What Is Hapiness

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

This is an excellent literature review on the subject of children who witness family violence. The article begins

Many children are victims of violence; this violence may be physical, or emotional, direct or indirect. In certain situations, the child’s experience

There may be developmental delays due to a failure to thrive and grow, although this will only be evident if the child thrives when away from the circumstances in which they are being abused. A child may appear well cared for however is being taunted, put down or belittled. They may receive little to no love, affection or attention. Potential signs of emotional abuse can be neurotic behaviour e.g. sulking, hair twisting, rocking. Being unable to play, fear of making mistakes, sudden speech disorders, self harm, fear of parents being approached regarding their behaviour, developmental delay in terms of emotional progress.

The indicators of physical abuse can include unexplained bruising, marks or injuries on any part of the body, multiple bruises, broken bones or even multiple burn marks. There can also be a change in behaviour while a child is being physically abused, such as; fear of parents being approached for an explanation, aggressive behaviour, flinching when approached or touched, depression, withdrawn behaviour or even running away from home.

It can be very difficult to recognise signs of abuse in a child or young person. They are some signs, which could alert staff to the fact that the child or young person might be being abused at home, for example constant bruising, or having unusual injuries for the child or young person. This may have an affect on their

A child who is suffering from child abuse shows signs of depression, their attitudes and emotions change, the appearance of an abused will change, look for weight loss, is the child wearing the same clothes for two or three days, have they bathed, do they appear to be hiding something bruises or marks. Do they look tired or hungry? These are signs to look for. Family members and School officials should be the first the recognize child abuse, and should report it.

The two main ways which you can spot signs of maltreatment is physically and via the child's behaviour. Indicators of maltreatment which would be physical on the children would be constant bruising on their skin, if you see one bruise you can’t automatically assume there is maltreatment going on within their family home as all children at a young age have bruises every now and then from falling over, however if you are constantly seeing bruises that aren’t going and instead getting worse, that can be a indicator of maltreatment. That ties in with any unexplained injuries that may be spotted on the child at any given time. If you happen to see the child has an injury which is considered as unexplained as it may not be a normal everyday injury, that can indicate maltreatment within the child's family home. Soreness in places which shouldn’t be sore can be a big indicator of maltreatment occurring within the family home. If the child seems underweight or may not be the average size for a child of their age can be an indicator of maltreatment within the family home, whereby they aren’t being fed the right amount of food or are going hungry at home from being ignored. With the child having poor personal hygiene, it can be an indicator of maltreatment happening within the family home where they aren’t getting treated how they should be and may have to fend for themselves and at the age they are at they don’t really understand what they

recording observations over time, through written records, builds a picture of the young person life and allows us to recognise patterns and changes in their behaviour. Children and young people who have been physically abused may be fearful, submissive and aggressive after the abuse has stopped. The abuse has taught them that hitting is a way to control others and solve problems. The beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours that appear after physical abuse can cause problems with friends, struggling to maintain and keep friendships. They may be distrustful of authority figures at home or school becoming fearful of their carers and those there to help them. They may feel guilty, ashamed, angry, helpless or hostile resulting in anxiety disorders or depression.

For the children, they might be feeling guilty for the violence that is happening in the family (blame). Most times they start to withdraw from friends, there attitudes toward school might change, there grades can go from A’s to F’s. The children’s behavior might change, they might become aggressive, and become depressed. They might become a bully or be bullied because the violence they are witnessing at

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.

Although all therapists are aware of the childhood emotional abuse issue, it is possible that only few therapists understand the scope of the issue. Emotional maltreatment is harder to detect than other forms of abuse because it is more subtle. When Child Protective Services (CPS) conduct family assessments, it is the hardest form of abuse to prove because parents are very open about the topic and emotional abuse does not leave any physical evidence behind. However, it certainly influences a child's self-esteem, promotes the feeling of guilt, insecurity, and creates the inability to form stable relationships during adulthood. Although some behavioral disorders are related to emotional abuse, it is not possible to predict it correctly

There are some troublesome ethical issues when studying children. Should I think a child is an immediate danger either by their own doing or someone else's, I will contact their primary caretaker and the local police department. Due to the long term nature of the study, it is probable that a relationship between the researcher and subject could develop. The relationship will be allowable there is no need to give a “cold shoulder” to children they should feel safe and welcome when interacting with the researcher. If a problem occurs that doesn’t require immediate action, I will ask my supervisor for advice. The children will be asked to provide accounts of their experiences with domestic violence in their interview or questionnaire. The memories

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.