Personal Statement On Child Abuse

I have come from a well-meaning but very scarring, ambivalent and dysfunctional family. My father was a sometimes physically, but often times very emotionally abusive person. Using a large amount of fear and intimidation of him to control our family and home. My mother regularly took out her anger and frustration towards my father on me since my parent’s first major separation when I was seven years old which in conjunction with the negative impact of my parents’ off and on separations leading up to their eventual divorce I developed depression, anger and other behavioral problems as well. I suffered many years of abuse from my mother as a result of these things. I understood both my parents cared for me, even though their actions often time both demonstrated it and contradicted it which lead to much confusion in relationships and friendships outside of my family. One of if not the most scarring experiences were of my mother and the adults she surrounded herself with sympathizing her abuse towards me because of the abuse she endured by my father and

“The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act” states’ that “child abuse is the leading cause of death in children under the age of eighteen.” Child abuse occurs when adults inflict violence and cruelty upon children. Abuse is any willful act that results in physical, mental, or sexual injury that causes or is likely to cause the child to be physically, mental, or emotionally impaired. Abuse happens to children of any age, sex, race, religion, and social status.

Licensed Masters of Social Worker, Kimberley Fleischer, serves as a field supervisor for students obtaining a masters degree in the field of social work. She first attended Iowa State University and obtained her undergraduate degree in psychology. Later, she received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Kansas. She has worked in the field of social work for eleven years and has been with Richland County School District for nine years. Mrs. Fleischer currently serves two elementary schools, Lonnie B. Nelson and Pontiac for the 2016-2017 school year. She has been with Lonnie B. Nelson Elementary for three years and is currently serving her eighth year as a field supervisor. In order to identify her values, practice, leadership and supervision style, I interviewed Mrs. Fleischer 's to better understand her role professionally and personally as a school social worker. The interview was conducted through an open-ended response questionnaire. These responses were used along with information received during supervisory sessions. The combination of two, provided meaningful insight to the significance of an organization 's purpose, structure and effectiveness as well how individual social workers impact their occupational placements.

In another experiment, participants did surveys at baseline about self-report of childhood abuse. The National Death Index was used to keep track of the mortality data during the next 20 years. “Women who reported childhood emotional abuse were 22 percent more likely to die during the follow-up period than women who didn't report abuse. If they reported moderate physical abuse, they were 30 percent more likely to die. For severe physical abuse, the increased risk was 58 percent. The more types of abuse reported, the greater the risk of death during those 20 years.” stated by National Public Radio. These results suggest that not only is the abuse establish psychiatric consequences, but women who report childhood abuse also remain susceptible

My area of personal interest focuses on the wide scale social problem of child abuse. My area of interest centers on personal experiences; I was a victim of child abuse growing up and have had many issues stemming from said abuse throughout my adult life. I have also had experiences while being a case manager in the therapeutic foster care setting, seeing first hand how these children of abuse were being traumatized, degraded, and re-victimized by people who were “There to help them.” The educational peregrination that I have traveled only lead to more inquests. I kept finding myself inquiring about why the therapist was conducting the same interventions as myself? Weren’t they supposed to be unearthing the roots of the obstacles these children were facing and then assisting them in problem solving and putting the broken pieces back together?

Betrayed, broken and beaten. Horrified to think how at one moment all in the world was peaceful, but then at the next moment it’s crashing down.

Throughout my life, I have always wanted to help individuals and families. I have always been fascinated and interested in meeting different people and hearing about their lives and stories. Having spent the last three years volunteering and working with children and adults of all ages, I have come to the realization that I have a vocation to pursue a degree in Social Work. The career choice I have chosen provides multiple opportunities for learning and growth.

“A fourteen month old girl is arriving. It is a case of child abuse,” my pediatric resident says. My heart begins beating faster as this is my first case of child abuse and I do not know what to expect nor do I know what to do at this point. About an hour later, a girl with carrot-colored hair is rolled into the PICU, sitting quietly on a stretcher and not crying as I expected. As I get closer to her, I realize that I can barely see her eyes because they were raccoon-like, with black ecchymosis surrounding them. Examining her head, it felt as if I were playing with play-doh; I was able to feel my fingers making depressions from a very evident hematoma. As I continued to examine her, she held her arms out, asking to be carried. I started

Social work has been my major since childhood. Throughout my life I have persevered against poverty, discrimination, domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health barriers. Due to my experience with these issues, the art of learning grew into a passion and priority. By focusing on my education, I established my identity apart from the status quo of my background and became the first woman in my family to attend college. Despite enrolling without a career path to follow, I was determined to explore for a major linked by science, integrity and compassion. Through the social work curriculum, my intellectual needs were met. The interactive preparation and self-care integral to social work filled the gaps that remained in my education and personal development by nourishing seeds of assertive communication, healthy boundaries and mindfulness; the benefits of counseling and journaling underlined in this profession have especially enriched my journey to becoming an advocate. In addition to this newfound peace, social work also spoke to my knowledge as a member of many vulnerable populations and expanded my ability to work with a diverse clientele. From the psychosocial and field placement components of this major, I discovered my deep rooted ambition to empower the mental health community in the same manner that social work has empowered me.

Social work has been a passion since I was a young child, advocating for people whom otherwise may not be able to assist themselves. Social work offers empowerment and self-actualization to individuals to accomplish their life’s goals and being apart of that creates a self-reward, I honor with great gratitude. I chose social work as a profession after working with individuals challenged by mental illness; I wanted to make a difference not only in the individual’s life, but in my community. After pursuing an undergraduate degree in social work, I wanted to achieve the highest level of education in my field; therefore going to graduate school was an inevitable career choice.

Perusing a career in social work has been a passion of mines for a great deal of time. For the past few years I have been working towards making that dream come true. During my fifth semester I partook in a community based psychology course entitled Child Assault Prevention Education. Throughout this course I gained firsthand experience in working with the child welfare system. Within the classroom I discussed the various aspects of child maltreatment, brainstormed how child maltreatment can be prevented, and how to promote awareness of this issue.

I never thought I would be raising three kids on my own. From the time my children started walking, I had behavior problems. You could tell “No” a hundred times. The most I saw while they were toddlers was biting, and smacking each other. When they were toddlers I used to take them to work with me. I remember pulling the pack and play out while I was working. I had no other option, because I had to pay the bills. My son, Zackery had a rough toddler stage. He was kicked out of 3 day cares, for being mean to the other kids. I had to keep teaching him, how to share. As I moved passed those years with Zackery it was the teenage years. I hated those years. My son Zackery gave me the most problems at this age. At age 13, Zackery got arrested for stealing cars, and spent many nights Locked up. These problems went on for about 2 years. The last time, Zackery got arrested he was sent off for 6 months. At that point of being a mother, all I saw was sadness. Natchez Trace is a Facility that Zackery was sent to for 6 months. The counselors there found out Zackery was Bipolar, and (ADHD)

As I grew up as a little boy, I have always done bad things and had to learn the hard way from the things I had done. I always thought I knew everything and did not use to listen to my elders. Once upon a time I was at a family reunion and I was enjoying myself as a child should. However, I was having too much fun I started to do bad things while I was the family reunion. I was kicking a soccer ball repeatedly to my grandma’s car. She told me to stop several times, but I did not care to listen. After I kicked the ball at my grandma’s car for the last time, the ball bounced back and pounded me in my face. I was in tears, I knew from that moment that I should always respect my elders and that was a lesson I learned.

I am placed at Reed Elementary School in Kuna, Idaho, for my internship. I’ve been offered so many learning opportunities at this placement, and the population I’m working with, mostly young children, is one I never expected to serve. This agency’s goals and missions align with the social work values of service and empowerment through education. Reed Elementary School is one of the ten schools in the Kuna School District. Therefore, I will address the agency as the Kuna School District. For this paper, I will discuss the agency’s goals and mission, services, funding, personnel, and personal observations.

I am a social work intern at Edgewood Primary School in Indiana. The agency is school composed of student Kindergarten through Second Grade. Edgewood Primary School’s “mission is to work in cooperation with the community and families to provide students with an education that promotes responsible citizenship and encourages problem solving and creativity” (http://www.rbbcsc.k12.in.us/eps-home). It is in a rural area outside a large college town and its targeted population are students and their families.