AN INTRODUCTION

We are currently living in a time when the world of medicine is making historical breakthroughs in the world of science everyday. Also many times we hear of diseases being caused by viruses. A VIRUS would attack its host and alter it physically after a period of time. CHILD ABUSE is just like a virus. It infects, it spreads and it alters it’s victim.

According to Law through the “Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act”; A CHILD is a person not yet 18 years old, except in cases or sex abuse or the age specified by the Child Protection Law of the USA. (These laws differ from state to state) CHILD ABUSE is any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious emotional or physical harm, sexual abuse or exploitation. An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.

Child Abuse is not only a personal or family problem, it is a problem that faces society as a whole. Children who suffer from abuse many times grow up to affect the society in a negative manner. They suffer from psychological damage that’s stays with them their entire lifetime.

There are different types of Child Abuse and they are:

• Emotional Abuse (Patrice)
• Physical Abuse (Anna)
• Child Neglect (Michelle)
• Verbal Abuse (Sharmaine)
• Sexual Abuse (Myself)

One form of abuse rarely occurs without the presence of another. In every state of abuse there is one that accompanies all the rest and that is “EMOTIONAL ABUSE.”

EMOTIONAL ABUSE

There are two definitions for EMOTIONAL ABUSE. The first is taken from “The National Center on Child Abuse” which defines Emotional Abuse as “acts or omissions by the parents or caretakers that have caused, or could cause serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional or mental disorders.” The second definition is taken from “The American Medical Association (AMA)” which defines Emotional Abuse as “when a child is regularly threatened, yelled at, humiliated, ignored, blamed or otherwise emotionally mistreated.

Emotional Abuse is more than just an attack with words, it is the suppression of the child’s emotional and social development, thus making it a threat to the development of a healthy person. Emotional Abuse takes many forms and here are all 11;

Belittling This is where a child sees themselves in a way that justifies the actions of the abusers. This limit the child’s own potential.

Coldness This gets the name from the type of emotion the parent or guardian expresses towards a child during the early life when they should be seeing security and love from their parents. This deprives the child of the necessary tools for intellectual and social development.

Corrupting Is when the parents teach the child to engage in antisocial behavior which makes the child unfit for normal social interaction later in life.

Cruelty this is similar to coldness but it is more severe. It therefore hinders the mental progression of the child.

Extreme Inconsistency from an adult will confuse a child and not make them learn what is expected of them from the start. This can affect all areas of learning since there is no consequent interaction for the child to shape from.

Harassment scares a child by giving them repeated exposure to fear. The effects are similar to that of Belittling but also has a stress response in it. This affects a child physically making them vulnerable in the face of stressful situations.

Ignoring a child deprives him/her of all the essential stimulation necessary for emotional, intellectual and social development.

Inappropriate Control This is further broken into 3 more forms

Lack of Control, which puts children at risk for danger or harm to themselves.

Over Control which stops children form experiencing and exploring the world around them. Inconsistent Control which can cause anxiety and confusion which leads to problematic behaviors.

Isolating This type of abuse is often accompanied by other types of emotional abuse and many times by Physical abuse. It cuts them off from normal social experiences and leads to depression and seriously impairs intellectual, social and emotional development.

RejectingThis is the negating of the child’s ’self image’ by showing them that they have no value. Children who suffer from this type of abuse find a range of disturbed self-soothing methods. To show the extent of rejection let us look at an infant. If an infant is rejected it has almost no chance of becoming a healthy adult.

Terrorizing is like harassment and creates as stress response in children. This alters a child physically by lowering the ability to fight off diseases.

It can be seen that EMOTIONAL ABUSE is the core of other forms of abuse. It is more detrimental to the health of a child by suppressing their resistance at a young age.

Emotional Abuse is the most difficult form of abuse to substantiate and prosecute. Most times it has to be followed by actual injury namely PHYSICAL ABUSE before any action can be taken.

SEXUAL ABUSE

Sexual Abuse is probably the most disgusting form of child abuse. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect defines Child sexual abuse as “contacts or interactions between a child and an adult when the child is being used for sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or another person in control over the victim.”

Sexual Abuse is any time a child is engaging in a sexual situation with an older person. It may be actual physical contact like fondling or it may even be rape. It does not however, stop there. The list goes on to other things as well such as making a child watch sex acts or showing them pornography or making them look at adult private parts.

Since this very act of sex abuse is so disgusting and embarrassing think about, those who are abused do not usually repot when it happens making it the most under reported for of child maltreatment today.

A sexual molester of a child does not just go and perform the act and leaves, no! It is something that takes time in happening. It can be broken down into 6 stages.

THE APPPOACH, which the abuser makes sure that, they are alone showing that it is an intentional activity that is being done. When the child is alone with the person, they may start by sometimes playing what he calls a game. The child then trusts the adult authority figure. This trust is further stretched after the act when the abuser says, “it’s out little secret.”

SEXUAL INTERACTION, This shows that this form of abuse is something progressive and usually leads to a form of penetration.

SECRECY, Where the offender talks to the child to stay quiet about the incident. However, the longer the secret is kept, the longer the behavior will be able to continue. Many offenders may even be more specific in saying that bad things will happen to you if you tell on them. The child will keep this secret unless the pain gets to great and they reveal it or they may do so accidentally. In many cases it is therapists who generally find out about this secret years later when they become adults.

DISCLOSURE, Often times disclosure is not done intentionally but may be from an unintentional slip or from observation by a teacher, day care provider or other. It may also be that the child is so traumatized that they drop a line or two in a totally unrelated topic. When the truth comes out the first thing the abuser does is to attempt to undermine the victim’s account. The parents will then have to deal with the question “How will this affect me?” which leads them to wonder if it is wise to repot or not. Reporting can be a positive step. It can get protection for the victim and can help the abused go forward with their life.

SUPRESSION, this is a mistake that many people generally make probably saying, “it’s not anything big, and they’ll get over it.” But the truth of the matter is that they most certainly will not get over it. There would be times when the abuser will try to say that the child made the idea up situation and make up factual and fictional faults in the victim. The child will respond to this by simply stop cooperating with the investigation or just change their story so as to get back into good graces with others.

REPRESSION AND RECOVERY is by a choice. If this aspect is ignored the offender wins and probably ends up abusing another child. Recovery is not an easy process but it is a preferred choice.

If the people involved will not let the offender rest then their reward is that the young person will not have to live with a lie. They will also know that a sexual predator was stopped and that is worth it all.

CONCLUSION

Ladies and gentlemen, you have just seen beyond the shadow of a doubt that child abuse is a very big problem. We know that child abuse has a number of different effects on children depending on the type of abuse it is. We have seen that that the abuse almost never happens alone.

There is emotional abuse that has many various forms and there is little doubt that we have seen this happen in some place or the other.

Then there is physical abuse that leaves scars on a person, damaging them physically as well as mentally.

Next, we have child neglect and it’s various forms after which follows Verbal abuse.

Finally we saw what sexual abuse can do to a child and the stages in which it occurs.

Abuse is probably the most dangerous thing that can happen to a child. It can be avoided by educating the child about the appropriate information. Talk to them about sex and how it is different from abuse. The Government is also included in this fight against abuse by having home visiting programs. There is also round the clock counseling for children and adults at the Childhelp USA/IOF Foresters National Child Abuse Hotline.

There are also telephone numbers for anyone who needs help in the white pages of the telephone directory under PARENTS ANNOYMOUS.

As you can see, there are things being done to help, but we also can do a little to help by volunteering as counselors and in whatever way we can to help a child grow up better.