Causes Of Child Abuse Essay

Superior Essays
Child Abuse: The Destruction of the Young Mind
The nation’s youth is the most important part of today’s society. These young children are the body and minds that will inherit the nation and its problems. The parent also has a very important responsibility in preparing youth for the world. However, poor parenting skills are too often being transferred to the youth. Poor parenting involves the use of excessive violence as a form of punishment. Children are placed in a horrific situation through abuse instigated by their parents that damages the child physically and psychologically.
Children everywhere are being abused by their parents whether it be physical or emotional abuse. In order to help prevent child abuse, one must first understand some
…show more content…
After, knowing the reasons that parents abuse their children and the effects of being abused one must discover the main people who abuse their children. “Frequently, the perpetrator is a young adult in his/her mid-twenties without a high school diploma.”
(National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information) Statistics also indicate that many victims of such abuse are children of teenage parents. This is a very terrifying fact as the number of teenage pregnancies is on the rise as it sits currently at 57% nationwide. Research also indicates very young children (ages three and younger) are the most frequent victims of child fatalities from child abuse. An example of child abuse at a very young age is a real life story from Milwaukee. A 28-year-old mother brought her 21-month-old child into the hospital critical condition with blunt force trauma injuries. After many lies told to the officials, the woman finally admitted to abusing her young child. Many of the ways that this woman used to punish her child were severely inhumane such as grabbing the child and squeezing her all over her body(Fox News). Tragically this horrifying news had a very slim chance of being reported to proper
…show more content…
Half of the 1,500 children killed by their parents throughout the country each year are already known to the welfare system. (Saffron) Unfortunately, these reported deaths occurred there is a large percent that is never reported to the authorities. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect by Westat Inc. performed two studies to provide a partial answer. This study found that “in 1986, 56 percent of apparently abused or neglected children, or about 50,000 children, were not reported to the authorities.” (Beshorav) To present day this number has been found to stay around the same as studies in Colorado and North Carolina have estimated as many as 50 percent to 60 percent of deaths resulting from abuse or neglect are not recorded. With these numbers it is no wonder that sensational cases of child abuse and neglect have kept the spotlight on the failures of state child welfare agencies. With this factor and the other factors of stress and low pay it is very difficult to recruit individuals willing to confront this glaring issue. Many welfare workers have been threatened with violence or been a crime victim. The average pay of a child welfare worker is only $22,000 per year. This is terribly low and doesn’t assist the problem of stopping child

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Albert Einstein once stated, “The world is a dangerous place not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” According to the British medical journal “The Lancet”, there are huge numbers of child abuse and neglect cases that go unreported. Child abuse in modern times is a rising epidemic and the maltreatment of children can be uncovered in different forms which consist of but are not limited to physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and child neglect. According to childhelp.org, “The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations – losing on average between four and seven children every day to child abuse and neglect.”…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Child maltreatment can lead to many consequences. Child maltreatment can include immediate consequences like the following: physical injury, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and in extreme cases death, but it can also cause the children to have an increased risk for a number of problematic developmental, health, and mental health outcomes (Risk, 2015). These children often have learning problems, internalizing symptoms like depression and anxiety, or externalizing symptoms like oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder and aggression problems (WHO, 2016). When these children become adults, they often continue to show increased risk for psychiatric disorders, substance use, serious medical illnesses, and lower economic productivity (Institute, 2014). Also, as an adult, there is a higher risk that former victims may go on to abuse their own…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Child Abuse – The Failure of Social Services. The rate of abuse of children especially in the United Kingdom has grown to point that is now a national threat, one would have thought that the case of Victoria Climbie in 2000, and the case of baby Peter in 2007, would have attracted social services to the major cause of child abuse and try to stop it, but that is not the case today, and the situation is getting worse. The main purpose for this project is to understand and show why social services have failed to protect children from violence and neglect in the UK. To answer the question of why social services have to protect children this protect will talk on the following points which are: what is child abuse, what are the rights of children…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Girls Clubs Of Canada

    • 2483 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Children lacking education and unable to determine what their future holds is an ongoing issue in the world that needs awareness. Young children in particular, face hardships where their parents are financially unstable and are unable to raise them. As a result, children are forced to provide for their families by doing manual labour. Children are physically and sexually abused, where they are forced to work harder than they are capable of doing in order for their family to survive in a state of poverty. According to a statistic on child abuse in 2005, “UNICEF estimated that between 133- 275 million children worldwide are exposed to violence in the family,” (Canadian Red Cross).…

    • 2483 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When evaluating child maltreatment cases it is a vital step to properly assess the risk factors within the family. Some risk factors are more noticeable than others, but all share a large importance. For cases of physical maltreatment large predictors can include poor coping strategies or history of family violence. Parents who are unable to properly handle strenuous situations with their children or who were also abused as kids might be more likely to use extreme punishment tactics. Looking at cases of psychological maltreatment, children who are in elementary school and up tend to be more victimized because they are able to understand the cruel words their parents are directing at them.…

    • 445 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The bearing of abuse leaves deep emotional scars--the child never learns how to deal with true life pressures. Life stressors that may lead the battered to become the batterer. In the book, “Loving Your Child to Much”, it explains that emotional intelligence is attained by “…teaching children how to deal with anger, disappointment, fear, excitement, and the other emotions we all experience in life” (Clinton & Sibcy, 2006, p170). Sexual abuse does not show external physical signs, but there are symptoms to look for too! Sexual abuse can range from exploiting children and “…ranges from showing pornographic material to a child to inappropriate touching of and by the child and actual penetration” (Shelby, 2008).…

    • 1917 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Define Success Analysis

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages

    At what cost do we define success? Americans have been considered extremely successful for many decades; as a result, the “American dream” has been sought after by many. An attempt to identify all the possible factors and behaviors that have contributed to that success could consume a large quantity of time. Some people may point to the prevalent career centered approach in life as a key to an individual’s ability to succeed. However, I believe that this career centered approach has made us a very robotic and unhappy society; consequently, placing a diminished worth on certain values such as family and other personal relationships.…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to Haskins, Currie, and Berger (2015), one of the greatest threats to a child’s health is the parent. Approximately 1,520 children died from abuse or maltreatment in the year of 2013, 80% of which was caused by the parents. Once they were removed from this environment, the risks of the effects of abuse drop…

    • 1674 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Based on statistics children are being abused by mostly their parents. “In 2012, 686,000 children were deemed victims. In more than 80 percent of cases one or both parents were the perpetrators. Among the victimized children, 18 percent were physically abused, 9 percent were sexually abused, and 8.5 percent were psychologically maltreated”(Friedersdorf). Most of the children who are abused are getting abused from the closest people to them.…

    • 1028 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Only 21% of people report signs of child abuse/neglect in the United States. Only 64% of mandated reporters report child abuse. This is because mandated reporters that are around kids work in schools, doctor offices, daycares, etc. Many people that are mandated reports do not…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Child Abuse In The 1800s

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the US today child abuse is more common than people think. The US has over 3 million reports of child abuse each year. Which involved more than 6 million children…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Child Neglect

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Child Neglect and Abuse One day my mother, my father, my sister and I went hiking on a trail. When we arrived we had full mind that we were going to get lost maybe a little or a lot. So, we walked along the trail, laughing, telling stories, eating sunflower seeds and pretzels as we walked, taking photos and having a great time. When we attempted to exit the park it was much harder. The markers on the trees were almost completely faded but we made it back.…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In the world of higher education today, the education profession is vested by the public with a trust and responsibility requiring the highest ideals of professionalism. Therefore, the university or college professor accepts both the public trust and the responsibilities to practice the profession according to the highest possible degree of ethical conduct and standards. Consequently, professors must develop a keen awareness and sensitivity to a variety of dilemmas and circumstances they may encounter in their daily contact with students. After reading the Young v. Bella case, as a future professor, I had a lot of thoughts on how the University and its employees had failed in their obligation to Wanda Young.…

    • 1942 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Psychological and Behavioral Effects of Child Abuse Child abuse is essentially any kind of physical, verbal maltreatment or even sexual molestation of a child. It affects the psychological thinking of children, which can lead to their bad behavior. 3.6 million referrals are made to child protection agencies that involve more than 6.6 million children. Children who have suffered abuse or neglect may present extreme behavior problems including emotional instability, depression, and aggression with others. Bad behaviors may continue even after the abusive or neglectful environment has changed.…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Child Abuse Epidemic

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Many people lack the facts, therefor they believe that the US is adequately handling child abuse. So, what are the facts? In 2005, about 3.3 million referrals were made to CPS or other agencies. Of those referrals, 899,000 children were confirmed victims. This means that 12 out of every 1000 children in the US under 18 were victims.…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays