Pediatrician Child Abuse

The article is stimulating to know that others states take action quickly to shield children from further abuse in their homes. The Indiana's Child Protective Services (CPS), offers a service to prevent out-home placement, and assistance to rejoin children with their families in situations where the children can return home (Indiana, 2015). This service is good, if the parents are able to resume the responsibility of taking care of their children.

If any professional becomes concerned that a child might be at risk of abuse, be it physical, sexual, emotional or neglect, it is their legal duty to pass on such concerns to the appropriate professionals who can assess if and what action should be taken. In cases where it will not put the child at greater risk or danger, the parents / carers of the child will be informed that such action has been taken.

Sometimes the family/carer of the child may be hurting them so its important to report any signs as early as possible so that the case can be looked further into without the possible abuse escalating.

They separate families by making arbitrary decisions and by not investigating all sources of evidence or any evidence at all. Some CPS organizations do not always abide by the laws and even fail to follow their own regulations and policies. The children who are safe in the custody of their parents are being violated by a legal system that does not work. CPS organizations need to learn new techniques in distinguishing between real child abuse and parenting.

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.

When dealing with suspected or actual abuse it is important that we don’t make premature judgments and try to deal with the situation without having all information and evidence required. Just because (for example) a child comes into school regularly with cuts and bruises, this does not mean that they are being abuse. Observations can play a key role into getting actual evidence. By making premature judgments and proceeding to accuse parents/carers of abusing a child can cause a lot of unnecessary upset to both parent and child and make your workplace look inadequate.

Pediatricians must recognize and respond to pediatric abusive head trauma, no matter how subtle the signs may be, in order to prevent further neurological injury. The appropriate reports must be made to child welfare services and law enforcement in order to make arrangements for the future safety of the child and deal with the legal ramifications of the abuser.

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.

Under and over reporting is of equal concern because both affect the number of child abuse victims who are in need of help. “Failure to report exposes children to serious injury or even death and over reporting diverts resources from understaffed agencies, thus limiting their ability their ability to protect children in real danger” (Loseke, 285). Another issue is when to decide whether signs of abuse are actual signs of child abuse or just everyday injuries child usually inflict on themselves. Furthermore, this can also impact the whether a person will report the incident or not. For example, two people can see the same incident and depending on their knowledge of child abuse they can, either report it or determine it is not abuse. “A study of non-reporting among teachers, blamed their lack of knowledge for detecting symptoms of child abuse and neglect” (Loseke, 292).

After watching these different cases, the way they affected me is that it’s very difficult for social workers to decide to remove the child or let them go back to their house and live with their parents. For them it’s a very difficult and important decision because basically child’s life and future depends on the social worker’s decision. If they say it’s safe for the child to go back to live with his/her parents and if the abuse and neglect still continues, they put the child’s life on risk. I think the 10-year-old Matthew case stand out more than others because even though the dad was physically abusing the child, Matthew still wanted to go back to his house and live with his dad. It’s interesting that the way they were acting it felt like

Which is why according to the lead author of this study, joseph spinatsola, a TV personality and a well know pediatric, points out that there are no physical wounds linked with emotional abuse, so child protection case workers have a particularly hard time recognizing it. So why aren’t we addressing this issue with the same intensity of more visible kinds of abuse such as verbal abuse? After all as the American academy of pediatrics stated “it is the most challenging and prevalent form of abuse and neglect.”

Christian (2015) in the article “Evaluation of Suspected Child Physical Abuse” aims to provide a clinical guidance to evaluate the suspected physical abuse in children and determine the suitable treatment depending on the radiological diagnosis. The prevalence of this study was limited in the US to whom are inflicted the four types of child abuse; physical, emotional, sexual and neglect abuse. Christian (2015) divide the type of child abuse into two types; server (long term) and minor injury (long- term effect). In 2004, they declare that 26.4% of the cases that registered in the USA as a child abuse were pushed, grabbed or slapped. So, the sign of physical harm is considerably noticeable. However, it is unclear in some cases that are unreported

Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome (MBPS) is a disorder of which should bring awareness to the medical field. It is not well understood and brings a lot of controversy. This disorder is when a parent, usually the mother, who purposely causes illness to her child rather physically or emotionally. The disorder was named after Baron von Munchausen, from the 18th century who gained fame from his tales. The child only becomes sick in the presence of the mother which makes it hard to identify the cause of the illness. It is thought that the reasoning for MBPS is the need for attention The only treatment known for this

Every year, the tragedy of child abuse shakes communities all over the United States, sometimes even resulting in death. This is a crime which is considered particularly heinous due to children having little ability to defend themselves, if any at all, and a lack of understanding that they are being mistreated. In such incidents, it is common for the residents to feel disturbed and distressed, wishing that they had been able to offer help, or wondering what they could have done to prevent such an occurrence from happening. Of course, a proper investigation as well as knowledge surrounding the topic of abuse will promote awareness which could later save children’s lives everywhere. It is also important to understand the reasons that child abuse may happen, although it is never justified. To name a few examples, it could easily happen when a child frequently stresses the parent or guardian, when the parent is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or because of learned behavior from a parent who was also abused during childhood themselves. (Lyman p. 230) Abuse in such circumstances, however, is not so broadly defined, as it may either be “acute,” indicating a random act of abuse against the child, or it could be “chronic,” which instead indicates that the abuse has been ongoing for some time. (Lyman p. 231) Additionally, it could differ between a child being viciously beaten or sexually assaulted, both equally awful. Regardless of the reason for abuse or the specific type,

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.