Never Too Late For The Children

Never too late for the Children

Re'Keta Brown

Axia College of University of Phoenix

COM-125- Utilizing Information in College Writing

Professor Amy McKenzie

February 25, 2007

Why do you make hurt you? This question lingers with children long after their abuse has ended. Child abuse, America's ugliest crime. People often ask, with so many resources in today's society, why are our children not being protected? Many people are unfamiliar with laws on child abuse and how to recognize child abuse. Better education for the public could help to eliminate this overlooked growing problem altogether. Over 2.5 million cases of child abuse are reported each year (Christian Science News, 2003). Studies show that one in four girls and one in eight boys, will be sexually abused before he or she are 18 years of age. About one in 20 children is physically abused each year. Child abuse is defined as any mistreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental harm or injury and which cannot be reasonably explained (Abnormal Psychology, 2001). Child abuse has many traumatizing levels, which includes physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect.

Child abuse was first recognized and publicized as a high-profile crime in the 1970's. Prior to the 1970's sexual abuse was simply know as "the unspeakable act".

Although child abuse is not a new phenomenon, it has only recently been seen as a major problem within the last few years, especially in the United States. Child abuse seems to happen mostly among young parents, especially uneducated teenage mothers. Each year around one million teenagers become pregnant in the United States. Ages ranging from 15-19, but only 13% of the pregnancies are intended (Newsweek, 2005). Unfortunately, the United States have the highest pregnancy numbers in the country. Over 170,000 new mothers are under the age of 16.

Being a young parent can lead to different types of child abuse. Young parents also tend to have un-met emotional needs, which most times leads to pregnancy in the first place. One of the number one causes of child abuse is stress. Stress, which usually stems from major sickness, disabilities or poverty. Many of these factors can contribute to frequent child abuse. Some other causes for child abuse are:

* Relationship issues, once the child is born and the parents break up, the parent remaining with the child, usually the mother blames the child for the destruction of their happiness.

* The parents may have a drug or alcohol problem that prevents them from being dedicated to their children. Drug and alcohol abuse is the second leading cause of child abuse.

Since handicapped children require much care when they are born, the parents feel that they are being punished since they had a child out of wedlock.

* Violence is the only method parents have for solving problems.

* A young parent being uneducated on how to care for their young child since they are still children themselves.

Most young parents are still children, and they are not equipped with coping skills at that early of an age. Young parents who repeat the cycle of abuse in which they were or still be a victim. This normally results from poverty of the parent's childhood.

Abuse comes in different forms, and I would like to explore each one of them. The first type of abuse is known as physical abuse. Physical abuse occurs when a person deliberately inflicts physical harm on a child by beating, biting, kicking, choking, burning, punching, or otherwise causing the child physical pain. Physical Abuse can range from mild aggression to total loss of control. An example of this would be when a child is hit with a closed fist, or broken limbs on a child that which is too young to walk or crawl. Some specific types of physical abuse are:

Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome occurs when a parent (usually the mother) fabricates sickness and symptoms on a child to gain attention and sympathy from authorities' figures. An example is a child who has multiple medical issues that does not respond to treatment. Shaken Baby Syndrome, occurs when a child dies because of repeated head injuries. Few children who survive shaken baby syndrome grow up to suffer major damage such as bleeding in the brain, mild to survive mental retardation, speech and learning disabilities, permanent seizures and blindness. . Most babies who die from shaken baby syndrome are killed by male perpetrators who shake their baby out of frustration.

Fetal Alcohol syndrome is a physical and mental birth defect that results from constant drinking while pregnant. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is not a single birth defect; it is a clutter of patterned related problems (CNN, 2005). Fetal Alcohol Syndrome affects three babies out of every one thousand live births, which is an estimated twelve thousand children born with this condition in the United States every year. Some defects that result from fetal Alcohol Syndrome are, heart defects, or slow physical growth before and after birth. Another major defect caused by fetal alcohol syndrome is abnormal behavior such as poor impulse control, anxiety or a poor attention span. Women who drink while pregnant fail to realize the permanent damage they are causing to their unborn child.

Emotional abuse as defined by the Wiki Pedia Encyclopedia refers to a long-term situation in which one person uses his or her power or influence to adversely affect the mental well-being of another. Forms of emotional abuse are verbal, mental or physiological abuse. Examples of this type abuse are:

* Degrading a child in front of other people or in private.

* Calling child disrespectful names such as "bastard child" or "worthless".

* Making threats to make the child fearful is also a form of emotional abuse.

* Parents fighting in front of their children. Exposure to this type of violence can cause physical problems especially in young children.

* Turning a child into a house slave by forcing them into child labor.

Many parents fail to realize that this type of traumatic abuse can make children question themselves as valuable