Child Abuse and Neglect | Teen Ink

Child Abuse and Neglect

May 25, 2011
By Hannah22 SILVER, Marietta, Georgia
Hannah22 SILVER, Marietta, Georgia
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

There is more than one way to abuse a child; some people don’t even realize that they are abusers. 1,465,000 children were victims of abuse in 2009. This is mainly because most are not necessarily ‘bad people’ and it crosses all racial boundaries. Some examples of this are that a U.S. Army officer, bus driver, and even a scout leader are some people that have raped children. A large case found was that of a doctor who killed seven children and their mother along with many more and kept severed feet in jars around his lab.
As well as abuse occurring outside of your home, it also has chances that it can occur within your family. An example of this would be a mother being charged for breaking a baby’s arm and a four month year old being shaken to death. No child is completely safe from opportunities of being abused by people in their surroundings. As for another type of abuse, there is emotional abuse. This form of abuse can occur when there are few parenting skills present in the parent and can result in the child feeling unloved or cared for. As well as this a child can also be emotionally abused by all of a sudden having lots of responsibility thrown upon them. Children with parents unemployed have twice the chance of being abused and around three times more of a chance at being abused.

No child is completely safe from opportunities of being abused by people in their surroundings. Therefore everyone should know the signs present in a child being abused. Some signs a child being abused might have in a large quantity are, the child feeling hopeless and undeserving. Their main focus being on basic survival and extended stays in public places, for example school. Other signs to look for in parents would be not supervising or paying attention to the child. Also the parent never, or very rarely, telling the child they love them or show any sign of affection. Child abuse can also lead to the child becoming an abuser. Also a child can grow up to have very extreme emotional problems such as lack of trust. But the abuse can also lead to health problems from lack of health care from an early age.

When you talk to an abused child you will definitely want to remind them that they did absolutely nothing wrong. You would also want to remain calm while avoiding denial. Do not interrogate the person you are talking to. When reporting child abuse if you have any sort of questions such as what if I break up someone’s home, the home is usually already broken up due to the abuse having taken place. But also they usually don’t separate the families until it is absolutely evident that they are abusing their child.



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.