Child Abuse

Child abuse is an issue within society that effects the lives of not only the victims but also the lives of many people in the social order. Child abuse is any mistreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental injury or harm and which cannot be logically explained. There are several forms of abuse and neglect and many state governments have developed their own legal description of what constitutes child maltreatment for the purposes of removing a child and prosecuting a criminal charge. Child abuse consists of different forms of harm including physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect.

Sexual abuse is usually identified by disclosure to. Recognising potential signs of abuse with in the child’s behaviour is essential. Physical signs include pain or itching in the genital area, bruising or bleeding near genital area, sexually transmitted disease, vaginal discharge or infection, stomach pains, discomfort when sitting or walking, pregnancy. Changes in behaviour which can indicate sexual abuse include, sudden or unexplained changes in behaviour e.g. becoming aggressive or withdrawn, fear of being left with specific person or group of people, nightmares, running away, sexual knowledge beyond their age, sexual drawings or language, saying they have a secret they cannot talk about, not allowed to have friends, acting in a sexually explicit way towards adults.

A child who is suffering from child abuse shows signs of depression, their attitudes and emotions change, the appearance of an abused will change, look for weight loss, is the child wearing the same clothes for two or three days, have they bathed, do they appear to be hiding something bruises or marks. Do they look tired or hungry? These are signs to look for. Family members and School officials should be the first the recognize child abuse, and should report it.

The first signs I would look for are physical signs, such as; bruises, burns, scars and unexplained marks, bite marks for example. Injuries such as bruises are not necessarily an immediate sign of child abuse, however depending on the place in which the bruises were found and the shape and age of them, they could be a sign. For example in protected areas of the body such as inner thighs and the

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.

If an individual starts to act out of character, their behaviour changes, their demeanour differs or they start to put themselves at risk it may be an indication of abuse, whereby safeguarding should be put into action. Often when a child or young person is being abused they are subjected to more than one type, therefore it is essential that the different type of abuse is highlighted and the signs or symptoms of abuse is identified so that if they are acknowledge they are reported and acted upon.

Child abuse is not always obvious and many children are too young or too frightened to tell

Child abuse was not recognized as a serious problem in the United States until the 1960s. The number of cases reported has increased each year since 1976,

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

There are many things in our society today that unfortunately go overlooked. One such thing that is overlooked is the number of children who are being abused. Unfortunately these children are going through life not knowing whether or not their parents will loose their temper and perhaps kill them. There are many types of child abuse, such as physical, sexual, and emotional. Physical abuse is physical injury as a result of punching, beating, kicking, biting, shaking, throwing, stabbing, choking, hitting, burning, or otherwise harming a child. Such injury is considered abuse regardless of whether the caretaker intended to hurt the child. Sexual abuse includes activities by a parent or caretaker such as fondling a child's genitals,

Every year around four million children in the United States experience a traumatic event, including the abuse and neglect of a child, also known as child maltreatment, (Schwartz & Perry, 1994). In 2005, 3.3 million referrals were made that year to child protective agencies for suspected child maltreatment, (Bentley & Widom, 2009). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines child maltreatment as “any act or series of acts of commission

Research indicates that 1 out of every 4 children will be the victim of sexual abuse before reaching age 18

Physical abuse is the most common form that can be identified this usually involves the child being beaten by hand or objects, the child being thrown, the child being inflicted with bone breaking acts of violence for the parent's pleasure. Most common reasons that people physically abuse children is because of Unwanted responsibility, such as, when a person has child young or was not ready for child, the abuser had improper role models growing, such as, maybe their parents abused them and they think that okay because that's how they were treated as a child, social isolation could be another reason if they don't have the discipline of a child who was not abused the abuser, much like the improper role models, will this is an okay thing to do. Now you're probably looking for signs of abuse. Common signs could be unexplained injury or injuries in places that would not be caused easily by a simple fall or scrape like bruising on the stomach, neck, and upper back; not wanting to go home always not wanting to go home or showing signs of anxiety, nausea, and physical symptoms to going home could be a problem especially if the thought makes child physically sick, drastic changes in weight a child could become

There are different types of child abuse. However the core* of child abuse is all the same. It always leaves a huge effect on the child. Children need predictability*, structure, clear