Advocacy plan for social change - Research Paper Example

Advocacy Plan For Social Change Advocacy Plan for Social Change Child abuse is a significant problem facing over 3 million children in the United States of America. Reports indicate that, in the year 2009, the allegations on child abuse were over 3.3 million. These allegations involved about 6 million children. A child needs protection. Protection begins at a family level usually parents or caregivers are responsible for providing the protection the children need. Statistics show that, in the United States, five children die every day because of child abuse. 80% of these deaths involve children under the age of four years. The national child abuse statistics further report that child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level. 30 % of these abused children will later abuse their own children. 80% of the abused children suffer from a psychological disorder. The 2009 statistics show a relationship between child abuse and criminal behaviour. 14% of the men in prison suffered from child abuse, and 36% of women in prison suffered child abuse. In the case, of children who suffer from child abuse and neglect 59% may end up in juvenile, 28% are arrested as adults and 30% are likely to commit violent crimes. Other risks that children face due to child abuse are teen pregnancy and the risk of contracting STDs (Childhelp.org, 2009). It is in the view above that advocating against the forms of child abuse are a sensitive and an area that needs great attention. The purpose of advocating against child abuse is to enable the society help the victims of child abuse when the abuse occurs. To be able to reach out to the families, those are victims of child abuse and support them in any way. This advocating allows will also help the society the impact of child abuse to a child in the present and future life. The strategy hopes to discourage child abuse in the society. One of the main strategies is to raise a campaign awareness against child abuse. The campaign is to aim at educating the public on child abuse. The major effects of child abuse on children and the role of the public in preventing child abuse. Another way is to mobilise nongovernmental organizations to contribute in investing in societal projects that are target the issue of child abuse. These projects are to aim in helping children who face different forms of child abuse: child neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse, medical neglect, psychological maltreatment. By accomplishing these, we the society benefit by have a friendly and safe environment where families can raise their children without fear of losing a child-to-child abuse. We look at the possibility of raising healthy families, therefore, a healthy nation. According to Osburn the main goal of social role valorisation is to support socially valued roles for persons in their society this helps these people participate in moulding their societies according to their taste (2006). To accomplish the task above we require the cooperation of the target societies in enabling raise centres where the project will be undertaken. The project is to be run by the members of the society in question. The Department of Health and Human Services for children and families administration on children youth and families’ children bureau are also a key part of the advocacy. Being a government body it represents the government contribution in the campaign against child abuse. The child protection service another stakeholder in the advocacy plan contributes t the project by offering training t the society on ways of handling cases of child abuse. The child protection service plays a crucial role in solving cases that involve child abuse (Tebo, 2007). Other stakeholders in this project include parenting partnership to assist families in understanding each other. The child abuse intervention department should provide medical treatment, psychological and social support legal advice and crisis intervention services for victims of child abuse and their families. The foster care assessment program also makes an enormous contribution to the advocacy program. The FCAP assesses the functioning of a child in the home school and community. This advocacy plan aims at creating a social change. By empowering the society in dealing with cases of child abuse the society benefits by creating a conducive environment for raising their families. It also fosters the unity in the society and dealing with the problems affecting their society. The society gets to embrace the rule of law positively in dealing with such cases of child abuse. People who suffer child abuse get to receive medical attention and assistance from society preventing the possibility of developing psychological problems. Advocating against child abuse targets on empowering children by encouraging the children to speak out, report cases of abuse. The children are encouraged to expose the hidden cases of abuse in order to receive treatment and punish the persons responsible for the abuse. Empowering children to embrace the freedom of speech will be the greatest achievement of advocacy. This is because children will be able to speak of situations that affect them. This will be easier for authorities to deal with cases of child abuse. References Childhelp.org. (2009). National Child Abuse Statistics. Retrieved November 09, 2011, from ChildHelper: http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics#gen-stats Osburn, J. (2006). An Overview of Social Valorization Theory. SRV Journal , 1-10. Tebo, M. (2007). The youngest Client. ABA Journal , 56-60. Read More