A Child Called It . Dave Pelzer Is the Survivor

The part of David Pelzer’s life that I admire most is when he told someone about the “family secret”. Even after four years of being brainwashed, by doing that he showed a lot of responsibility . After that everyone seemed to care about him. David’s mother always claimed that she never loved him and that he was no longer a boy but an it. David was discarded from “The Family” at a very young age. Soon after he was known as the servant of the family. But he kept praying and finally his teachers rescued him from his

Child abuse is when a child whose parent or other person legally responsible for his/her care imposes major injury upon the child; or causes a risk of the same; or commits a sexual offense; or allows someone else to perpetrate maltreatment on a child

Physical abuse – involves causing deliberate physical harm to a child and may include burning, drowning, hitting, poisoning, scalding, shaking, suffocating or throwing. Physical abuse also includes deliberately causing, or fabricating the symptoms of, ill health in a child.

Physical abuse is “the mistreatment of a child that causes physical injury, impairment, or endangerment.” (Layman 15) It accounts for about 25 percent of abuse cases. (Moses) Children who have been abused usually show certain signs. They tend to be apathetic and withdrawn, but at the same time, constantly scanning their environment for danger. (Oates 43) Physical abuse can leave all kinds of injuries.

Emotional abuse may include screaming, yelling, biting, name-calling, lack of love/affection, and so on. Children may be emotionally scarred when the y are labeled as stupid, ugly, crazy, or unwanted. Emotional abuse includes acts of omission by the child’s primary caregivers that could cause behavioral, emotional, or mental disorders. In some cases of emotional abuse the child’s caregiver may use excessive and bizarre forms of punishment like torture, or locking a child in a dark closet. These things emphasize the need for the intervention of The Child Protective Services.

Physical abuse also defined as non-accidental trauma or physical injury, of which can be caused by punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning or harming the child. Physical abuse is the most visible and second most common form of child maltreatment.

Physical abuse is when a child is physically hurt . Hitting, beating, throwing, shaking are all physical abuse.

The civil definitions used in child and family law are defined in the Children Act 1989 as significant harm to a child. Emotional abuse includes the failure of a caregiver to provide an appropriate and supportive environment. It includes acts that have an adverse effect of the emotional health and development of a child, e.g. ridiculing, threatening, intimidating and discriminating. Examples of emotional abuse are ignoring the child’s need to interact, failing to express positive feelings to a child, showing no emotion. Denying the child opportunities for interacting and communication with others, also bullying or frightening a child, persistently telling them that they are useless (World health organisation) Physical abuse is defined in Working together 2015 as: A form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may be caused when a parent/carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child. Sexual abuse is defined by

     The conflict of the story was Dave’s mother. She was cruel and unloving. She would drink and abuse Dave. For some reasons she never beat any of her other kids. Every time he stood up to her she would tell him he was a nobody or an “it”. She did cruel things for no reason. For example one time she tried putting him on the stove to burn him. Other times she would make a gas out of ammonia and Clorox in the bathroom and lock him in there for hours. The climax of the story is when people at school start noticing cuts and bruises on David. When a social worker is sent to his house, his mother starts treating him with love and pretends she’s sorry. Dave believes it and doesn’t say anything when the social worker comes. Dave thinks his dreams have come true and is very happy not knowing when the social

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

Children are most likely to abuse alcohol if their family tolerates deviance in general or encourages excitement and pleasure seeking (Morris & Maisto, pg. 156) (Finn, Sharkansky, Brandt, & Turcotte, 2000)

David Pelzer father was a fireman, he was five ten inches tall and always called David tiger. David’s family was a happy they had Thanksgiving together and Christmas one of David’s favorite holiday “ I was so excited during those holiday seasons that I couldn’t sleep.” “ Before dawn mom would creep into our room and say santa hear ! ‘’ David would tear open his presents and laugh with his family . When Christmas was over David Mother often took day trips with the boys to places like Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and to the park . They also had summer vacations to Portola or Memorial Park that was the best times for David not a care in the world.

For this report, I have read all three of Dave Pelzer's books about his life: A Child Called “It”, The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave.

Emotional abuse is verbal abuse, which doesn’t include any physical contact or harm. Which is another form of abandoning or failing to live up to a child's needs. Every child needs to feel wanted and appreciated, or their self esteem goes down and this causes them to feel distracted and not loved.

“Markus Heilig, director at U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said, ‘Among alcoholic patients, rates for physical abuse were reported at 24 percent and 33 percent for men and women’” (Everyday Health). Parents are the role models that are supposed to guide young children to a successful future. Often children are not raised properly and are abused. Kenneth Leonard, Ph.D., conducted a study on alcoholic fathers and found, “The alcohol-abusing fathers were less sensitive in their parenting” (Mental Health). The alcohol tends to lessen the father’s sympathy, so he becomes more aggressive than normal. Physical abuse caused by the father leads to bruises, cuts, broken bones, or emotional scars. To relieve themselves of the pain, the abused children will experiment with alcohol. The escape route the abused children take is alcohol because it takes children to a place where they can be cheerful and away from the abuse. It is a fact that, “The experience of being abused as a child may increase a person’s risk for alcohol-related problems as an adult” (Alcohol Abuse as