Literature Review on Recognizing and Reporting Suspected Child Abuse

It can hold backs a child's mental development such as their intelligence and memory and put the child at greater risk of developing mental health problems. Abuse can also affect a child’s emotional development , they may lack the ability to feel and to express a full range of emotions appropriately and/or the ability to control their own emotions. Abuse can also put a child at greater risk of developing one or more behavioural problems such as:-

This research is to distinguish whether the children, who are exposed to violence or abuse, if left unaddressed or ignored, are at an increased risk for emotional and behavioral problems in the future. Children who are abused may not be able to express their feelings safely and as a result, may develop difficulties regulating their emotions. As adults, they may continue to struggle with their feelings, which can

There are a myriad of ways that the environment can influences behaviors and some children are subjected to childhood maltreatment. These youths may develop into adults with serious emotional problems or face various addictions. In an abusive environment, it may subject the abuse survivors struggle with many negative effects that include substance abuse, mental disorders, learning disabilities, impulsivity, promiscuity, anti-social behaviors, and various other complications.

One of the most controversial topics is the difference between child abuse and child discipline. Abuse is any action that intentionally harms or injures another person. Discipline is punishment that is intended to correct or train. Some parents do not see the harm in their form of discipline, but others may view it as abuse. It may not be the parent’s intention to harm their child but it is something that occurs. “In 2012, state agencies found an estimate 686,000 of child maltreatment.” .*(*Kids Count) Every year more than 3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children (a report can include multiple children).

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.

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

“There are situations of where the child shuts down and stays in his own world. Studies have shown a link between child abuse and delayed intellectual development. The child loses his ability to adapt to his or her environment leading to poor cognitive development. The child produces feelings of guilt, violation, loss of control and lowered self-esteem sometimes with suicidal tendencies. Common problems include emotional and behavioral problems, poor performance in school, and possible further abuse (Husted).

The published articles in this literature review all prove evidence that child abuse can negatively affect those children in either their adolescences or adulthood, or even in both. None of the articles explore if those children abused later abuse their future children, however a study by Ehrensaft,

Within the United States, child maltreatment is becoming more and more commonly reported as there is over 3 million reports each year. Due to the constant increase of child maltreatment reports, society has become more aware of the issue, which has led to awareness campaigns. (Payne, 87). Even with societies’ knowledge of such abuse there are still serval child maltreatment cases that are not reported. The children that are victims of maltreatment pertains any sort of harm to the child whether it is by injury, neglect, physical, emotional, or even sexual abuse by someone who holds a major role in the child’s life, a parent or guardian figure (“What is Child Abuse”).

The safety and security of many children across the world are in danger due to physical abuse. Child abuse has been linked to an assortment of changes in the brain which result in psychological, behavioral, and academic problems. While it is unclear whether the population that had been maltreated as children is accurate, physical maltreatment in the first 5 years of life places a child at risk for a variety of psychological and behavioral problems during adolescence. The following three literature reviews attempts to prove and support the premise.

During the study it has been found that victims that have suffered childhood abuse also have exposure to multiple types of abuse such as maltreatment and bullying. Also the effect depends on

There are significant signs of psychological trauma due to any kind of abuse. Children experience feelings of low self esteem and depression. Many exhibit behavioral problems including aggression towards other children. Other emotional problems include hostility, fear, humiliation and the inability to express feelings. The social impacts of physical abuse include inability to form relationships, poor social skills, poor cognitive language skills, distrust of others, over-compliance with authority figures, and tendency to solve interpersonal problems with aggression. (2008, p. 1). Verbal and physical abuse has a cumulative impact on children’s socialization. Abused children are caught in damaged relationships and are not socialized in positive, supportive way (Craig & Dunn, Ex.: 2010, p. 196). They learn defiance, manipulation and other problem behaviors that are used to escape any maltreatment. In turn they will learn to exploit, degrade and terrorize.

In other instances, the parent can confiscate the child’s belongings or force the children to strip down naked and be photographed as a form of punishment. Considering the types of abuse that these children experience, there are psychological effects that can affect their life as they get older. The effects of household abuse can extend outside the home and affect the child in their performance in society. “Children Exposed to Domestic Violence” states that children exposed to family violence can experience difficulties in paying attention and staying on task (Geffner 39). Abused children are prone to externalizing problems which causes children to act out. Externalizing problems include temper tantrums, impulsivity, hyperactivity, aggression, conflict, cruelty and bullying. Another issue that abused children develop are internalizing problems. Internalizing problems are issues such as headaches, sleep disturbances, anxiety, fear of separation, social withdraw and depression. This overall causes the children to be less engaged in tasks and in normal behaviors.

Furthermore, a child abuser shouldn't be able to speak for themselves because they have caused the child to have emotional problems that deal with their behavior. Emotional abuse deals with the parent or guardians neglecting the child making them feel worthless, verbally assaulting them and even ignoring them is considered emotional abuse. The reason why emotional abuse occurs is because some parents/guardians feel stressed and may have poor parenting skill causing them to mistreat their child. Another reason is they were mistreated as a child as well causing them to do the same to their child, but this still is no reason for a person to hurt a child and get away with it. In an article Recognizing Child Abuse: A Guide for the Concerned by Douglas Besharov states that just as physical abuse is an assault on the child's body, emotional abuse is an assault on the child's psyche. Children who are being abused constantly in an emotional way suffer just as much as if they were being

Every year more than 3 million reports of children getting abuse are made in the United States involving more than 6 million children. 1,640 children die as a result of child abuse, between four and five children a day. Many parents don't realize that their way of “disciplining” is actually considered abusing the child. Situation’s like this happen not just in the United States but everywhere and anywhere either by parents, daycares, school, etc. Discipline should never become child abuse.