do they know how it may impact the whole entire family that is involved? The physical signs of abuse are obvious such as black eyes,...
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...Effect of Abuse on Society Family and Community Drug abuse is common in all societies. Families and communities are becoming less happy and rarely yet torn by death, or a serious injury due to drug abuse. Unfortunately, around the world and throughout time, drug abuse has shown to be common among families. Abuse of any kind takes over everything in the abusers life. Drug and alcohol abuse can affect a person’s capability to keep a job. Drug and alcohol not only affects the person itself but everyone around him or her especial their families and the community. People around the world believe that drugs or alcohol are the solution to their problems, not knowing the problem becomes worst and a nightmare is about to begin. Drug abuse negatively affects family’s communication and interaction. Whether the abuser is the parent or a child, communication and interaction maybe a major motive to lead a family member into abusing drugs as well as abusing drugs eventually will cause lack of communication and interaction within a family because the abuser is focused on the drug and his or her next high, rather than thinking about spending time with family. If drugs are involved in a family the communication is negative and the mood within siblings is often depressing (livestrong.com, 2011). Families, who live under this type of home environment, tend to pass the same lifestyle to the next generation, and it is prone for the children to repeat the same cycle of drug abuse, lack...
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...Abuse From the day that we are born the everyday events that occur in our lives play an important role on the foundation of our memory as well as our physical, mental, and emotion development. Most of us are filled with memories of a good and happy childhood, but unfortunatly that is not the case in all children. Many children undergo much abuse during their childhood. From the physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, to that of edcational neglect, child maltreatment not only affects the child’s childhood years, it affects the indivudual’s adult life as well. Child abuse comes in many different forms and types. The one we are most familiar with is that of physical abuse. Such abuse includes deliberate acts of violence that injure children. Verbal abuse, in forms of shouting, humiliation, threats, and severe put-downs are forms of emotional abuse. Such abuse lowers individual’s self-esteem and disrupts a healthy emotional development. Another type of child abuse would be that of sexual abuse. Sexual acts of any form on a young child are all examples of child maltreatment. For victims of sexual abuse the symptoms are even more severe. A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self- esteem, a feeling of worthlessness and an abnormal perspective on sexuality. The child may become withdrawn and mistrustful of adults, and can become suicidal. Physical and emotional neglect are...
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...How childhood abuse can impact on the child Abstract “Child abuse is the term used when an adult harms a child or a young person under the age of 18. Abuse is always wrong and it is never the child/young person’s fault” (NSPCC) Child abuse can come in many forms like the physical maltreatment to sexual molestation. Child abuse can result in actual or potential harm to a child in many ways such as their development, health, dignity etc. It can occur because of many reasons. The parent/guardian may have a lack of support if they are just one family i.e. no extended or huge family to help, the child’s guardian may feel isolated. Another reason why it can occur is stress. If there are financial issues, work-related stress, medical problems etc. this can cause a parent/guardian to lash out and resort to abuse. If the child has a disability, the parent/guarding may find this very stressful and abuse the child. A big issue that can cause child abuse is drug or alcohol intake. This can affect how an individual acts and thinks so this may limit a parent's ability to meet their children's needs. Lastly, another harm to a child in many ways such as their development, health, dignity etc. It can occur because of many reasons. The parent/guardian may have a lack of support if they are just one family i.e. no extended or huge family to help, the child’s guardian may feel isolated. Another reason why it can occur is stress. If there are financial issues, work-related stress, medical problems...
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