An Annotated Bibliography on Child Abuse in America - Coursework Example

Annotated Bibliography Columbia Southern Annotated Bibliography Fagan, P. F., and Churchill, A. Jan. 11). The Effects of Divorce on Children. MARRI Research. pp. 1-48. Retrieved from http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF12A22.pdf. Divorce has many negative implications on the lives of children in all five main social institutions including church, family, school, government, and marketplace. Children’s increased susceptibility to sexual abuse is amongst them. Family is becoming weaker with fewer adults getting married and more couples divorcing.

Divorced parents’ children frequently experience pre-pubertal sexual contact. Step children assume high risk of sexual abuse. American children are weaker socially, intellectually, morally, and physically than in the past because of the weakened human capacities caused by divorce in all five main institutions of society. There is dire need to reduce the number of divorces. Myers, J. E. B. (1994). Adjudication of Child Sexual Abuse Cases. The Future of Children. 4(2), 84-101. Sexual abuse deprives children of their childhood.

Society assumes immense responsibility to do what it can to prevent child sexual abuse and rescue them from further abuse in case prevention fails. Issues in the adjudication of cases of child sexual abuse include children’s competence to take an oath and to testify it, the believability of children’s testimony, and the accommodation of young witnesses in the courtroom. Despite the lack of ability of law to solve the issue of child abuse, law does play a cardinal role in the efforts of child protection.

Courts need to coordinate to address such issues. Gelles, R. J., and Perlman, S. (2012, April). Estimated Annual Cost of Child Abuse and Neglect April 2012. Macy’s. Retrieved from http://www.preventchildabuse.org/downloads/PCAA_Cost_Report_2012_Gelles_Perlman_final.pdf. Child abuse costs about $220 million daily and affects over a million children in a year. The direct cost of child abuse in 2012 was $33,333,619,510 whereas the indirect cost was $46,926,791,578. Sources of direct cost include acute medical treatment of children, mental health care system, child welfare system, and law enforcement.

Sources of indirect cost include special education, early intervention, emergency housing, mental health care, juvenile delinquency, adult criminal justice costs, and lower worker productivity. With proper planning and implementation, it is possible to prevent the child abuse and neglect and accordingly, save all the costs associated with it. Kolk, B. A., Hopper, J., and Crozier, J. (2001). Child Abuse in America: Prevalence and Consequences. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma. pp. 1-20. Retrieved from http://www.nctsnet.org/nctsn_assets/pdfs/articles/child_abuse_america.pdf. Childhood abuse and trauma have serious consequences.

It causes numerous psychiatric disorders and symptoms in childhood and adulthood including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, borderline personality disorder, learning disorders, somatization, substance use, sexual behavior problems, and dissociative disorders. Child abuse is also a cause of criminal behavior, and difficulties of general health. The family structure and maltreatment of children are related to each other. The immense impact of child abuse on the behavior and emotional well-being imparts the need to consider the psychiatric problems and emerging behavior in the traumatic experience’s context.

This would lead to effective treatment of the dilemmas. Kelly, J. B. (1993, Jan.). Current Research on Childrens Postdivorce Adjustment: No Simple Answers. Family Court Review. 31(1), 29-49. Commencement of the divorce experience in a healthy psychological shape with children leads to the maintenance of their adjustment by continued relationship with both parents meaningfully. Parents can sustain the positive adjustment of children by solving their disputes in a counseling and mediative forum.

Highly conflicted marriage and distorted relationship between the parents after divorce causes many problems for children to occur including child abuse, fear of violence, depression, and anxiety. The multidimensional aspects of the experience of divorce for the family system needs to be explored to fully comprehend the adjustment if children and adolescents in the post-divorce period.