Great Illustration !

Believe it or not exposure to violence affects children in many ways. Children are like sponges they absorb everything they see. Children who are exposed to violence in their homes become fearful, anxious, and never feel safe. They are always worried for themselves, their mother, and their siblings. They may even feel worthless and powerless. Many children will keep the abuse a secret and not tell anyone but as time progresses they will think that it’s their fault and that that’s why the violence is occurring. Children exposed to abuse can look normal to the

Violence affects a healthy family’s relationship, state of mind and well-being, in other words, it’s normal functions. Because of violence, children are forced to endure and cope with mental, physical and emotional trauma leading to a display of impacts on health, development, and wellbeing. The effects build up over time and can impact on every aspect of their life.  How many children and innocent lives must suffer from something unnecessary? Imagine walking into a home late at night to find a child hiding in a corner, with a bloody face and cuts all around their body saying they were self-inflicted or making up other silly excuses like falling down the stairs out of extreme fear. Up to 75% of all acts of domestic violence occurs between the ages 18-24. No child should ever see domestic violence as normal because the moment that happens a future perpetrator has been born. We need to take a stand and refuse to let domestic violence become something we ignore.

These types of studies show that children exposed to violence are likely to grow up perpetrating the same type of abuse and patterns in their own lives. While other’s may do the exact opposite, and become co-dependent living in the same type of relationships continually because it is all they

Buckner, J.C., Beardslee, W.R., & Bassuk, E.L. (2004). Exposure to violence and low-income children’s mental health: Direct, moderated and mediated relations. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 74, 413.

Mullender et al. (2002) highlighted the fact that although most children manage to remain strong throughout the violence, their mothers were highly aware of the psychological and behavioural consequences it had had upon their children, such as being left with a trauma disorder (Chemtob and Carlson, 2004) along the lines of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (McCloskey and Walker, 2000). Whilst the children were able to display large amounts of ingenuity and adaptability, many children showed signs of being “withdrawn; fearful and anxiety; nightmares and disturbed sleep; becoming overly compliant or aggressive” Mullender et al. (2002, pg 78), with Thiara (2010) acknowledging that ‘selective mutism’ was another common effect that domestic violence had upon children. It was also observed that the children who dealt the least well were the ones where they have experienced longer term violence, where there was a “severe depletion of the mother’s physical and emotional resources” (Mullender et al., 2002, pg 94) and where the family had moved house many times.

Violence in any form can have a lasting effect on a person. Children who witness violence are permanently scarred because of what they are seeing. Children who witness family or domestic violence are affected in ways similar to children who are physically abused. Children are often unable to establish nurturing bonds with either parent and are at a greater risk for abuse and neglect if he or she lives in a violent home. Statistics show that an estimated 3.3 million children are exposed to violence against their mothers or female caretakers by family members in their home each year (Ackerman & Pickering, 1989). When a spouse, woman or male is abused, and there are

In the afterschool program, there would be recurring instances of disruptive behaviors and we would observe that the behavior had a direct connect to the trauma the child had gone through. A violent child witnesses violence as a norm and may use that to communicate anger or frustration where on the other hand, a child that has not undergone trauma expresses those same feelings in a positive and more productive way. Understanding experiences that the child has, and how this in turn impacts how they responds to different situations creates an awareness of how to best support

According to the United States department of Justice, Over sixty percent of American children are exposed to a type of violence every year (Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., Ormrod, R., Hamby, S., and Kracke, K. 2009). These forms of violence can be perpetrated by a victims home, community or school, with majority of children knowing the perpetrator(s). These experiences with violence whether primary or secondary, can cause serious psychological trauma to a child and in worst case scenarios death. The 2009 survey by the Department of Justice also found that children exposed to any form of violence were more likely to engage in violence in the future and almost forty percent of these children were exposed to multiple acts of violence ( pg.2). The

Childhood abuse frequently leads to PTSD and sharply increases the risk for later delinquency and violent criminal behavior. Many studies found a relationship between severe childhood abuse and the propensity to victimize others. If the sufferer does not receive treatment, violent behavior may reoccur.” ( Wave Trust, 2014-15). Doctor Dutton has been quoted numerous times in articles, journals, and books as saying, “Although witnessing parental violence, being shamed and being insecurely attached are each sources of trauma in and of themselves, the combination of the three over prolonged and vulnerable developmental phases constitutes a dramatic and powerful trauma source. The child cannot turn to a secure attachment source for soothing, as none exists, yet the need created by the shaming and exposure to violence triggers enormous emotional and physiological reactions requiring soothing.” (2000, pp.

Recently, there has been an emphasis on the adverse effects of children 's exposure to violence between their adult family members and the

Overtime violence interrupted youth’s ability to focus, trust, communicate, believe and consider a future for themselves. Children who are exposed to high levels of risk factors are more violent than youths who are not exposed to such factors.

Exposure to domestic violence can impact the behavioral, social-emotional, and cognitive development of children. Children who are exposed to domestic violence tend to exhibit more aggressive behaviors with their peers, show signs of depression, and have a difficult time forming relationships (Brown & Bzostek, 2003). Cognitively, studies have shown that children exposed to domestic violence may have difficulties learning and concentrating in school, have difficulties with conflict resolution skills, and may believe in male privilege, (Brown & Bzostek, 2003). Concentration is difficult for children exposed to domestic violence because of how unsafe they may feel in their surroundings. They may be preoccupied with the violence that is

Children in urban areas are affected emotionally, mentally, and physically because of various forms of violence they are subjected to on a daily basis. In the article, “The Impact of Violence on Children,” Joy Osofsky discusses violence relating to children from findings from previous research on this subject. In this article, Osofsky is trying to persuade other scientific professionals, health care physicians, and counselors or psychiatrists of the importance of researching and evaluating prevention and intervention programs to fully understand victims of violence. Osofsky makes it clear that she firmly believes that research is vital in finding better ways to understand violence. She argues that research can clarify the numerous ways that children can be exposed to violence, and how different types of violence can be handled to achieve the best way to help children cope. In this article, Osofsky effectively persuades her audience to invest in research to further expand the knowledge, prevention and intervention programs to help children exposed to violence through her use of pathos, logos, and ethos.

If violence is encouraged at home, a child is much more likely to be violent toward others. Simultaneously, the violent lessons the child is taught at home can be carried over to their developing relationships with

In order to conduct the research, twenty-nine children and their families were selected from 426 different areas within England, Wales and Scotland. Some parents refused to take part in the research, while 76% agreed to be interviewed (Meltzer et al. 2009). The research that was organized determined that the violence affects different age groups and sexes in different ways.