Child abuse is one of the most common types of violence in our society and as a social worker, it is one of their main tasks to combat it and prevent as much cases as we can in a peaceful and organized way. The social worker I interviewed has been doing her job in the last 5 years and according to her, she had never been so devoted in saving a child’s life and his future. According to her, it is important for children to have and enjoy their freedom to play, to express themselves and to feel the love of their parents which in some cases do not even exist. It seems that she has always been terrified about the fact that there are parents who could afford to neglect and even hurt their children. That’s not right and it isn’t human at all.
When I asked her about the different types of child abuse cases that she was able to encounter during the course of her career as a social worker, she answered that there are really a lot of cases that she was able to handle so far. There were even the weirdest and the most unexpected cases. There were cases of sexual and emotional mistreatment but according to her, more often than not, the cases she usually encounter involve physical abuse that are sometimes associated with injuries. She told me that it hurts her feelings to see children being hurt, hit and yelled at by their parents. However, as a social worker, they have to deal with things in the most professional way possible. As much as possible they really should not show much emotion, especially anger to the people who were accused with child abuse charges and other violations.
In the course of her career, she said that she was able to handle the most subtle and the most extreme of all cases. As a social worker she said she really has to get used to these types of things because she’s going to have a really hard time if all she’s going to follow are her emotions.
It is important for a social worker to know the simplest signs and symptoms of child abuse because it would help them diagnose malingering acts of the person accused with child abuse. One of their main aims is to simply break the cycle and prevent further violent and abusive incidences that would surely traumatize the child.
Additionally, she pointed out that social workers aren’t only tasked to deal with child abuse and neglect cases. By definition, social workers are professionals who specialize in building relationships with people to help them live a more successful life within their communities. Simple problems could also be consulted to a social worker such as simple household fights and misunderstandings. Such practices according to her would really decrease the likelihood of violence, abuse and neglect. Combating these things is their top priority after all and it would save a lot of time and resources if they could teach parents the proper way of taking care, disciplining and loving their child in such a way that won’t spoil them and hurt their feelings. Lastly, I asked her the usual age of the people whom she worked with. She said that the age of their clients greatly varies but the safest answer would be child and adult ages since they do not really pick cases by age. They do not really care about age as long as they think an individual needs help.
