Child abuse policies and services - Research Paper Example

The rest of this paper will focus on a basic description of child abuse, and specifically take a look at the law that governs it. While the legislation of this issue has improved over the years, further improvements are necessary as some children, such as minority groups and disabled children are still falling through the cracks. Child abuse is generally thought to be either one of or a combination of four different types: physical abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect or general maltreatment (Cicchetti & Barnett, 1991 from Skowron & Reinemann, 2005).

It was reported that in 2000, there were 879 000 victims of child abuse the USA alone (Skowron & Reinemann, 2005). In 2005, this number had risen to 900 000. Shockingly, 40% of victims received no follow up care in 2005 (APA Public Interest Government Relations Office, n.d.). In addition, in 2004, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported that child abuse is the primary cause of death in children between the ages of 1 and 4 years (Skowron & Reinemann, 2005). In fact, approximately 1,530 children die of abuse or neglect each year (Keita, 2008).

There are usually several common factors in child abuse and these include that the child is well-known to the abuser, most abusers tend to be men and in about 50% of cases of abuse, the family is receiving assistance from the government. In addition, many cases involve abusers who commonly abuse substances and some common characteristics of abusive parents usually include them being extremely stressed, have little knowledge of child development and few parenting skills (APA Public Interest Government Relations Office, n.d.).

The long term effects of child abuse are many and some of the conditions that manifest later in life vary. These may include, but are not limited to, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, somatic complaints, suicidal tendencies, all of which are internalizing disorders.