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Preventing Child Abuse Essay

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People may not be aware, but any one of their peers, friends, or neighbors may be victims of child abuse. Every day, someone experiences physical, emotional, neglect, and/or sexual abuse. Abuse can lead to death or injury for the rest of a victim's life, from either the perpetrator or themselves. In order to prevent child abuse society must: recognize the types of abuse, understand common causes of abuse, know the characteristics of abusers, and realize the effects abuse has, not just on the child, but on families and communities across the world. Child abuse prevention must first begin with understanding the different types of abuse. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) defines abuse as the motive, act, or lack of …show more content…

I think that there are other ways for disciplining such as setting consequences for behavior that could include time out, losing privileges such as: taking TV away, taking movies away, taking events away, things like that, or creating behavioral charts for rewards systems. I think that they have better advantages to them than actual physical punishment or consequences (Rehm n.p.). Pennsylvania describes emotional abuse as an action or failure to act that leads to a mental injury of a child (Clark 352). It also includes refusing to give a child his/her treatment for medical illnesses. Emotional abuse interferes with a child's ability to develop at the pace of their age level. Emotional abuse victims tend to receive a limited or lack of attention or affection. They are also compared to others in a negative way, constantly bombarded with insults and humiliation. Emotional abuse also includes allowing others to verbally abuse the child (Smith and Segal 2). Pennsylvania defines neglect as the lack of parental care or supervision for long periods of time (Clark 351). It also consist of keeping a prescribed medicine from the child (Rein 11-12). Parents may fail to provide essentials of life such as: nutrition, shelter, clothing, education, safety, and medical needs (Clark 185-190). Neglect occurs within a family and often to young children not old enough to speak. Signs of neglect

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