Reporting of child abuse and neglect and The Child Abuse Treatment and Prevention Act
According to psychology, child abuse incorporates all forms of unfair treatment of children under a certain age. It includes all sorts of rights denial, emotional constraints to even poor parental care. Child abuse has been in the rise in the recent years thus almost all countries if not all have made child abuse a criminal offence which is punishable by law. To this effect, most governments have a child rights unit in its constitution clearly stating the circumstances under which child abuse is encountered and the necessary preventive measures on top of the punishments to any offenders.
Child abuse which is mostly in form of psychological maltreatment is usually evident to any keen person on a child’s behavior. This is because children are learners by observation and are used to adhering to the set laws without questioning. The other common forms of child abuse include isolation, exploitation (child labor), educational neglect and lack of emotional consideration among others.
According to Marshall, psychological maltreatment which is taken to combine both emotional neglect and abuse is the most common form of child abuse. Being a scholar in clinical psychology, she has explored the topic from a case study perspective illustrating the different forms of emotional neglect and abuse (Marshall, 2012).
According to the Marshall, emotional maltreatment may be intentional or unintentional. In case study one of her article, she explains how a grandmother subjects child to emotional neglect and abuse by constantly reminding her that her parents were killed because the world is not safe. She also subjects the child to isolation by constantly keeping her indoors (Marshall, 2012).
As a remedy, Marshall suggests that any person who learns of child abuse should report the matter to the Child Preventive Unit of the country or state. A therapy may also be necessary to ensure that the child is back to the right track. Often, most cases of child psychological maltreatment go unreported mainly due to lack of recognition of the parents of people around the affected child. The child is therefore forced to continue suffering in silence even in cases where the maltreatment is mild requiring only psychological counseling (Marshall, 2012).
Looking into Cheung’s article on sexual abuse on children, the article analyses the act and confirms that indeed, it exists. The offence which is castigated by most laws in the world regardless of their origin is the least reported form of child abuse. According to an interview conducted, it revealed some aspects that shocked the people (Cheung, 2010). According to the interview, about 50% of the respondents preferred questionnaire form of data collection instead of direct interviews. This can be attributed to the high sensitivity attached to the subject matter.
The reasons given to the minimal reporting of the criminal offence include:
1. The names of the places to report are too confusing to the children.
2. Parental or guardian neglect or ignorance.
3. Sensitivity attached to the matter making it difficult for the minor to express him/herself.
4. Questioning which appears grilling to the already emotionally hurt thus afflicting more pain to the minor.
5. Abuse by a family member is too difficult to report on the side of the child. (Cheung, 2010).
The author also gives an outline of what the interviewer should do so as to ensure that the child reports everything corrected and without fear. The most emphasized aspect in the article is to reassure that the minor that justice will be done and make a very good choice of words to use in the interview. If this is adhered to, it will become easier to curb the vice of child sexual abuse (Cheung, 2010).
Closely related to this article is Ruth’s article on the role of pediatricians on dealing with victims who have been sexual abused by family members. This article recognizes the trauma that the victim faces and emphasizes on sensitivity on the issue (Ruth, 2011). According to Ruth, the first thing for the doctor to do is to help the victim psychologically. This helps ease the tension and improve esteem of the victim. The second thing would be to identify the cause of the problem and help the minor deal with it from an objective perspective. This may involve the doctor’s role of counseling and enlighten of the minor on his/her rights. With the restored esteem, the minor can then have the courage and company of the doctor to report the matter to the appropriate authorities (Ruth, 2011).
So as to indentify child abuse and more specifically sexual abuse, it is necessary for a person to learn of the non-verbal behavior communication of the child. The nonverbal behavior communication usually involves a great deal of close study on the child’s behavior and other actions over a period of time so as to learn of how effective they can be in suspecting child abuse (Carmit, 2012). According to an article in the journal ‘Child abuse and neglect’ written by Carmit and her colleagues on nonverbal behavior communication on suspecting child abuse, it is possible to assess the behavior of a child and come up with an at least 70% correct hypothesis on abuse (Carmit, 2012).
Observation on child’s behavior in general including moods on mention of some words or scenes can depict a great deal of the abuse that the child has faced. As an example, by mention of the world ‘dad’ and the child is abused by the father in any way, there will abrupt change in the child’s mood and behavior indicating certain aspects of the father (Carmit, 2012).
Looking at the interconnection of the articles on child abuse, it is true that child abuse is in existence and can’t be easily stabbed out of the world. This may be due to our human conscience and norms that tolerates child abuse under the disguise of norms and preparation for adulthood. This is depicted in Monika’s article on assessment of awareness of Child abuse where some of the groups shun it down just as a preparation for adulthood (Monika, 2010).
In conclusion, the rates of reporting child abuse are much below the actual abuse rate. This may be attributed to the society in which the child is brought up including the parents, fellow siblings and even the government. So as to curb this vice, it would be suitable increase the number of child preventive units, improve on parent/guardian- child communication and other aspects surrounding the child.
References.
Marshall, N.A. 2012. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice – A clinician’s Guide to Recognizing and Reporting Parental Psychological Maltreatment in Children. University of Massachusetts. Volume 43, pp 73-79
Cheung M, Needha, M. 2010. J Fam: Assessing the Importance of the Child Sexual Abuse Interview Protocol Items to Assist Child Victims in Abuse Disclosure. Springer Science Inc. volume 25, pp 11-22.
Carmit K, Molly L, Lamb M et. 2012. Child Abuse and Neglect: Nonverbal behavior of Children who Disclose or Do not Disclose child abuse during interviews. Volume 36, pp 12-20.
Ruth W. 2011. International Scholarly Research Network: How Pediatricians can deal with children who have been Abused by family members. Volume 2011, Article ID 258640, 6 pages.
Monika K, Baeta K, Ilona K et. 2010. Pediatric Neurology 9: The assessment of Awareness of Child Abuse Among certain Social Groups. Volume 2011, pp 305-310.
