Critical Analysis Essay : Child Abuse and Protection Assignment Help
Critical Analysis Essay
1. Select a topic within the child protection field, such as fostering, adoption, abuse, and any issue directly pertaining to child welfare in the United States.
2. Research this topic in detail utilizing peer reviewed journals and text books. Valid governmental websites are acceptable but not Wikipedia or news articles.
3. Provide history on the topic, including statistics to demonstrate the nature and extent of the issue.
4. Examine the issue from four perspectives: Social, Psychological, Economic, and the Impact on the Family System.
5. Include a final section on recommendations for positive change on this issue in the system.
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Introduction
It is observed that the issue of child abuse has increased a lot in the present-day time across the world. Child abuse refers to child maltreatment practices such as physical harassment, sexual harassment, neglect, and other forms of torture toward the children especially by either parents or caregivers in a given environment (Humphrey, 2015). It will thereby cause harm to the child in multiple ways and hence there is a need to take steps in this direction.
Considering the rising challenges of child abuse, the Criminal Justice of US has formulated different laws to prevent the rising rates and also punish the culprits of such cases in a given community. The definition of Child abuse varies among professionals and different social and cultural groups (Humphrey, 2015).
As per the definition of social and cultural groups, child abuse will reflect to disturbing and abusing the child in forms of physical harassment, mental harassment, sexual advances, and even making them suffer from psychological perspectives (Humphrey, 2015). As a result, these children will suffer from multiple physical and mental injuries in a given environment.
They need to be immediately treated by the healthcare organizations, psychological experts, and other concerned child advocates. It will thereby first protect these children against the negative consequences of child abuse and neglect in a given environment.
The role of the healthcare professionals, governmental agencies, and other concerned experts is important as they need to first identify the factors that are leading to cases of child abuse in the community. Second, they need to design the roadmap through which they will be able to prevent incidents of child abuse in a given environment (Humphrey, 2015).
Finally, they need to provide all types of support to the children that have suffered from such incidents so that they can improve on their conditions and thereby can get back to their normal lives (Humphrey, 2015). This report will thereby discuss the issue of child abuse and the associated consequences. It will also identify the gaps of the governmental practices in addressing this social issue and thereby will provide recommendations to improvise the future outcomes.
Literature Review Analysis
Researchers have highlighted that the issue of child abuse has increased a lot compared to the earlier times. As per the reports of National Statistics on Child Abuse, nearly 1700 children died from abuse and neglect in the US.
The Children Advocacy Centers reported that there were more than 300,000 child victims of abuse that got affected in multiple ways. Even, the governmental reports confirmed that nearly 700,000 children are abused across the nation on annual basis (Underwood, 2016). It is thereby necessary to take proper and preventive steps in this direction.
Further, 3.4 million children received response from child protective agencies in 2015 and the government is still involved in providing the necessary aid to these affected children (Underwood, 2016). One of the researchers mentioned that children in the first year of life had the highest rate of victimization of around 25 per 1000 children in a given nation.
On the other hand, another research report stated that children experienced 75% of them suffered neglect, 17% of them suffered from physical abuse and 8% suffered from sexual abuse (Underwood, 2016). Out five abusers, four of them were found to be parents and thus it became more vital for the government and other concerned agencies to help these children in a given environment.
The governmental reports further stated that due to such abuse, children were found to be suffering from mental health disorders such as depression, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, smoking and drinking at an early age, and even committing suicide attempts (Underwood, 2016).
There were also risk factors found among those children who suffered from sexual abuse such as - unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, fetal death, and early initiation of sexual activities (Underwood, 2016). It will thereby impact directly on the physical and mental health of these children in a given environment.
The government needs to make strong efforts in this direction and take criminal law actions against the major culprits of the different cases of child abuse. Also, the healthcare practitioners need to start different treatment programs to help these children overcome the negative consequences of child abuse (Underwood, 2016); it will thereby allow them to restart their lives in a given community environment.
Examine the issue from four perspectives
• Social
As mentioned, the number of cases for child abuse has increased a lot across the US. Despite taking multiple steps, it seems that the parents are not handling their responsibilities properly; they thereby need to get punished under the Court of Law so that they can improve on their relations with their children (Duggan & Piper, 2013).
However, before deciding on different courses of actions that can be taken, it is necessary to understand the impacts of such incidents from different perspectives. First, from the social perspective, it will have a direct impact on the relationship between the parents and the child. As parents have been neglecting their children, these children will have social impacts such as - social withdrawal, lesser bonding with other children in a given community, sexual promiscuity, mood disorders, induction of risk-taking behaviors, and poor peer relations (Gavrielides, 2013).
It will thereby impact them on their mind and hence they will quit from the given social environment. They will be no more interested in formulating relationships with any of individuals of the community. It will be more challenging for the healthcare practitioners to handle such children as they will be suffering more from depression and other mental health disorders.
They thereby need to devise a treatment plan that will first boost their confidence, inner morale, and their mental strength in a given environment. The psychological experts will require to support child from all the perspectives, provide more attention to them and protect them wherever required, listen to the different needs of these children, and thereby ensure providing them with all necessary resources and support (Gavrielides, 2013).
There is also a need to develop a safety policy regarding this issue so that the social care agencies will be acting immediately on the problems of child abuse found across the community. It will thereby allow these children to regain their focus on their life and also on their education in a given learning environment.
• Psychological
Child abuse will result into a range of psychological effects among the impacted children. Children in these cases are found to be ignored, terrorized, shamed, and even humiliated in every situation. As per the reports of Joyful Heart Foundation, it was found that the brain development of the child is greatly impacted in such cases (Gavrielides, 2013). They stop responding to caregivers, healthcare practitioners, and other concerned family members.
As they grow, they will experience insecurities, lack of developmental skills, and lower self-esteem. Hence, they will even fail in gaining trust of other people, in shaping their careers, and also in overcoming the challenges of social withdrawal (McCartney, 2014). In another cases, it is found that babies and pre-school children are psychologically abused and neglected due to which their shaping of new behaviors gets impacted a lot.
These children later will not be able to develop the required abilities and traits that will further result into lack of desired social skills in a given environment. Researchers have found that children who get impacted through such psychological impacts are found to be suffering from reactive attachment disorder.
This disorder will not allow children to respond in a developmentally fashion to given different situations. Psychological abuse is thus linked to anxiety disorders, increased depression, and other difficulties in interpersonal relationships (McCartney, 2014). The role of the psychological practitioners thereby becomes challenging in handling such cases of child abuse and neglect.
They need to design special treatment programs for these children to help them overcome mental health disorders; also, they need to provide support so that they can overcome different stress factors and dissociative symptoms.
According to Georges Menachem, the French sociologist, there is a need to dissolve such inequalities among the children so that they can live their normal lives back again. For this to achieve, the role of government will be vital as they need to first formulate laws and policies and thereby design the roadmap to achieve those objectives (Quinn, 2013).
• Economic
Child abuse is a complex phenomenon and hence will impact them from different perspectives. Due to negative consequences, there are social and psychological impacts on the minds of the children. In addition, it is also found that there are economic impacts on these children.
For example, children in some cases are forced to work in a given environment. In another cases, they are not allowed to receive the desired education. Some of them when grow up will lack in the desired skills and educational qualifications that will further not allow them to have desired employment in their life (Quinn, 2013).
Even, the economic costs associated with drug and alcohol abuse are more; thus, under such cases, it is vital for the government and social care organizations to take necessary steps in this direction. They need to provide different support to these children, educate the parents, spread awareness in the community, and also conduct healthcare sessions to overcome these challenges in a given environment (Mehta et al., 2013).
The government also needs to deploy mechanisms to evaluate the performance of prevention strategies. It will thereby allow them to determine gaps, if any, and accordingly take measures to improvise the future outcomes.
• Impact on the Family System
Child Abuse has multiple impacts not only on the child but also on the family members in a given domestic home environment. First, a given child who has suffered from child abuse will feel isolated and will stop participating in family events (Mehta et al., 2013). These children will ignore their parents and also will stop obeying them. It will thereby create a distance between parents and their child that will further lead to other negative consequences.
Second, such children will lack in developing required social skills, will feel alone, will even lack in developing relations with their peers and other friends in the neighborhood, and will stop trusting anyone in a given environment. The impact of such emotional abuse will be so high that it will create fears among these children (Mehta et al., 2013).
They will fail to express their needs and also will not be in a position to manage their self-esteem in home and school environment. The family members on the other hand will suffer from physical and mental effects such as depression and withdrawal from the current social environment. It is further found that due to parental drug abuse, these children suffer a lot in the present environment.
There could be also effects on the family structure that could further lead to multiple negative consequences. It is thereby recommended to not only provide healthcare assistance to the children but also arrange for family counselling programs to reduce the impact of child abuse on the entire family (Mehta et al., 2013).
The role of the psychological experts will be vital as they need to develop strategies of personal safety and assist healthy ways to children and their parents; they need to find ways through which they will be able to develop desired bonding between both the entities (Mehta et al., 2013).
For this purpose, it is more important to educate parents, enhance their behavior in the right direction, develop positive discipline techniques, and subsequently focus on child developmental skills in a given learning environment (Csengeri, 2015). The role of counselors will be to conduct different education awareness programs on the issue of child abuse and thereby foster child care in a given environment.
Governmental Policies to foster Child Care
There are different federal laws designed for the purpose of developing prevention services for the children who are impacted with child abuse. The government has prepared A Complete Guide to the Family First Prevention Services to bring about desired social change in the community.
Second, there are Criminal Laws formulated for Child Abuse to prevent such incidents in a given environment. In addition, the local level and state level policies are formulated with an objective to assess the current environment of the community, determine the factors for child abuse, and accordingly suggest ways for preventing these incidents in a given environment (Csengeri, 2015).
Child sexual abuse prevention programs are developed to help these children prevent such incidents and also protect them against the mental health disorders. There is a need to organize prevention campaign so that parents can take the responsibility and follow safety and precaution procedures in a given social environment (Csengeri, 2015).
Recommendations and Action Plan
This report has provided inputs on the different challenges of child abuse that the children face from different perspectives. Today, children are facing these challenges in different ways that include - child trafficking, gender-based violence against girls, female genital mutilation, child marriage, and violence against children with superstitious accusations.
It is thereby necessary for not only the government but also for social organizations such as the National Alliance of Children's Trust Funds and other regulatory agencies to develop an action plan against the culprits of the society (Walsh et al., 2013). It is first important to use criminal laws to catch the key people that are involved in such incidents.
Second, there is a need to devise child welfare laws to terminate parental rights and provide more freedom and access to resources to the children. The healthcare organizations need to develop mental health statutes and also provide necessary treatments to the children that are impacted.
Third, the role of psychological professionals will be vital as they need to analyze the current situation of a child. They can accordingly conduct different psychological sessions for improving the social values and current mindset among the children (Redleaf, 2013). Further, there is a need to improve bonding between parents and their child so that parents can play a vital role in overcoming the identified challenges of child abuse.
Fourth, the role of schools and other educational institutions is vital as they not only need to provide required education but also boost morale and inner confidence of these children. It will thereby allow them to overcome their mental fears and subsequently improve their social behaviors in a given challenging environment (Redleaf, 2013). The children need to provide with multiple solutions and care treatments so that they can restart their normal lives.
Finally, the parents need to nurture their child by supporting them from different perspectives. The schools on the other hand in association with the healthcare practitioners need to promote programs in schools to guide the parents of these children (Thomas & Humphery, 2014). It will thereby allow them to overcome all the risk factors associated with child abuse in a given environment.
Conclusion
This report has identified the major challenges that the children face in the case of child abuse. They suffer from wide range of adverse childhood experiences that leads to decline of their natural growth in a given environment. They further face issues of social, emotional, and cognitive impairment due to which they lack desired concentration and attention, fail to trust on anyone, lack in communication and coordination, and also deny of receiving education (Thomas & Humphery, 2014).
On the other hand, the government reports also state that they suffer from physical and mental healthcare disorders. As a result, they will not be able to overcome depression, anxiety challenges, fear, and other such causation factors in a given environment (Thomas & Humphery, 2014). It is first the responsibility of the parents to overcome all the risk factors that could lead to child abuse.
Second, the role of the healthcare practitioners will be to educate parents and provide all kinds of treatment options to the children. Third, the role of the social care agencies will be to take criminal actions against the culprits and offer all types of support to the children. The school management and administration teams need to work in coordination with the healthcare authorities and conduct sessions and seminars to educate parents (Thomas & Humphery, 2014).
They even need to motivate these children, allow them to have access to freedom and other required resources, allow them to enjoy and play in a natural environment, and thereby help them grow and nurture against the challenges of child abuse. There is a need to develop teacher intervention strategies as well so that these children can get educated and will be able to perform as per the expectations (Thomas & Humphery, 2014). Finally, the government needs to monitor these strategies, determine gaps, if any, and thereby provide recommendations to improve the future outcomes.
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