The impacts of abuse are devastating. As a result of abuse, half a million youth run away from home every year. 63% of young men between the age of 15 and 20 have been incarcerated for homicide for killing their mother's abuser (Berry 9). The majority of boys present in domestic violence cases, try to protect their mothers. 62% of boys who try to protect their mothers are injured in the process. A vast number of teenagers who run away, move in with their boyfriend or girlfriend, and become pregnant at a young age. These teens are unable to care for themselves, let alone a child. In result, they end up selling their bodies for survival (Straussner 2002). More than a million teenage pregnancies occur each year, which in turn results in over …show more content…
Children with alcoholic parents suffer all kinds of abuse and it is often life threatening (20). Addiction is not something that begins and ends with one person, the impact addiction has is tremendous and devastating. "Addiction sends shock waves through an entire family unit" (Straussner 1). Over 27 million children live with an alcoholic parent. It is nearly impossible to find children from alcoholic homes who are completely unscathed (The Visitation Handbook for the Custodial Parent 167). Children who grow up with alcoholic parents are forced to mature and grow up much sooner than they ought. Over 22 million adults have come out and said they have lived with an alcohol parent when they were a child (Seixas and Youcha xi). Alcohol continues to be predominant in The United States, because it is a drug that works for the majority of people. Alcohol allows a person to temporarily escape from the problems they are suffering. Most people reap the consequences of previous actions daily and therefore turn to alcohol which allows them to temporarily escape reality. Alcohol may allow people to escape their reality for a time being, but it also creates a horrific reality for 27 million …show more content…
One reason why Christians should have a heart for destitute children is because the proper view of human life Christians possess. Recently there was a man in Wisconsin who was sentenced to twelve years in prison for killing his cats. Two days later a woman in Delaware was sentenced to thirty months, two and a half years of prison, for killing her newborn child. The woman threw her child, umbilical cord still attached, out the window of a third-floor motel room into a garbage bin below (MacArthur 4). Maybe one of the reasons why there are so many families falling apart and so many children in foster care is because people do not possess a proper view of human life. If society views the life of a child equivalent to the life of an animal, then it is no wonder why there are hundreds of thousands of children in the foster care system. The sanctity of human life should be fought for and protected, especially by
Another considerable factor of this problem is the influence these substances have on children. Alcoholism in the home is an extremely hard issue to cope with as a child. Domestic violence, which is often worsened by alcohol abuse, causes a lot of mental issues that affect children permanently. Many kids do not have a stable home and are forced to see their parents and loved ones struggle with drinking (Hopkins 7). Suffering through the effects of drugs and alcohol also make education a challenge. Children often times stay home from school or are inattentive during class due to lack of sleep from late-night parties or rowdiness at home.This makes it almost impossible to succeed later in life and lets the problem continue onto the next generation.
An alcoholic parent can affect what a child thinks is morally acceptable because, they are more tolerant of misbehavior, and often are not very moral people themselves. Alcoholic parents may not often be present or in a stable state of mind, allowing their children to partake in the activities they choose, which are often bad for them. The parents are not conscientious enough to put down the actions, making the child think they are acceptable. Children of alcoholics are more likely to steal and be violent, use drugs and or alcohol, and be engaged in activities that are potentially dangerous ("Children Of Alcoholics | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry"). They are being raised in an environment where they see this happening, and then imitate it, because that is how they think a person is allowed to act. Some children are just copying what they see their parents do. Alcohol may be the parents’ way to deal with the pressures of daily life, and children observe the use of alcohol as a coping mechanism, making
Because of this, there are lots of support groups to help children of alcoholic’s cope with the problem.” Most alcoholics children are affected greatly by their parent’s addiction and usually have emotional & mental issues.
Guilt: Children may feel they are responsible for the drinking, 2. Anxiety: Children may worry constantly about the home situation, 3. Embarrassment: Children may be ashamed of their home lives and avoid having friends to visit, 4. Unable to have close friendships: Children who have been disappointed, 5. Confusion: An alcoholic parent will switch from a loving to an angry stance quickly, confusing the child. The home schedule is also chaotic with no consistent bedtimes or mealtimes, 6. Anger: Children may be angry at the parent who is drinking and angry at the nonalcoholic parent for not supporting or protecting them, 7. Depression: Children of substance-abusing parents are lonely and feel helpless to change the situation”. These are the problems that children of alcoholic is going to experience of the course of their
may become unable or unwilling to adequately care for their children . Children often times experience a loss of parental availability and as a result, feel lonely and Isolated. More often
Many alcoholics are so preoccupied with their addictions, that issues and activities that were once of interest to them, are no longer a concern. The alcoholic then becomes oblivious to his responsibilities for his or her children. Children of alcoholics often suffer from neglect. According to the Children of Alcoholics Foundation, each year “1.2 million children are confirmed by state agencies as being victims of child neglect. Forty percent of these cases involve alcohol or drugs. This suggests that an estimated
People drink in many ways, for many different reasons. We drink socially, to gain acceptance into a group. We drink alone to ease stress, to cope with our problems, or we “drink because we like the taste or how it makes us feel”#. Often drinking is a learned behavior, starting out as a social drinker; you quickly become psychologically and physically dependent. When someone reaches this stage they are often classified as an alcoholic. To an alcoholic, drinking becomes a compulsion; they cannot stop themselves from having another drink, like a social drinker can. In many cases alcoholics don’t even have to drink continuously in order to be an alcoholic. One the problems of alcohol addiction is that it’s something that doesn’t just effect the individual but it effects, friends and family as well. Spouse abuse, child abuse and dysfunctional family relationships can all be influenced by alcohol abuse.
The second reason why Christians should have a heart for abandoned children is because every Christian has experienced spiritual adoption. They have done nothing to deserve what they have been given, yet they have been shown unconditional love through Christ giving His life as a ransom. The type of love portrayed through adoption, agape love, is unconditional, it is not based on works or merit. Just as children desirous of adoption are outcasts, hopeless, and in need of rescue. Humans apart from Christ are unclean, hopeless, outcasts condemned to hell, but in an instant their lives can be changed solely through the work done on the cross. If Christians do not stand up for conservative values and speak out against sin, then who will? Christians are vessels that contain the glorious treasure of the Gospel. Christians are the inheritance God the Father has given to this world. If Christians follow the pattern God has set, they are promised blessing, but disobedience to this command ensures pain, disappointment, lack of satisfaction, anger, bitterness, jealously, and many other fruits of rebellion (MacArthur 201). The only hope for hopeless
An estimated twenty five percent of youth under eighteen are exposed to familial alcohol abuse (Bellum). The Illinois Department of Human Services says that nearly six hundred seventy five thousand children per year suffer serious abuse or neglect as a direct result of substance abuse (‘Children”). What makes this a big problem in society?
At home, families are destroyed because of alcohol. Seventy six million American adults have been exposed to alcoholism in the family. Alcoholism is responsible for more family problems than any other single cause. According to Silverstein (1990), one of every four families has problems with alcohol. Many children grow up having alcohol problems from being exposed to it at such an early age. Spouses are forced to watch their loved one fade away.
Alcoholism is a demon, a disease, something reached for out of desperation. It helps with a person 's problem by deadening their senses, and increasing his problems at the same time by destroying his character. When you drink, you don 't have to think about all your problems, you can just let the alcohol wash them away from your mind. But it can never take away all your problemsthey still remain, just your sense to care for them is gone. Alcoholism has a great chance to pass on to later generations, but sometimes growing up in an alcoholic family will make the children swear off the drink because they have seen what it can turn people into. It turns them into the basic raw human emotion of grief. They are miserable for alcohol is the only thing that can make them feel normal after awhile, their entire bodies ache for it. Even when they have given up drinking, their bodies can revert back after having just one drop again. Yes, alcoholism is truly a terrifying disease of the mind and bodynot just to the addict, but also to the loved ones
A study by Wolin and associates determined that children who originated from alcoholic families were not able to function in terms of behavior and emotion as successfully as those who originated from non alcoholic families. In the study, children of alcoholics scored notably lower when researchers looked at their behavioral and emotional
Child abuse and neglect are considered a social phenomenon that plays a crucial role in American society as well as in the American criminal justice system. All types of ages, genders, ethnicities at some point or another are represented as victims or perpetrators of child abuse or neglect. Child abuse includes physical, psychological and sometimes sexual abuse to a person who is below the age of 18. Child abuse or neglect victims tend to grow up with long terms consequences such as low self-esteem, depression, and other major consequences such as engaging in criminal behavior as adults, teen pregnancy and not to mention the severity of physical child abuse consequences can end up in a death of an innocent victim. This literature
In recent years, the rate of teen pregnancies in America has increased dramatically. Approximately 750,000 teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 become pregnant every year, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Within this number, 82% of the pregnancies are unplanned. The psychological effects of these pregnancies can be severe.
"Over one million teenage girls become pregnant each year. In the next 24 hours, about 3,312 girls will become pregnant. In addition, 43% of all adolescents become pregnant before the age of 20. These are incredible statistics when you consider that there are only 31 million females. The United States has the highest adolescent pregnancy rate in the developed world. As statistics show one in nine women between the ages of 15 through 19 become pregnant each year. Also, every 26 seconds a teenage girl becomes pregnant and every 56 seconds a child of a teenage mother is born."