The Effects Of Environmental Child Abuse On Children

What is child abuse? From the word “abuse” we can understand that it is some sort of a maltreatment of a child, causing harm and damage both to his physical and psychological well-being. At the Federal level, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) describes child abuse and neglect as: “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” Child abuse is a very substantial and widely spread problem in U.S. affecting children of any age, gender, race, background or income, with more than 1.8 million investigations done every year and on average, killing more than 5 children every day. The main issue of child abuse is that the abuser is usually someone a child loves or depends on (a parent, sibling, coach, neighbor, etc.), who violates child’s trust putting personal interests first, therefore official numbers of how many children suffer maltreatment might be not accurate enough as remarkable amount of these cases go unreported. Each case of child abuse is unique, with a lot of individual factors involved, nevertheless, we can distinguish some of the common causes, such as poverty, lack of education, depression, mental or physical health

Most children experience physical abuse at 28.3 percent and physical neglect at 9.9%. Sexual abuse comes in at 20.7%. Lastly there is Emotional abuse at 10.6% and Emotional neglect at 14.8%, which happens to be one of the hardest abuse cases to gather evidence on and argue in court ("Child Abuse Statistics."). Child abuse and neglect is the failure to act upon the part of a parent or guardian. In other words, if your child is put in danger of death, exploitation, emotional or physical harm, or sexual abuse ("Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect."). Many children that endure abuse or neglect of any form are bound to face behavioral changes. They often have feelings of anger, depression, and anxiety. Some symptoms can be worse such as suicidal tendencies, sexual behavior at a young age, desperately seeking affection, sexual abuse of other children, and much, much more ("Child Abuse."). The thought of a child being mistreated is heartbreaking enough, imagine what is going on inside their heads from the

The maltreatment of children within the United States is an unfortunate but evident issue that presents some very detrimental consequences for the victims. Victims of child maltreatment typically suffer from both short-term and long-term consequences, resulting from the negligence of their parents. Across the nation techniques and measures have been taken in order to prevent the advancement of child abuse within high-risk homes, although despite these efforts sometimes it is too late for the child and the damage is too extensive for them to recover completely.

There is not one specific type of child abuse in fact there are more than one form of child mistreatment such as: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Before going into further details of the problems and treatment of child abuse; one must know what child abuse is. The United States Department of Health and Human Services provides a standard legal definition of child abuse, CAPTA (2010) states:

There are many things in our society today that unfortunately go overlooked. One such thing that is overlooked is the number of children who are being abused. Unfortunately these children are going through life not knowing whether or not their parents will loose their temper and perhaps kill them. There are many types of child abuse, such as physical, sexual, and emotional. Physical abuse is physical injury as a result of punching, beating, kicking, biting, shaking, throwing, stabbing, choking, hitting, burning, or otherwise harming a child. Such injury is considered abuse regardless of whether the caretaker intended to hurt the child. Sexual abuse includes activities by a parent or caretaker such as fondling a child's genitals,

Back in the day there were not as many child protecting laws and assisting facilities like there are today. In 1960’s there was very little information as it relates to child abuse. A Canadian psychologist by the name of William L. Marshall said, “you could read all the information in one morning. With the lack of information there was no way for individuals to readily identify what constituted as child abuser. Child abuse before 1875 was in fact the era before child services were created to protect the children.

Many people first think of physical abuse when child abuse is brought up; however, there is also neglect, mental, and sexual abuse. Neglect is when the child isn’t given the basic needs, and is the caretaker for whom should be their guardian. When harm is inflicted on a child resulting in long term injuries, or anxiety it is called physical abuse. Psychological/mental abuse is when a child is verbally harmed resulting in anxiety, or habits such as fidgeting. A child is being touched in a sexual manner it is called sexual abuse; the child may have difficulties sitting or may be knowledgeable about inappropriate topics for their age. (“What is”)

In my research paper, I am going to discuss the negative effects that child maltreatment has on a child throughout their childhood and their life. Child maltreatment is defined as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2007). Child maltreatment includes physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, as well as neglect and failure to supervise (Franks, Miller, Schelble, 2010).

Types of abuse include neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional, educational and medical abuse. National percentage rates for children experiencing these types of abuse are as follows; 37 percent of neglect, 44 percent of physical abuse, 27 percent of sexual abuse, and 10 percent of other abuse (National Children’s Alliance, 2016). Risk factors of child abuse include poverty, lack of education, marital problems, moving homes, violence between other family members, lack of support, social isolation, unemployment, and inadequate housing (Homeland Security, 2016).

One of the biggest problems children deal with, especially younger ones is child abuse. “In 2009, the child protective services across the country received 3.3 million reports of child abuse. The farther the child protective services would investigate they discovered more than 700,000 children that had been abused or mistreated.” (Kauchak and Eggen 51) The U.S Congress in the Family Services Act of 1988 came up with a definition of all types of abuse. (Mufson and Kranz 26) There is neglect, emotional, sexua, and physical abuse. “Over than 78% of abuse victims suffer from neglect. About 1/5 were physically abused, and about 10% were victims of sexual abuse.” (Kauchak and Eggen 51)

Child abuse is not just about bruises and broken bones. Physical abuse might be the most visible, but there are other types of abuse, emotional abuse and neglect, which leave deep ever- lasting scars. According to the article Child Abuse and Neglect, “The earlier abused children get help, the greater chance they have to heal and break the cycle-rather than perpetuate it (HELPGUIDE).” There is a misconception or myth that abuse only occurs in poor families or bad neighborhood is false. Abuse can happen across all racial,

Child abuse is a devastating problem all across the world. All genders, ages, races and ethnicities are represented among the abusers and the abused. There are different types of child abuse, but all of them can leave emotional and physical scars that will last a lifetime. Child abuse is and will be a an overwhelming epidemic if nothing is done to understand it and/or try to stop it.

Abstract: Childhood abuse has been present throughout many years but it has never been brought into life as it is today. The child’s brain is just as a sponge, absorbing every detail of their daily lives. If the child lives in an environment where there is abuse, that child in the future will do the same because it was what he got used to. Many parents use violence as a form of punishment when they do not realize that by only being violent, they are creating a trauma on the child which can lead in the future to depression, substance abuse, physical abuse and losing touch of reality. Even though children have to learn to have an education, do not resort to abuse.

There are different types of child abuse. However the core* of child abuse is all the same. It always leaves a huge effect on the child. Children need predictability*, structure, clear

Child abuse consists of any act or failure to act that endangers a child’s physical or emotional health and development. A person caring for a child is abusive if he or she fails to nurture the child, physically injures the child, or relates sexually to the child (Robins). Child abuse is broken down into four major categories: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. Aside from the abuse itself, the cost of the tragic events costs the United States billions of dollars each year. Every day, approximately 4 children in the United States die resulting from child abuse and the majority are under 5-years-old (Fromm). There are many organizations that promote preventative measures in reducing child abuse. If nothing is done,