Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect |
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|---|---|
| Strategy | Approach |
| Strengthen economic supports to families |
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| Change social norms to support parents and positive parenting |
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| Provide quality care and education early in life |
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| Enhance parenting skills to promote healthy child development |
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| Intervene to lessen harms and prevent future risk |
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One major way I would measure success would be by the decreasing number of child abuse cases and the overall response/follow up once a report has been given.
What Are We FIGHTING FOR?
When thinking about irradiating child abuse and maltreatment, we have to believe that there is a better world than the one we’re currently experiencing. We’re fighting for the safety of children, not just outside the home, but INSIDE the home as well. We’re fighting for children to have the support, protection and backup to effectively, quickly and efficiently deal with all reports of child abuse. We are fighting for a better world where children can be children, instead of objects, pets, slaves or servants. And we’re fighting to prevent the abuse from happening in the first place.
What Are We FIGHTING AGAINST?
We’re also fighting against child maltreatment – Child maltreatment is behavior toward a child that is outside the norms of conduct and entails substantial risk of causing physical or emotional harm. Four types of maltreatment are generally recognized: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse (psychologic abuse), and neglect [1]. We’re fighting against child trafficking – the recruitment, intimidation, transit, relocation, concealing or receipt of children under the age of 18 with the intent of exploitation, and includes sex and labor trafficking. We’re also fighting against child pornography – Child pornography is a form of child sexual exploitation. Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor (persons less than 18 years old). Images of child pornography are also referred to as child sexual abuse images [2].
[1] https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/pediatrics/child-maltreatment/overview-of-child-maltreatment#:~:text=Child%20maltreatment%20is%20behavior%20toward,psychologic%20abuse)%2C%20and%20neglect.
[2] https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos/child-pornography
As a mother of an 11-year-old, an aunt to multiple nieces and nephews and a godmother to 2 additional children I can honestly say that children hold a very special place in my heart. Having raised a child from birth I honestly can’t understand why anyone would mistreat an innocent child, especially parents or adults period. It’s obvious that an adult has control and the physical upper hand when it comes to children, so for anyone to take advantage of that is disgusting and beyond comprehension. This social justice topic is important to me, because I’m a mother, I was once a child and I know what mistreatment feels like and I would never put that evil on another child no matter what.
I believe this is a topic that needs to keep being talked about and exposed. With everything that’s going on in the world today, it’s easy to forget about a ground of humans that can’t stand up for themselves or speak out against their abusers in their youth. If you have never been abused or mistreated as a child, this topic may not be at the top of your social injustice list, but for those of us that have experienced it – it’s a part of your life that you never forget. According to the CDC, it’s predicted that 1 in 7 children in the US has experienced child abuse and/or neglect in the past year [1].
I plan on sharing a few personal stories of what I experienced as well as some stories of family and friends that have had to endure child maltreatment. Now I recognize that child maltreatment looks differently and everyone’s story isn’t the same; but I feel that survivor stories are imperative for the child that is currently dealing with maltreatment and abuse so they know that things can get better. This paper will certainly discuss multiple aspects of child abuse and maltreatment. My hope is that this discussion will continue to gain traction, exposure, and more laws will be created to protect our children – because they’re not objects or pets, they are precious humans that depend on adults to protect and love them, not abuse them.
[1] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Child Abuse & Neglect: Fast Facts.” Accessed July 31, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/fastfact.html
My father was a nice man and you could tell that he loved his family, and while he wasn’t a mean man all the time, he had an extremely bad temper mixed with severe anger problems. As a child, I never really knew how my actions would make him feel so I often walked on eggshells, because I never knew how he’d react. I can recall one specific time when I had gone swimming with a friend of mine, and I don’t think I told him where I was going. Now this was before parents sent their children with phones, so he didn’t have any way to get in contact with me.
When my friend’s mom brought me home, I remember my mom was so relieved to see me, because she was so worried. My dad, on the other hand, wasn’t pissed and you could tell because he was redder than red. He yelled at me and told me to go to my room, so I did as he demanded. Now I understand that he was angry and was probably worried, but I didn’t fully understand how upset he was until he came into my room. All I can remember was him yelling me and telling me how stupid I was and how lucky I was that I was girl otherwise he would’ve beat me like I was a boy. I was crying hysterically and all the sudden he punched me in my face. He hit me so hard that I fell backwards and hit the back of my head on my dresser. I remember screaming for my mom and as she came rushing in the room, to my aid, my dad just left the room unmoved by what he had done. Later we discovered that I had a huge bruise/scare on my face, and I was bleeding from this huge cut on my head.
This was only one of many instances where my father was physically abusive and I vowed that when I became a parent, I would NEVER put my child(ren) through such demining and inhumane treatment. Along with his occasional physical abuse, my father was also extremely verbally abusive. While all these experiences were traumatic at the time, I’ve been able to grow beyond it and I’ve become a more compassionate and loving parent because of it, and I refuse to sit back and let anything that happen to my son, my future children or any other child – regardless if they’re my child or not.