Forms of Child Abuse - Essay Example

Task: Child abuse is a case whereby a child is exposed to situations or circumstances that may have a negative effect on him or her. These negative effects may have emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, drugs and substance abuse, physical or Psychological effects on the child. On conviction in a court of law, the abuser will have to face legal penalties (Henry 1). According to statistics from previous child abuse reports in the US, it is evident that the vice is still prevalent. For instance, about 3 million cases of child abuse being reported every year are not good indications for such a big county. Child abuse has highly negative effects on the society, the nation and the victims of the vice. As a result, the society together with the government has to give more attention to the vice in Oder to cut down on these levels, or if possible eliminate it all together (Henry 6). Various forms of child abuse are reported in this part of the world. To begin with, we will look at sexual abuse. This is the unprecedented exposure of the child’s genitals or touch, penetration, fondling, use of the child in making pornographic material (this may be in the form of pictures and videos). These, in most cases, affect the life of an offspring in an unconstructive manner. Unfortunately, it will affect the child sexual orientation, sex life throughout his or her life (56). Another form of child abuse is physical abuse; this makes the child experience physical abuse in the form of bruises, burns and cuts. This can be very serious if exposed to a child for a considerable time say more than six months. As a result, this may go a long way in determining the future personality of the child. If it goes on throughout the child’s childhood years, the child may end up becoming an abusive parent (Fisher 75). Another form of child abuse is in the form of child neglect. This may come up in the form of busy parents who is rarely at home. Due to the continuously changing economic status of many families, parents are faced with the challenge of the need to providing adequately to the family. Thus, the parent may need to take up more than one job, which in the end will need more time (Fisher 105). As a result, the parents will in most cases absent from home living the children on their own. Conversely, offspring may also experience emotional abuse. According to the nature of the abuse, the accuser may have a challenge in convincing the court that someone committed that offence. In many instances, the indicators of this abuse are coursed with other forms of abuse, for example, sexual or physical abuse. Children may also face psychological abuse. This may come about because of the behavior of the guardian. The nature of the human being is in such a way that a person may take up on the behavior of the person he relates to most or looks up to. A parent or guardian being the person the child deals with first as a grown up the child believes that what and how he does things is always the right way. Regrettably, this is not what happens, and the child may end up taking after the wrong behavior (Fisher 112). Another form of psychological abuse comes up when an experience whether good or bad affects the actions of the child either negatively or positively. On the other hand, the USA government is not seen to be doing enough to deal with this form of a crime. As a result, there is a need for the government to take more action because the actions taken are not giving satisfactory results in terms of stopping the crime. Therefore, the government must put up more resources in activities aimed at reducing the level of child abuse in this country. To begin with, the government may put aside more funds to enable the specialists in this field carry out more research. This will enable them to find long-standing solutions to the crime. Conversely, the government may put up a campaign through the mass media and other forms of advertising (Crystal 120). This will help in educating the public on the importance of minimizing the cases of child abuse, as well as their effect on society. Apart from that, the government should put up more rehabilitation agencies for reaching and counseling those people who are affected. This will greatly reduce its prevalence, as those people perpetrating the crime will come to understand themselves and stop it (Sandler 160). In the end, this will cut down on the life cycle of the crime. It occurs were the child grows up to be the parent and does what was done to him. Alternatively, the community should be persuaded to be ready to participate in community policing. It is practiced in the sense that anyone who comes across a child being molested in his neighborhood or anywhere should report it (Sandler 195). This will ease the work on police and non-Governmental organizations, as they will be able to, easily, locate and put in to book any offenders of the act. Due to this there will be an over role improvement in the whole system. The government may also improve its current efforts by introducing the subject of child abuse in the curriculum in high school. This will make it possible to reach on the victims who find it hard to stand out for themselves (Rowena 205). It will also help to enable the victims to report the perpetrators regardless of their position in their life i.e whether they are their parents, guardian or otherwise. It is also evident that the laws of child abuse due to their structure ignore some perpetrators of this crime. According to the statute on child abuse, it only addresses the offenders to be the parent and guardian. However, in real life, this is not the case, as some offenders are completely unrelated to the child, for example, a neighbor or a stranger. The law on child abuse is also disintegrated where by each state has its own laws, rules and regulations. This should not be the case because a child is a child and whether he/she is in California or Texas should not be a reason for different consideration by law. This action will have the effect of harmonizing the laws to a solid and more considerate treatment to the child (Rowena 124). According to previous reports from studies carried out on the level of child abuse in the US it is evident that about 45% of abuse is observed from parents. Although the parents are held with the responsibility of being the ones to give care and attention to children. It is observed that they end up to be the same people doing the opposite from what the society expects of them (Rowena 250). However, there are some courses which tent to influence these tendencies by parents. It is observed that some of these parents were abused while they were young. Conclusion It is puzzling how child abuse can be reported in a developed country like the USA. It is also shameful to the government. This is because so many countries only dream of being developed, but it only remains as a dream and nothing more than that. As a result, this gives a more concrete reason why the government of USA should ensure that the level of child abuse is at minimal levels. This is necessary to give a better picture of the nation. To say the list, it is also the initiative of the local community to show solidarity to both the victims of this vise and the government. This will enable maximum support to the whole process of improving on the status of the victims as well as reducing such cases. The community will also be able to live in harmony, peace as well us on mutual understanding. Works Cited Henry, Karlson. Theories of child abuse and neglect. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 1991. Print. Fisher, Alec. Child Abuse: Consequences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Print. Crystal, Mills. Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Child Abuse and Neglect. Oxford: Oxford University press, 2003. Print. Rowena, Fong & Margaret, Smith. The Children of Neglect: When No One Cares. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 2001. Print. Joseph, Sandler & Peter, Fonagy. Recovered Memories of Abuse: True or False? OXFORD: Oxford University press, 2002. Print. Read More