Child Abuse

Most of us dismiss child abuse as stories we see on the news on the T.V. set, the Internet, in newspapers, or learn about through other media sources. Child abuse is not that. It is happening next door, down the street, and within our own community. And it’s time the problem is taken seriously.


Child abuse wouldn't be such a problem if people acknowledged it instead of living in a world where they believe that it doesn't exist. Many people think child abuse either does not exist or exists only among poor households and in movies. This is because there is a fine line between punishing a child and child abuse. When grown ups hit children with knives, wood, glass, cups, high heels, it hurts. But it goes beyond that for some children, the abuse reaches beyond physical pain when the adult uses verbal abuse.


Even a few month old infants are not spared. Shaken baby syndrome is a form of child abuse caused by someone, in most cases by a parent or a care giver, vigorously shaking an infant or small child.


Reaching epidemic proportions



Child Abuse in our troubled world is reaching epidemic proportions. Child abuse is an uncomfortable issue most of us don't want to deal with. We hear the screams of a child at night and believe that the child is only throwing tantrums. We take bruises on a child as some kind of health problem and leave it to their parents to solve. We see a child, skinny and sickly, who never plays with other children and pay no attention to him. If we see a child in dirty clothes we blame the parents for not taking adequate care of him

Even parents, don't want to deal with it. It can't happen to our kids, they say. But it does. Children are under threat of abuse wherever they go -- to the school, the playground,in the own bedrooms and on the internet. The only way forward is --

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  To become conscious that abuse happens.
  


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  To empower children to recognise the warning signs of abuse.
  


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  To understand and learn how to create a truly safe environment for children.
  


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  To create an open environment in which children are able to tell parents or caregivers that they are being abused.
  


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  To understand how best to deal with abuse if it has already happened.
  

What Is Child Abuse?


Child Abuse refers to the harm, or risk of harm, that a child or youth may experience while in the care of a person they trust or depend on, including a parent, sibling, other relative, teacher, caregiver or guardian. Harm may occur through direct actions by the person (acts of commission) or through the person’s neglect to provide a component of care necessary for healthy child growth and development (acts of omission).


To make this simpler, child abuse is of two forms neglect and abuse.While abuse is more active in the way it is inflicted, it is abuse when something is actually done to harm the child. In the case of neglect, harm comes to the child because something is not done which should have been. Thus sexual molestation of a child is abusive whereas depriving a child of adequate food and exercise is neglectful. One similarity between abuse and neglect is that both if carried far enough, can be fatal.


Kinds of Child Abuse


There are five types of child abuse:

1. 
   physical abuse
   


2. 
   sexual abuse
   


3. 
   neglect
   


4. 
   emotional harm
   
5. 
   

exposure to family violence

Emotional child abuse




Emotional or psychological abuse, though the most common and damaging, is the least understood and hardest to prove form of child abuse. A child is said to be emotionally abused when he/she undergoes serious physical or emotional neglect caused by acts or omissions of the child's parents or other persons responsible for the child's welfare.

A child is said to be emotionally abused when she is suffering under any of the following conditions:

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  Inadequate physical care
  


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  Absence of medical attention
  


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  Inadequate medical care.
  


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  Cruel or abusive treatment
  


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  Improper supervision
  


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  Exploitation of the child's earning capacity
  


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  Unlawfully keeping the child out of school
  


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  Exposing the child to criminal or immoral influences that endanger her/his morals.
  

It is estimated that 90% of the time, parents are responsible for committing child abuse, including emotional abuse and neglect. Fathers and mothers are nearly equally responsible for committing emotional child abuse and neglect. Of course, caretakers and other family members can also commit emotional child abuse and neglect.


There are many reasons why parents abuse their children. Most abuses take place when unhappy parents project their day-to-day frustrations on their children. Such neglectful parents are isolated and have difficulty forming relationships or are burdened by anger and sadness because of unmet childhood needs and difficult current circumstances.


Source: Child Abuse