Doing Part In Protecting Abused Children - Essay Example

?Doing Our Part In Protecting Abused Children Children need to be kept safe, healthy and assured of their well-being. Protecting children from harm, it seems, is the battlecry of child advocates. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) declares, "the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth". Article 2.2 further details, “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members” (UNCRC, 1989). However, society may view children in a different way. Berry Mayall (2006) has studied the way society views children. According to her, children are not considered as part of society, but only inhabit a preparatory stage before they are considered contributing members, as adults. “During childhood, they move through a series of stages that gradually equip them for life as mature, reasoning adults. Society functions smoothly—because these methods generally produce conformists.” (Mayall, 2006) Such a view places children at an inferior place, ruled by adults who “know what’s best” for them. Mayall argues that it is about time society shift this traditional belief into thinking of children as capable human beings. However, the long history of this sociological view makes it difficult to do. Mayall says, “Perhaps the greatest barrier to re-thinking childhood is the set of labels we are taught to associate with the idea of childhood. To take a few terms applied to them – children are termed incompetent, unstable, credulous, unreliable, emotional. Implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, we adults ascribe to adults the opposite virtues: that they are competent, stable, well informed, reliable and rational. All the more reason, then, for us reasoning adults to protect children in the kindergarten, until they reach the age of reason.” (Mayall, 2000). This essay will explore if such a declaration is being followed and how concerned do their part in keeping children safe from harm or abuse. In the document for Every Child Matters, Working Together to Safeguard Children (HM Government, 2006), important definitions on some constructs on hand were given: Abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment of a child. Inflicting harm or acts that do not prevent harm are considered acts of abuse or neglect. Such acts may fall in one or more of the following: “Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.” (p.37) “Emotional abuse is the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying, causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.” (p. 38) “Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, including prostitution, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (e.g. rape, buggery or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual online images, watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.” (p. 38) “Neglect is the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment) protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care- givers) ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.” (p.38) Anda et al (2005) discussed in their study that the traumatic experiences of abused or neglected children often stays on with the victim into adulthood, and can even influence the raising of that victim’s own children. More often than not, abused children repeat the pattern with their own children. Some children may never fully recover from the trauma, resulting in lifelong depression, anxiety, and personality disorders. Other individuals may be predisposed to engage in prostitution, pornography, drug abuse, or crime (Browne & Finkelhor, 1986; Bryant & Range, 1996; Ferrara, 2002; Malinoskey-Rummell & Hansen, 1993). The long-term consequences of child maltreatment can be so devastating that it has been called "soul murder" (Shengold, 1989) The case on normative and empirical grounds, drawing on data from other countries which have banned the chastisement of children and on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires in Article 19 that ‘States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse, while in the c are of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child’. Of course, this overwhelming show of support for children is well-appreciated, but one consequence of this passionate pursuit of protection is that children’s rights to participate as active members of society is not given priority. “As a subordinate, and marginalized group, children find they have dubious moral status. Adult visions of adult-child relations are built from the long history of developmentalism, intersecting with ideologies and policies which stress adult socialization duties and responsibility for protection and provision; adult input rather than child agency are at the forefront of these visions. All these combine to foster adult suspicion of children – to disbelieve them, to blame them, to suspect their moral competence, to assign moral responsibility to adults rather than to children.” (Mayall, 2000) It is pathetic that most often, the abuser or neglector is someone known by the child (i.e. parent, relative or neighbor) and the abuse usually happens in the child’s home or child care center, places where the child views as his safe haven. (Administration for Children and Families, 2004). The Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (Sedlak & Broadhurst, as cited in Kesner & Robinson, 2002) indicated that schools report more cases of child abuse and neglect than any other institution. However, the same study revealed that 84% of all suspected abuse cases in schools are never reported, making schools simultaneously the largest source of both over- and under-reporting of child abuse (Kesner & Robinson, 2002). Unfortunately, because of the reluctance of educators (Pass 1986) to report possible cases, deaths have been increasing at an alarming rate (Child Welfare Information Gateway 2004). In 2003, the total costs of child abuse and neglect were estimated at more than $94 million. These costs included demands on the health care, mental health care, law enforcement, child welfare, and judicial systems. Additionally, indirect costs included special education, juvenile delinquency programs, and adult criminality (Goldman et al. 2003). Thus, it is admonished that all school personnel should receive formal training in handling child abuse/ neglect issues including identifying, referring and reporting of suspected cases (Dombrowski et al,, 2003; Dombrowski, LeMasney, Ahia & Dickson, 2004; Dombrowski & Gischlar, 2005). They also should be knowledgeable about the law (Baxter & Beer, 1990) and district policy, if such exists. In 1998, available training programs were surveyed and results indicated a considerable variation and some uncertainty as to what must be included in the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses on child protection. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) decided to create a training pack for such courses with the aim ‘Child protection in initial teacher training tutor pack’, given to trainee teachers as basic introductory information to prepare them for their role in protecting children from abuse. (Baginsky & Macpherson, 2005) Many factors are to be considered to validate that a child is truly abused or neglected. The following framework is suggested by Every Child Matters (p.109): A trained social worker assesses a child suspected of child abuse or neglect. The initial assessment should address the following questions. (p. 110) What are the developmental needs of the child? Are the parents able to respond appropriately to the child’s identified needs? Is the child being adequately safeguarded from significant harm, and are the parents able to promote the child’s health and development? What impact are family functioning and history, the wider family and environmental factors having on the parents’ capacity to respond to their child’s needs and the child’s developmental progress? Is action required to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child? Upon confirmation of the abuse, a child protection plan is devised. The outline child protection plan should (p. 130): identify factors associated with the likelihood of the child suffering significant harm and ways in which the child can be protected through an inter-agency plan, based on the current findings from the assessment and information held from any previous involvement with the child and family establish short-term and longer-term aims and objectives that are clearly linked to reducing the likelihood of harm to the child and promoting the child’s welfare, including contact with family members be clear about who will have responsibility for what actions – including actions by family members – within what specified timescales outline ways of monitoring and evaluating progress against the planned outcomes set out in the plan; and be clear about which professional is responsible for checking that the required changes have taken place, and what action will be taken, by whom, when they have not. This implies that people from various disciplines get to work together to help victims of child abuse, some of whom become emotionally disturbed aside from the physical damage done to them. In the United States, multi-agency services follow a “system of care” model. For instance, the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program promote the provision of mental health services within the context of a System of Care. This “weaves mental health and other supports into a coordinated fabric of services to meet the diverse, highly individual, and changing health, educational, and supportive needs of children and adolescents with severe emotional disturbance” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). The system-of-care model is based on a philosophy built on three hallmark tenets namely; (1) mental health service systems exist for meeting the needs and preferences of the child and family; (2) services are community-based; (3) their management is built on multi-agency collaborations; and (3) the services offered, the agencies participating, and the programs generated to meet the mental health needs of the children are both responsive and sensitive to the cultural context and other characteristics of the populations being served” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001) The only consolation to the vicious violence that abused children endure is that there are still concerned individuals and organizations willing to do their part in cradling back the victims to even the tiniest hope of survival over the dire circumstances they have gone through in their young lives. These benefactors are after the recovery and rehabilitation of the victims so they still get a chance to live fulfilling lives in the future in spite of their painful past. References Administration for Children and Families (2004).. Chapter 5: Perpetrators. In Child maltreatment 2004. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Anda, R. F., V. J. Felitti, J. D. Bremner, J. D. Walker, C. Whitfield, B. D. Perry, S. R. Dube, and W. H. Giles.(2005). The enduring effects of abuse and related adverse experiences in childhood: A convergence of evidence from neurobiology and epidemiology. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 256(3): 174–86. Baginsky, M. & Macpherson, P. (2005) Training Teachers to Safeguard Children: Developing a Consistent Approach, Child Abuse Review Vol. 14: 317–330 (2005) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). Baxter, G. & Beer, J. (1990). Educational needs of school personnel regarding child abuse and/or neglect. Psychological Reports, 67, 15-80. Browne, A., and Finkelhor, D. (1986). Impact of child sexual abuse: A review of the research. Psychological Bulletin, 99(1), 66-77. Bryant, S. L., & Range, L. M. (1995). Suicidality in college women who were sexually and physically abused and physically punished by parents. Violence & Victims, 10, 195-201. Child Welfare Information Gateway (2004). Child abuse and neglect fatalities: Statistics and interventions. Available at: www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/ fatality.cfm. Dombrowski, S. C, Ahia, C. E., & McQuillan, K. (2003). Protecting children through mandated child abuse reporting, The Educational Forum, 67, 76-85. Dombrowski, S. C, & Gischlar, K. L. (2005).Keeping children safe from online sexual victimization. NASP Communique, 34(2), 16-18. Dombrowski, S. C, LeMasney, J. W., Ahia, C. E., & Dickson, S. A. (2004). Protecting children from online sexual predators: Technological, legal, and psychoeducational considerations, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice,55(1), 65-73. Every Child Matters: Change for Children. Retrieved on February 20, 2011 from http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk Ferrara, F. F. (2002) Childhood sexual abuse: Developmental effects across the lifespan. (Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole). Goldman J., M. Salus, D. Wolcott, and K. Kennedy. (2003). Chapter six: What are the consequences of child abuse and neglect? In A coordinated response to child abuse and neglect: The foundation for practice. Washington, DC: Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/ usermanuals/foundation/foundationf.cfm. HM Government (2006) Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter- agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Every Child Matters Change for Children. London: TSO Kesner, J. E. & Robinson, M. (2002). Teachers as mandated reporters of child maltreatment: Comparison with legal, medical, and social services reporters. Children & Schools, 24, 222-231. Malinosky-Rummell, R., & Hansen, D. J. (1993). Long-term consequences of childhood physical abuse, Psychological Bulletin, 114, 68-79. Mayall, B. (2000) “The sociology of childhood in relation to children’s rights”. The International Journal of Children’s Rights 8: 243–259, Mayall, B. (2006) “Values and Assumptions Underpinning Policy for Children and Young People in England” Children’s Geographies, Vol. 4, No. 1, 9–17 Pass, S. (2007) Child Abuse and Neglect: Knowing When to Intervene, Khappa Delta Pi Record, Spring, 2007 Shengold, L. (1989). Soul murder: The effects childhood abuse and deprivation. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press). United Nations (1989) Convention on the rights of the child (Geneva, United Nations). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2001) Annual Report to Congress on the Evaluation of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program Read More