Child Maltreatment

Because PCIT was originally developed as a treatment program for children with disruptive behaviors, the core tenets of the program focus on behavioral strategies to improve the parent-child relationship (Eyberg 199). Treatment sessions for PCIT involve active engagement of both the parent and the child in which the counselor or therapist acts a mediating coach in order to teach positive interaction skills. First, the therapist observes the parent-child interaction and tallies their behaviors on a coding sheet to

What is child abuse? From the word “abuse” we can understand that it is some sort of a maltreatment of a child, causing harm and damage both to his physical and psychological well-being. At the Federal level, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) describes child abuse and neglect as: “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” Child abuse is a very substantial and widely spread problem in U.S. affecting children of any age, gender, race, background or income, with more than 1.8 million investigations done every year and on average, killing more than 5 children every day. The main issue of child abuse is that the abuser is usually someone a child loves or depends on (a parent, sibling, coach, neighbor, etc.), who violates child’s trust putting personal interests first, therefore official numbers of how many children suffer maltreatment might be not accurate enough as remarkable amount of these cases go unreported. Each case of child abuse is unique, with a lot of individual factors involved, nevertheless, we can distinguish some of the common causes, such as poverty, lack of education, depression, mental or physical health

However, Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most well-known theories that has been used to help the victims of maltreatment. Between 2005 and 2006, over one million reports of child maltreatment; to include neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse was reported (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). In children the effects of maltreatment result in several psychological disorders to include depression, anxiety, PTSD and other behavioral issues whether it happened once or repeatedly.

A parent have to be there for their child mentally, physically, educated them, and instruct them of what may be ahead for them in the near future. If the parent is the abuser it can be difficult for the child to learn all of these methods when they are terrified of their parents and when this happening it will be the responsibility of a human service professional to use primary interventions to help with the present abuse as well as preventing any future abuse. The first primary intervention and method that used is setting up an assessment, this will help the Human service professional determine who the individuals are, what they struggle with, their strengths, and weaknesses. Finding out personal information from the parent will help to assists them with change and finding the right program to help them to stop the abuse as well as becoming a better parent. “Primary preventions programs are usually local in nature. They may be developed from a national

Child Protective Services (CPS) is a complex system of assessments, investigations, and conclusions. CPS is the central agency in each communities child abuse and neglect service system. It is responsible for ensuring that preventative, investigative, and treatment services are available to children and families endangered by child abuse and neglect. As a result, CPS workers must perform a variety of functions when responding to situations of child maltreatment and play a variety of roles throughout their involvement with child protective clients. Reporting a suspective case of child maltreatment to the local CPS agency (or a family member’s own request for help with the problem) initiates

Most parents and other caregivers do not intend to hurt their children, but abuse is defined by the effect on the child, not the motivation of the parents or caregiver.Tens of thousands of children each year are traumatized by physical, sexual, and emotional abusers or by caregivers who neglect them.Child abuse as common as it is shocking. Most of us can’t imagine what would make an adult use violence against a child, and the worse the behavior is, the more unimaginable it seems. But the incidence of parents and other caregivers consciously, even willfully, committing acts that harm the very children they’re supposed to be nurturing is a sad fact of human society that cuts

By 1986 mostly every state required other professions that work with families, such as nurses, teachers, and school staff, to be mandated to report child abuse (Hines et al., 2013, p. 51). Since the book took place in the 1970’s neither the teachers nor the staff reported to child protective services (CPS). Instead of reporting to CPS about the bruises or the reason as to why David was stealing food the teacher discussed her concerns to the principal and he called to discuss the matter with the David’s mother. Of course the mother sounded very convincing in explaining David wanted attention. Over the years there was been prevention programs with the goal of improving parenting skill and knowledge. There are primary prevention programs that target the general population through media campaigns. The secondary prevention programs focus on the populations that are high risk for abusing their children the goal is to provide them with skills and knowledge to prevent abuse. The tertiary prevention program provides the appropriate interventions to ensure that the families who already experiences abuse won’t happen again (Hines et al., 2013, p.

More importantly, it involves the parents or care givers and seeks to improve family dynamics. Parental involvement is important to the efficacy of home visiting. It helps to empower the family, increase parental competence and confidence, reduce behavioral problems through the person-in-environment approach of problem solving and enhancing well-being. The amount and quality of family engagement in home visiting facilitates the establishment of a helping relationship between parents or caregivers and the home visitor (Brand, Jungman, Sierau, 2012). Also, The California Evidence Based Clearinghouse on Child Welfare, gave SafeCare a scientific rating of two and a high rating on child welfare system relevance scale; meaning, demonstrates high levels of promising effectiveness through research evidence and is commonly used to meet the needs of youth and families involved with child welfare services (Lutzker, 2013).

And while the development of the CAC will surely impact the way we respond to child abuse and neglect once it is identified, the bigger task will still be how do we prevent child abuse and neglect by getting at its root causes. We know a lot about risk factors for child abuse such as the lack of support and social isolation of parents, financial stress, lack of parenting skills, drug and alcohol problems, and low self-esteem and high expectations of parents. This is not to say that a child is being abused if these

However, all forms of child abuse carry emotional consequences because the child's psychological and emotional development inevitably suffers from all forms of abuse. An intervention model that would focus on emotional abuse could also focus on preventing other forms of abuse because violent behavior towards children often comes from the same underlying causes, and most risk factors for child maltreatment are associated with caregiver, family, and environmental factors (McDonald, 2007). With this in mind, a possible solution would have to include early detection, but the intervention would most likely focus on factors that cause all types of child abuse. Despite the widespread occurrences of all forms of abuse, emotional neglect or maltreatment are practically impossible to detect while they occur and impair the child's normal development and social integration. Emotional abuse includes includes verbal, mental, and psychological maltreatment of children, and it is frequently overlooked by the community and mental health professionals who do not define emotional abuse as a suitable factor for diagnostic purposes (as cited in Schneider, Baumrind, & Kimerling, 2007). In reality, emotional abuse is frequently used in many families, it occurs in several worldwide cultures, and it carries significant consequences that should not be overlooked.

With child abuse and neglect being so prevalent globally, it is important to recognize why these types of maltreatment occur and is a relevant topic for all to explore. Many are interested in how child abuse and neglect affect the individuals who are victims as well as the use and efficacy of treatment procedures. Child abuse has serious physical and psycho-social consequences which adversely affect the health and overall well-being of a child. There are long-term consequences of experiencing these forms of maltreatment. Awareness and understanding needs to be brought to this devastatingly common crisis and the advancement of child abuse and neglect prevention needs to be encouraged.

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

The issue of child abuse and neglect is serious, controversial, and is escalating in today’s society. Many people are not aware, but child abuse is rampant in our society. Many child abuse and neglect cases go unreported because a person may not know the signs and symptoms of child abuse and neglect or perhaps the person or person may feel that this is an private issue and needs to be handle with in the home and no outsiders should be involved. Without the proper awareness of child abuse and neglect and the involvement of everyone this issue will continue to raise our eyebrows.

Emotional abuse can cause serious burdens on society. Emotional abuse has a significant cost in educational and societal failures, crime, and health care costs (Hibbard, Barlow, & MacMillan, 2012) Pediatricians need to be alert and trained in recognizing emotional maltreatment of children. This can be a very difficult task for pediatricians. Learning to interview children when they are developmentally ready is an important skill which can be critical in detecting emotional abuse. Children who have been emotionally abused have higher rates of psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and aggression. Providers need to be cognizant of risk factors that may indicate a greater risk for emotional abuse. Some of the risk factors were parental psychiatric illness, depression, and substance

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