Child Abuse and Neglect in Respect to Political Economic Framework - Coursework Example

TITLE: CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT IN RESPECT TO POLITICAL ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK TABLE OF CONTENTS HEADING PAGE I. Introduction … ……….……….…………………………………….……….1 II. Role Played by Media and the Action taken…………………………………..1 III. Conclusion………………… ………………………………………………...6 IV. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………...7 I. Introduction In this essay the topic of child neglect and abuse is covered from the angle of political and economic perspective. In this regard media’s role have also been critically analysed while referring to some recent reports covered by it. Using media to prevent child abuse by spreading awareness have long been considered as masterstroke strategy against such social evil. The yardstick for measuring the prevalent child abuse in the society is by the attitude of parents their behaviour and the public policy as prevalent etc. II. Role Played by Media and the Action taken In the year 1981 Australia became a signatory to the United Nations Charter of Child Rights. During 1986 investigations revealed that many adult women were abused as children, the disturbing trend of sexual assault with physical assault also became more pronounce, in like manner many young boys reported about sexual assault from people they knew and trusted.(Oates 1990) (Goldman & Goldman 1988). The news report (Henderson 2009) about Underage sex laws and the amendment made. The provision of mandatory reporting of underage sex is amended by Parliament but it was objected to by the Opposition as it abolished the provision which made mandatory to all including teachers and social workers to report any suspected cases of sex below the age of 16 years and even if between same ages. The above media reporting is a classic example of in depth analysis of a major issue of child care and protection. Another news report in ABC News (21st August 2009) is about an Australian Government Official being jailed for 12 years on child sex offence. John Finn an Austrade official and former CEO was held guilty of child sex with a 15 year old boy in his flat at Melbourne for several months by paying him $2000. This is a grave case of child abuse and was dealt in a very serious manner with precise details it showed the role of media as a deterrent and creating public awareness against such heinous crime. It is more of an awareness creation article which reports that a particular parenting programme can actually reduce child abuse injuries and foster care placements. The programme called triple P or positing parent programme reduces child abuse injuries and foster care placements at nine counties of South Carolina. This study showed that of 100000 children there were 688 fewer cases of maltreatment, 60 fewer cases of injury requiring hospitalization and 240 fewer children send to foster care. (Horin 2009) ABC News (29th July 2009) reported that Tasmania’s child protection services were critically reviewed. Government faced criticism from opposition as which said that there was no improvement of child abuse record since Child Commissioners report warning about child abuse and 10000 cases of abuse were reported in the last financial year, but defending his ministry Human services Minister Lin Thorp claimed that number of unallocated cases were just 60 from an earlier count of 1800. ABC News (July 11th 2009) states about mandatory child sex abuse reporting law and how the new legislation is effective to curbing such crimes. Department of Child protection has informed about an increase in number of such cases being reported and it need not mean more danger to the child or a sudden increase of the abuse crime but it is stretching the police force with more workload. Government has provided the force an extra budget of $5 million to cope with this extra pressure. As can be seen this article is shedding light on a piece of legislation on child sex abuse reporting and the feedback of its effectiveness. ABC News (July 3rd 2009) a comparison was done about the indigenous community with others. The reported cases of child abuse was 6 times higher than in other communities this was highlighted by the former Minister Mel Borough and he criticized all the sides for doing little to curb it, he even criticized the Prime Minister and urged the Government and the society at large to do more and reach out to solve the problem. Here the media is highlighting the plight of the deprived section and how more effort is needed to find a solution. This report states the rise in child abuse cases to 6 times more and the gap between Aboriginals and Torres Strait islanders and the rest of Australia seems to be widening instead of narrowing when it comes to child abuse, the latest productivity commission report card showed little progress in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. (Hawke 2009) “Alleged victims of sex abuse at a Catholic boy's college say they are angry the school is hosting a major religious ceremony while police investigations are still underway. A police strike force team is investigating old cases of abuse dating back to the 1960s at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst in central western New South Wales.” (Herbert 2009) It is a shocking report of sex abuse in a Missionary college. ABC News report (June 25th 2009) where a report has found 16 Victorian children who were known to child protection authorities died last year. The report by the Victorian Child Death Review Committee warns that Victoria's child protection agencies need to do more to protect at-risk children depicting the actual state of affair and the need for agencies to be more proactive. The Australian newspaper (My 8th 2009) stated that “the father of Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic has expressed regret over his alleged threats to kill Australia's ambassador to Serbia, insisting his comments were "a joke". Damir Dokic it was further reported was distressed to hear about a report in Australian magazine about physically abusing his daughter when she was a child. This report is about a celebrity tennis star and it can be said this is more of a gimmick to cash on the celebrity status. BBC (5th June 2008) reported that “seventy people have been arrested in Australia in a nationwide operation to crack down on the use of images of child sex abuse posted on the internet. The arrests, which include a policeman and several teachers, followed a six month investigation by police into pedophile communities online.” This report is about a systematic investigation of police busting a racket and its efficiency was highlighted. A report stated whether child obesity is child abuse and in this case a South Carolina resident and mother of 14 year old was arrested for criminal negligence as her son weighted 555 pounds. The child was given to foster care. It opens up a debate about the negligence and liability of parents for adolescent children. (Croft 2009 ) ABC News (June 18th 2009) stated that Bishops pledge to support sexual abuse victims and all having access to children will need clearance from police and internal checks are also in place to prevent reoccurrence of child abuse case. It’s a reporting of changes in the church attitude toward abuse and living up to their reputation and public image makeover 191 cases of abuse were alleged. A shocking report of a 12 year girl getting pregnant to her 15 year boyfriend and the girls father alleging negligence of Department of Community Services doing little to help and it erupted a political row in New South Wales. It is a serious reporting of negligence and helplessness of law in fighting such acute cases. (Santow 2009) ABC News (June 6th 2009) reports an overhaul in child protection strategy where Government at New South Wales will allocate $750 million for child protection. This report vouches for the seriousness of Government in dealing with cases of child protection. It is a known fact that politicians and media use each other for serving their own purpose. Media plays an important role in Australian public policy. Media is efficient in identifying the issues that will attract attention of public policy makers. One such procedure is 24 hours news cycle a means of getting media attention; where a major news article is set in the front page of news paper or in breakfast interview in the media by the Government, throughout the day till night giving a vivid publicity for 24 hours. There are media advisors who advise how news is to be presented in the media. Their role is to highlight some news items while suppressing undesirable facts tactfully. Media advisors are also referred as spin doctors their role being to present any news item e.g. policy decision to the best interest of the policy formulator, almost a campaign of sort. Media has to decide about the reporting pattern and the news that it will give highlight and can be attractive to a majority of readers or viewers. A case study suggests, in Australia homelessness is a much serious issue than rising cost of houses and Government has taken it as important policy initiation, but media is focused towards the rising cost of homes reason being far more people are effected by rising cost of houses, people concerned are more likely to buy newspapers than homeless persons, there are statistical data provided by RBA which is lacking in homelessness which makes difficult for media to write new articles (Maddision and Dennis 2009). In fact a problem having small impact on large number of people will have more media attention. Media also is attentive to its audience than the general public at large so as to attract its advertising customers. III. Conclusion Media has been very active in reporting in-depth news stories about child abuse; it has led to the awareness amongst the public and the build up of public opinion and also acts as an instrument of exerting pressure on the state and expedites action. Politicians are by large influenced by media so in order to influence them it is easier to influence the media. Various pressure groups like media advisors, industrial lobby, individuals, private companies etc. do the job of influencing media. It is argued that for welfare Australia spend only fraction of GDP compared to other welfare states (Jamorzik 2009). Media is an alternative means of providing some sort of influence on policy makers, and no doubt it plays an important role in Australian public policy process changing it for betterment of citizens. So it can be concluded that, “The news media is a critical force attempting to hold political actors and institutions accountable”. (Hall 2004 p 114 cited in Boreham et al, 2006). . IV. Bibliography Maddision, S and Dennis, R 2009 An Introduction to Australian Public Policy: Theory and Practice, 1st edn Cambridge, Port Melbourne Boreham, P., Stokes, G. & Hall, R., 2004 The Politics of Australian Society: Political Issues for the New Century, 2nd edn Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest Jamrozik, A 2009, Social policy in the post-welfare state: Australian society in the 21st century 3rd edn. Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest Henderson, A. 2009 Underage sex law changes 'disturbing' ABC News 21st August viewed 24th August 2009 posted on http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/21/2662683.htm ABC News 2009 Austrade official jailed over child sex. 21st August, viewed 24th August 2009http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/21/2663152.htm ABC News 2009 Govt defends child protection record. 29th July, viewed 24th August 2009http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories /2009/07/29/2640092.htm ABC News 2009 Police stretched by mandatory child sex abuse reporting. 11th July, viewed 24th August 2009 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/11/2623117.htm ABC News 2009 Saying' sorry' not enough: Brough. 3rd July, viewed 24th August 2009 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/03/2615890.htm Hawke, S. 2009 Damning report: Indigenous gap grows ABC News 2nd July viewed 24th August 2009 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/02/2615420.htm Herbert, B. 2009 School hosts ordination during abuse investigations ABC News 26th June viewed 24th August 2009 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/26/2609165.htm ABC News 2009 16 children known to authorities died: Vic report. 25th June, viewed 24th August 2009 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/25/2608666.htm ABC News 2009 Church welcomes sexual abuse report. 18th June, viewed 24th August 2009 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/18/2601450.htm Santow, S. 2009 12yo pregnancy: 'DoCS should have done more' ABC News 16th June viewed 24th August 2009 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/16/2599401.htm ABC News 2009 'Radical reform': Govt commits to $750m child protection overhaul. 6th June, viewed 24th August 2009 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/06/2591189.htm Craft, C 2009 About.Com Is Childhood Obesity Child Abuse? 22nd July viewed 21st August2009,http://adoption.about.com/b/2009/07/22/is-childhood-obesity-childabuse.htm BBC News 2008 Child porn arrests in Australia. 5th June, viewed 23rd August 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7437003.stm The Australian newspaper 2009 'I was only joking' when I threatened to kill Australian ambassador, says Damir Dokic. 8th May, viewed 23rd August 2009 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,25447003-26040,00.html Horin, A. 2009 Parenting program decreases child abuse, foster placements The Sydney Morning Herald 28th January viewed 24th August 2009 http://www.smh.com.au/ 1232818435436.html Myers, JEB, Berliner,L, Briere,J, Hendrix,CT , Reid,T, Jenny, C, 2001 The APSAC handbook on child maltreatment 2nd edn The Sage Publication James, M. 2000 Child Abuse and Neglect: Part1—Redefining the Issues Australian Institute of Criminology http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/E/B/0/%7BEB0FEBC9-4838-415E-8967-51E80C3E32DD%7Dti146.pdf Goldman R. & Goldman J. 1988, “The Prevalence and Nature of Child Sexual Abuse”, Australian Journal of Sex, Marriage and the Family, vol. 2, pp. 94-106. Oates, RK. 1990, Understanding and Managing Child Sexual Abuse. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, Sydney. ----The End---- Read More

This study showed that of 100000 children there were 688 fewer cases of maltreatment, 60 fewer cases of injury requiring hospitalization and 240 fewer children send to foster care. (Horin 2009) ABC News (29th July 2009) reported that Tasmania’s child protection services were critically reviewed. Government faced criticism from opposition as which said that there was no improvement of child abuse record since Child Commissioners report warning about child abuse and 10000 cases of abuse were reported in the last financial year, but defending his ministry Human services Minister Lin Thorp claimed that number of unallocated cases were just 60 from an earlier count of 1800.

ABC News (July 11th 2009) states about mandatory child sex abuse reporting law and how the new legislation is effective to curbing such crimes. Department of Child protection has informed about an increase in number of such cases being reported and it need not mean more danger to the child or a sudden increase of the abuse crime but it is stretching the police force with more workload. Government has provided the force an extra budget of $5 million to cope with this extra pressure. As can be seen this article is shedding light on a piece of legislation on child sex abuse reporting and the feedback of its effectiveness.

ABC News (July 3rd 2009) a comparison was done about the indigenous community with others. The reported cases of child abuse was 6 times higher than in other communities this was highlighted by the former Minister Mel Borough and he criticized all the sides for doing little to curb it, he even criticized the Prime Minister and urged the Government and the society at large to do more and reach out to solve the problem. Here the media is highlighting the plight of the deprived section and how more effort is needed to find a solution.

This report states the rise in child abuse cases to 6 times more and the gap between Aboriginals and Torres Strait islanders and the rest of Australia seems to be widening instead of narrowing when it comes to child abuse, the latest productivity commission report card showed little progress in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. (Hawke 2009) “Alleged victims of sex abuse at a Catholic boy's college say they are angry the school is hosting a major religious ceremony while police investigations are still underway.

A police strike force team is investigating old cases of abuse dating back to the 1960s at St Stanislaus College in Bathurst in central western New South Wales.” (Herbert 2009) It is a shocking report of sex abuse in a Missionary college. ABC News report (June 25th 2009) where a report has found 16 Victorian children who were known to child protection authorities died last year. The report by the Victorian Child Death Review Committee warns that Victoria's child protection agencies need to do more to protect at-risk children depicting the actual state of affair and the need for agencies to be more proactive.

The Australian newspaper (My 8th 2009) stated that “the father of Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic has expressed regret over his alleged threats to kill Australia's ambassador to Serbia, insisting his comments were "a joke". Damir Dokic it was further reported was distressed to hear about a report in Australian magazine about physically abusing his daughter when she was a child. This report is about a celebrity tennis star and it can be said this is more of a gimmick to cash on the celebrity status.

BBC (5th June 2008) reported that “seventy people have been arrested in Australia in a nationwide operation to crack down on the use of images of child sex abuse posted on the internet. The arrests, which include a policeman and several teachers, followed a six month investigation by police into pedophile communities online.” This report is about a systematic investigation of police busting a racket and its efficiency was highlighted. A report stated whether child obesity is child abuse and in this case a South Carolina resident and mother of 14 year old was arrested for criminal negligence as her son weighted 555 pounds.

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