Child Protection Policies - Essay Example

Cain Bus here) John Kan (your here) Psychology 203 29 March Child Protection is A Part of a Continuum of Good Child-Care Practice that Supports Children’s Early Development and Learning Child protection has become an integral aspect of social policy in the UK as well as in any other country in the world. This is very important because it serves as a continuous part of a recognizable good child-care practice which, in actual fact, encourages children’s early development and learning. Children protection has been hotly debated in both professional and academic circles. This essay critically investigates the effects of well-planned child protection policies on the ability of children to grow up naturally and in safety in the world full of abusive, violent and uncaring parents and guardians (Schaffer 133). Some questions are often posted when experts and professionals discuss the issue of child protection: are children truly abused or molested by their parents and guardians? What are the actions that constitute these abnormal behaviours in people that are naturally expected to provide cares and love for these little ones? According to National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children NSPCC, children in the United Kingdom are abused in the following ways: physically, sexually, and mentally or psychologically (Cawson et al. 45). The manifestations of these abuses include: physical neglect of children that make them look dirty, uncared-for, forlorn and underfed; emotional and psychological maltreatment that make them appear disconnected from the society and their peers; physical abuse that comes from violent and irate parents and guardians who indiscriminately treat their children without respect for their rights; discrimination and constant bullying from parents that abused alcohol and other dangerous drugs; and the worst of all, sexual abuse of children and minors. In practice, professionals have worked so hard to unearth the reasons why the problem of child abuse is on the rise. Some theories about children abuse have been propounded; however, it is eye-opening to notice that parents or guardians that abuse the children in their custodies do so out of negligence, ignorance, drug or substance-motivated and self-reflection, if they had been victims of child abuse themselves (Cawson et al 58). This circumstance creates a serious social problem when those who should protect the children are the ones preying on or abusing them. Schaffer reckons that a child that is subjected to incessant abuse for a lengthened period of time would have what is referred to as “stunted growth and poor learning ability” (185). Experts have cleverly discovered that unprotected children from continuous abuse have abnormal childhood that would be reflected in their future abnormal behaviours as they mix up with their peers at schools, play centres, and other related gatherings (Cawson et al. 75). Mainly, such an abused child will feel disconnected from the society and lack proper feeling/emotion owing to the fact that he/she has never been shown one in his/her entire lifetime. As the number of abused children increases worldwide, this constitutes a great threat to the professionals on all fronts: whether at the schools, hospitals, public play centres, daycare centres, and so on. Handling abused children requires a great deal of experience, though the approaches may be different from one section to the other, but the preliminaries necessary for fashioning out the right therapy or solution for the abused child may be the same: For instance, the professional (teacher or psychologist or public health officer) needs to know the following preliminary (background) information about the abused child: (i) how long has the child been subjected to this kind of abuse; (ii) what kind of abuse, precisely—physical, sexual, mental or psychological? (iii) Who was responsible for the abuse—parents or guardians or a stranger? (iv)Has the child received any therapy to remove the pain or worry about the abuse? (v) What could be done to help the unlucky child out of his/her current deplorable situation? In the United Kingdom, for example, the Government enacted laws that would guarantee rights and protection for the kids: the Children Acts of 1989 and 2004 totally discourage any forms of abuse against children and highlight the significance of realizing that children are important parts of the society and their statutory rights must be respected by the adults (Cawson et al. 89). Particularly, the Children Act2004 encourages all Local Authorities in the UK to set up Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) that would guarantee that the issues of child protection are given enough priority. This is, in effect, a governmental strategy aiming at raising the awareness against the bad practice of child abuse in the society, whether by the commonest physical beating and bullying or by the worst case of sexual abuse of the minors. This effort can be joined together with the other law enforcement authorities like the police and court. To dispel any form of misunderstanding about this issue, the UK Government has instituted a programme that would allow Child and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) officers to advise families about the necessity for recognizing that abusing a child intentionally or unintentionally is an unacceptable act in the society which carried huge punishment, including jail term. Several debates have been started in the academic circles as well as in the professional ones about how much the governmental approach could achieve in solving the problematic issue of child abuse. This is due to the fact that an abuse case is not always or often reported as the victim may have been warned against doing so. The weapon of intrepidity often employed by the abusers help to conceal their wicked acts from being exposed to the law enforcement agencies to discover and prosecute the culprits. However, the disturbing fact is that most abusive parents or guardians do not aware that their actions are punishable under the laws; hence, they continued to harm their kids or children in their custody without impunity. From health workers’ perspective, abuse children often reveal abnormal growth curve due to the dangerous situations of physical beating, exposure to unfavorable conditions, psychological or mental bullying that they had unluckily being subjected to. This requires urgent therapeutic procedures that would revive the usual childlike emotion or feeling in the affected children. Some of the recommendations by National Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children NSPCC to handle abused children include but not limited to: separating the child from the source of abuse; creating a comfortable environment for recovery; pull the child through emotional therapy; providing both physical and emotional needs for the abused child; improve the self-confidence of the child by telling him/her that he/she is special and has got similar recognition as other kids (Cawson et al. 107). There are mountainous challenges the educational professionals face as they grapple with children that have been previously abused by either their parents or guardians. An abused child is naturally withdrawn, fearful and filled with distrust for every adult that comes his/her way, even his/her teachers. Undoubtedly, this kind of behaviour affects the child’s level of academic development as the expected concentration and the willingness to learn with the other children has totally disappeared (Cawson et al. 102). Bringing abused children out of their protective shells constitutes a serious headache for educators; and more disastrous if the teachers have no training in handling kids with such manners. Experts propose that educators should spend a great deal of time with abused children and do everything in their power to motivate them. One of the practical ways of encouraging abused children is to often offer some praises when they accomplish even a small academic achievement. This attitude may pull them into their studies and help them to improve greatly in their academic studies. Although, this process may not yield expected results at all time, but it would go a long way in creating a safe environment for learning for the child whose trust and emotional have been frayed by another adult, who abused him/her indiscriminately. Educational experts have also looked into the possibility of using healthy dietary contents to improve the learning ability of school children, including the abused children. The belief is that when kids are served balanced diet, they are likely going to be physically healthy and in good form to learn. A physically abused child may be underfed, lean, and lacking proper energy to play with the other children in his/her classroom. There is no doubt that offering good food at schools may attract the abused kids to school as well as catering for their personal and health needs. The noted symptoms of a prolonged abuse in a child include total seclusion, low IQ, poor learning ability, poor communication skill, and abnormal demonstration of anger. These revelations point to the fact that the child would grow up properly like other children that are not abused. If a child could show poor learning ability at its infancy, this points to the fact that such a child will struggle through its formative years. And if the child is unlucky to find highly experienced educators who could improve its learning skill, what follows would be disastrous for the child’s academic future. Hence, as the saying goes, charity begins at home: parents who had unintentionally abused their children should seek assistance from either governmental agencies or not-governmental ones. NSPCC periodically organizes seminars and symposia where parents come around to listen to professionals on childcare talk about how to detect abuse and quickly something to arrest the situation. It is not surprisingly that many parents are still confused whether they are abused their children or not. Some actually taught that they were only instill some forms of discipline to their wards. Though extreme punishments like beating children until blood come out of their bodies or their bodies are covered with wounds constitutes a physical abuse; or punishing kids by not giving them lunch or dinner is a typical example of child abuse. Social solution has often been closely associated with the family therapy in saving abused children from their abusers. The bulk of social or community welfarism emphasizes on the importance of providing a good housing for children, high standard of living, comfortable environment, and demonstrating positive behaviour towards them. The role communities play in the good childcare practice is undeniable. Nowadays there are many social workers that arrange periodical visits to different homes to peep at how the children there are being raised. It is almost impossible to know if a child has been criminally subjected to harsh treatment at homes without any social worker paying the families a visit. In conclusion, bringing up a child is a continuous process that requires that all the components of good childcare practice must work in collaboration to prevent heinous act of child abuse: that is, the family members, the child, the social workers, the police, the government and health workers. If there is slackness in the execution of duties by any of these components, the child would definitely become a victim of abuse, because it is the helpless component in this arrangement. Good childcare practice has the opportunity of nurturing a child into a normal and well-brought up kid that demonstrates enviable high level learning ability and good social interaction. Any abused child always finds it difficult to get acclimatize to the environment where kids that have not been abused are: whether at schools or in a playcentre. The worst policy any government would implement is to leave children in the hands of troubled parents or guardians—those who have been affected by drug or alcohol. Domestic violence also creates a strong fear in the hearts of children as they are worried that their fighting parents may hurt them. It is interesting how a child could grow up naturally if placed in a good housing, well-fed, cared for and trained to be socially acceptable to his/her peers. Works Cited Cawson, Pat et al. Child Maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a Study of the Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect. London: NSPCC, 2000. Print. Schaffer, Rudolph. Making Decisions about Children: Psychological Questions and Answers. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998. Print. Read More