Dave Pelzer A Child Called It Analysis

Abuse and neglect comes in all different forms and each one of them are as equally as damaging as the next. Others will agree that abuse and neglect are hard to define in some cases, but there are clues and signs that professionals and nonprofessionals can detect in a child if they just pay attention. Being observant isn’t the only key to saving these children, but also being willing to speak up and tell someone what you know and or saw. In “A Child Called It”, David Pelzer is a young boy who goes through horrendous abuse and neglect who might have been able to endure much less pain if one adult would have spoken up, despite the fear of any consequences. There is a disgusting number of examples of abuse and neglect in this book, but there will be three different experiences that will showcase neglect, psychological abuse, and physical abuse discussed in the rest of this text.

Child abuse in America is an ongoing problem and something needs to be done. There are approximately one million children abused annually in the United States. (Table 339) Cases of child abuse and neglect are reported every ten seconds, and researchers believe that there’s three times that amount that goes unnoticed. (Child Abuse: Know the Signs and Stop the Violence Against Children.) Something needs to be done for these children who are too weak and too powerless to help themselves.

Child abuse is epidemic in many countries as well as the United States. It is estimated that every thirteen seconds a child is abused in some manner: physically, sexually, emotionally or by neglect (Friedman). Each year, there are over 3 million reports of child abuse in the United States involving more than 6 million children. Child abuse can be reduced with proper education of the parents and with greater public awareness.

In the world today, there are different types of child abuse including physical, emotional, sexual and also neglect. Each form of abuse is a contribution to a child 's future being unsuccessful. Dave’s form of

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

Westat found that professionals failed to report many of the children they saw who had signs of child abuse and neglect. It found that in 1986, 56 percent of apparently abused or neglected children, or about 500,000 children, were not reported to the authorities. This figure, however, seems more alarming than it is: Basically, the more serious the case, the more likely the report. For example, the surveyed professionals reported over 85 percent of the fatal or serious physical abuse cases they saw, 72 percent of the sexual abuse cases, and 60 percent of the moderate physical abuse cases. They only reported 15 percent of the educational neglect cases they saw, 24 percent of the emotional neglect cases, and 25 percent of the moderate physical neglect cases.

A Child Called “It” is a non-fiction book based on the true story of one such child. Written by Dave Pelzer, and his lifelong struggle to both survive and to reclaim his identity and gain a normal life back. Pelzer has overcome many things since that time period in his life. A Child Called “It” became a #1 worldwide best seller. Pelzer is also recognized as one of the nation’s most effective and well respected communicators addressing corporate groups, conventions, and human-service professionals. Pelzer’s tremendous accomplishments have reaped personal commendations from former Presidents Ronald Raegan, and George Bush. Michael Abernethy acknowledges, “In 1993 Dave was honored as one of The Outstanding Young Persons of the World, he was also selected as a torchbearer for the 1996 Olympics Torch Relay” (par. 1). Pelzer currently has dedicated his life helping others learn how to help themselves. Pelzer brought attention to child abuse, when children endure severe physical abuse, children are robed of their normal sense of self and their normal sense of home.

Each week Child Protective Services receives more than 50,000 allegations of child abuse. Two-thirds of the allegations have enough evidence to start investigations. The results of these investigations showed 2,450 children are abused everyday (Ianelli, 2006). In 1999, CPS, nearly four, confirmed an estimated 1,401 child abuse and neglect fatalities every day. (Child Abuse Statistics, nd).

What are laws and misconceptions pertaining to foster care? When looking into foster care laws the main concern when dealing with children was their environment, before and after they were put in foster care. Whether the problem was neglect, abuse or not meeting some requirements when put in foster care, such as a “family like setting”. There are also several misconceptions when adopting from a foster home and living in one.

When children endure severe physical abuse, children are robbed of their normal sense of self and their normal sense of home. A Child Called “It” is a non-fiction book based on the true story of one such child, Dave Pelzer, and his lifelong struggle both to survive and to reclaim his identity and try’s to gain a normal life back. The author who is to Dave Pelzer wrote this book on his child hood. He has overcome many things since that time period in his life. He is an author of the #1 worldwide best seller. Dave Pelzer is also recognized as one of the nation most effective and well respected communicators addressing corporate groups, conventions and human-service professionals. Dave’s tremendous accomplishments have reaped personal commendations from former Presidents Ronald Raegan, and George Bush. In 1993 Dave was honored as one of The Outstanding Young Persons of the World, he was also selected as a torchbearer for the 1996 Olympics Torch Relay. Dave has now dedicated his life helping others learn how to help themselves.

The question of how many children are abused and neglected each year in the United States is seemingly simple, but it does not have an easy answer. Because several national and state agencies collect and analyze different data using different methods, the statistics vary. In addition, not every suspicion or situation of abuse or neglect is reported to child protection services (CPS) agencies. As a result, the number of reports likely underrepresents the number of children who actually suffer from abuse or neglect.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) often goes unnoticed and many children will remain silent victims. It can be very difficult for children to talk about, or even acknowledge that this form of abuse is occurring. While there are rising numbers of child sexual abuse cases being reported within the United States, it is disheartening to know that there are even more cases that go unrecognized each year. The American Humane Association (2013) explains that “According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), an estimated 9.3 percent of confirmed or substantiated child abuse and neglect cases in 2005 involved sexual abuse (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2007). This figure translates into over 83,800 victims in

Child abuse in the United States is a growing epidemic. Every year the number of reported cases, and missing children go up. This is caused mostly by lack of education about the different types of child abuse, and the signs that go along with it. Communities need to provide more resources to better educate the public about the types of abuse, and the signs that go along with it. Child abuse and neglect can be lessened by more resources, more education and to reach out to others.

For this week I wrote on the article “The “Discovery” of Child Abuse”, by Stephen Pfohl. I chose this article because I found the title to be interesting. The subject of child abuse is ages old and a view upon it from an outdated article made it all the more appealing for me to examine. It has always been something that has gone unstated due to the social constraints of not interfering in the rearing of someone else’s children. It is not surprising to see that a 1970’s look at it would discuss the origin points of abuse and how it has come to people’ s attention more so throughout the years. Children are the future of the world and as such need to be treated like it. When you start to take a child down a dark path at an early age, there is

It breaks my heart to know that child abuse has a history and throughout history children have been subjected to extensive physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect. However, doing most of the history of child abuse was accepted and in some cases it was encouraged. As time progressed child abuse has grown to receive more attention and is being recognized as a severe epidemic that has to be stopped. I believe that the views of child abuse has changed over the years for it has left the home from being a private issue to a public issue where different agencies are involved in order to resolve the child abuse and neglect issue. Agencies that take part in investigating and preventing child abuse in today’s time are the Family and Protective Services, SCAN, and several more agencies that are committed to stopping child abuse and