Introductions
The child abuse has become rampant in the recent past all over the globe. This is confirmed by various surveys that have been carried out in different countries; from the under-developed countries in Asia and Africa to the most advanced countries in Europe and America. Furthermore, this epidemic does not choose race, color or tribe it cut across all the children around the globe. Although this is an old phenomenon which has been in the public knowledge for decades, little has been done to alleviate the suffering of these little angels who cannot defend themselves. Thus, the perpetrators of these crimes take the vulnerability and innocence of these children to commit this insane act. Furthermore, the laws that have been placed to protect these children have little impact on saving these children around the world. However, nurses can play a big role in helping the children who have been exposed to this inhumane act. Hence, nurse has a big role to play in the life of these young ones in helping them overcome the trauma associated with the child sexual abuse. Therefore, it is high time nurses come forth and offer a helping hand to these children. As such, nurses are expected to offer the best treatment available both physically and emotionally. Hence, nurse should provide the physical care to the wound sustained during the abuse. Furthermore, the children require psychological therapy; consequently, the nurse should make sure a psychiatrist is assigned to the child to work on treating the trauma of the child. However, more importantly the nurse should try his/her best to make sure the act does not happen again in the future. Therefore, the nurse should form a close and trusting relationship with the minor so that to get the names of the abusers. The nurses should be ready to hand over to the authority the perpetrators of these crimes. In addition, the nurse should provide any evidence that might help in bringing the culprit of these crimes to justice.
The nurse should form after treatment plan that will aim at helping the child cope with life after the abuse. As such, the nurse should be able to assist the child to continue with life as normal and also to avoid the occurrence of the abuse again in the future. Additionally, it is high time nurses become aware of the significant role they play to these young children and the world should recognizes the effort the nurses are putting to fight this menace. Moreover, all stakeholder involved should take up their responsibility in protecting these children. Nevertheless, nurses play a major role of educating the families about child care and their needs, above all, ensuring the abused child is healthy and in safe hands after treatment. Therefore, this calls for additional training on nurses on how to teach the children to be safe. Moreover, how nurses can collect forensic evidence and handing it over to the relevant authority for the law to take its course.
The methods used
The research used the secondary data such as reports and surveys from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System and the Child Protective Services to collect the information required for the study. The sources were useful and reliable since they deal with the cases of the child abuse country wide. These agencies keep the records of all the cases which have been reported at various authorities and child social services. Additionally, these sources have reduced the cost and time of conducting the research. However, the research lacks first-hand information that will detail the exact difficulties the children face after they have been abused and how they are coping with the situation. It would have been more useful to get the exact information from the all stakeholder involved so as to get the real picture of the situation and how the children are helped.
Background information and the findings
Recently a research was conducted here in the United States to establish the vital role nurses play in child sexual abuse. This was necessitated by the fact that child abuse is a global disaster which cannot be ignored anymore. Child abuse is any recent act/event or failure to act which resulted to death, harm both physically and emotionally, exploitation or sexual abuse that violates the Childs rights. Essentially, recent reports from the National Child Abuse and Neglect, suggest that more than three million children face child abuse each year in the united state alone. However, this number could be high since many cases go unreported due to the shame associated with child abuse particularly sexual abuse. On the other hand, the offenders of the children sexual abuse threaten the children not to reveal them. Additionally, some cultures see it as a taboo to discuss sexual matter in public especially if the act involved family members.
The sexual abuse can have devastating effects on a child that can be life threatening. As the result of the abuse, the child can sustain permanent or temporary injuries both physically and psychologically. The aftermath of the act can make it difficult for the child cope with the normal life. As such, it is most likely the child will be living in fear or never trust anybody in life. This is because the person who abuses them could be someone close to them e.g. a relative who they have put a lot of trust in them. The offender satisfies their sexual fantasy through the children since the children are an easy target. This is because the children cannot defend themselves, and the offenders have easy access to the children. In addition, the offender gives the child gifts and ensures him/her all right, and they should not be afraid of anything. Having already established, and maintained a close relationship with the child and the family in general the offender can have unlimited access to the child. The offender introduces sexual advances to the child through touching them inappropriately or introduces them to pornographic content. However, they caution the child never to tell anyone since it will be their secret adventure. On the other hand, the offenders may use threats to warn the child to never disclose the abuse to anyone unless they want to face the consequences of the threat. Additionally, if the family comes to know of the act they may be threatened by the offender against reporting the matter to the authorities. Thus, the family members due to the shame associated with the act or fear of the threat turn to the health facility to seek for treatment for their child. Therefore, this is where the nurses come in to assist. This is because the child requires professional care to deal with the difficulties and stress associated with the abuse. Additionally, it's the responsibility of the nurses to make sure the act/abuse does not happen again.
The role of nurses
The nurses play a vital role by coordinating with other stakeholders to make sure the safety of the child by helping in the legal matters and providing treatment care to the child. Seeking justice for the child can be a difficult task to some families since they don’t know where to report the case, or they don’t have enough resources to navigate through the justice systems. Therefore, the nurses should link the child and the parents to the community law enforcement agencies and social services. These agencies will help the child to get justice and put the perpetrator of the crime behind bars. Additionally the nurses nurse should form an after treatment plan that will make sure the child recover from the ordeal both psychology and physically.
The law enforcement to build a case the suspect against the culprit of the crime they need witnesses and credible evidence. The evidence can only be collected through the forensic mechanisms with requires adequate care. Thus, nurses are required to put the clothes the child was wearing during the act in a separate place so that the DNA evidence on the child clothing is not corrupted. DNA science allows the forensic expert to retrieve evidence from the child clothes. The experts will look for semen, saliva, dandruff, blood or skin cells on the child clothes to know the real offenders. Furthermore, the nurses are required to take pictures of the injuries sustain by the child. This will act as additional evidence.
On the other hand, the nurse should work with the social workers to make sure the safety of the child is guaranteed. Through the close relationship the nurse has established with the child and the family, the nurse should take this opportunity to interview the child and the family members to know whether it’s safe for the young child to go back home. If the nurse establishes that the child safety is not guaranteed he/she should work with the social worker to find a safe home for the child.
However, the child abuse cases have not been given proper attention they deserve. Therefore, there is need to train the nurses on how to handle the child abuses cases. This starts from the treatment of the child, collecting evidence and counseling of the child and the family members. Thus, more emphasis and resources should be allocated to this area to reduce if not to eliminate the causes of the child abuses.
