CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT

 What is Child Abuse?

Child Abuse can be defined as harming (whether physically, emotionally, or sexually), ill-treatment, abuse, neglect or deprivation of any child. It is not always easy to recognise that a child is being hurt or is at risk, Some form of protection issues are visible and obvious such as a child begging on the street or child labour or physical abuse at home or substance abuse etc. In such circumstances, a child may or may not speak to you about the abuse but since it is obvious, you can immediately help the child.

Some protection issues tend to go undetected such as neglect, sexual abuse or emotional abuse which can be just as damaging, if not more, as physical abuse. Because of ignorance and dependency on the abusers, children often are unable to express that they are abused

 

Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse occurs when a child’s emotional, psychological or social well-being and sense of worth is continually battered. It can include a pattern of criticizing, rejecting, discriminating, degrading, ignoring, isolating, corrupting, exploiting and terrorizing a child. It may result from exposure to family violence or involvement in illegal or anti-social activities. Emotional abuse is almost always present when other forms of abuse occur. The effects of this form of abuse are not always immediate or visible. The long-lasting effects of emotional abuse may only become evident as a child becomes older and begins to show difficult or disturbing behaviours or symptoms.

Physical indicators in a child

Bed-wetting or bed soiling that has no medical cause

Frequent psychosomatic complaints (eg. Headaches, nausea, abdominal pains)

Has not attained significant developmental milestones

Indicators in a child’s behavior:

Severe symptoms of self destructive behaviour – self harming, suicide attempts, engaging in drug or alcohol abuse

Displays attention seeking behaviours or displays extreme inhibition in play

When at play, behaviour may model or copy negative behaviour and language used at home

Suffers from severe developmental gaps

Severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, withdrawal or aggression

 
Indicators in adult behaviour

Constantly labels the child or publicly humiliates the child

Continually threatens the child with physical harm or forces the child to witness physical harm inflicted on a loved one

Has unrealistic expectations of the child

 

Neglect
Neglect is the failure to provide for a child’s basic needs. Neglect may be: Physical - failure to provide necessary basic needs of food, shelter or clothing etc. Medical - failure to seek, obtain or follow through with medical care for the child or Abandonment - leaving a child in any situation without arranging necessary care for them and with no intention of returning. It can also be neglectful supervision and/or refusal to assume parental responsibility.

 

Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse includes acts where an adult uses a child for a sexual purpose. While it may involve a stranger, most sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone the child knows and trusts. It includes, any touching for sexual purpose, fondling of breasts, buttocks, genitals, oral sex, sexual intercourse, an adult exposing themselves to the child, or seeking to have a child touch them for a sexual purpose. It also includes voyeurism, photographing children inappropriately, involving the child in pornographic activities or prostitution or using the internet and phone to initiate sexual conversations with children.
 
Physical indicators in a child :
• Torn, stained or bloody underclothing
• Bruises, lacerations, redness, swelling or bleeding in genital, vaginal or anal area
• Blood in urine or faeces
• Unusual or excessive itching or pain in the genital or anal area
• Difficulty in sitting and/or walking
• Signs of sexually transmitted disease Indicators in a child’s behaviour:
• Age-inappropriate sexual play with toys, self, others
• Sophisticated or unusual sexual knowledge
• Nightmares, sleeping problems
• Becoming withdrawn or very clingy
• Becoming unusually secretive
• Sudden unexplained personality changes, mood swings and seeming insecure
• Regressing to younger behaviours, e.g. bedwetting
• Fear of certain places or persons e.g. bedroom or bathroom, friend-uncle
• Eating disorders
• Outburst of anger
• Self-harm (cutting, burning or other harmful activities)

Indicators in adult behaviour:
• Insist on physical affection such as kissing, hugging or wrestling even when the child clearly does not want it.
• Are overly interested in the sexual development of a child or teenager.
• Insist on time alone with a child with no interruptions.
• Spend most of their spare time with children and have little interest in spending time with people their own age.
• Regularly offer to baby-sit children for free or take children on overnight outings alone.
• Buy children expensive gifts or give them money for no apparent reason.
• Frequently walk in on children/ teenagers in the bathroom.
• Treat a particular child as a favourite, making them feel ‘special’ compared with others in the family.
• Pick on a particular child.

 

Preventing Child Abuse:
• Create Safe places for children in community, neighbourhood and society: Safe places for children are those where children feel secure and protected. They are nurtured, looked after and cared for.
• Create Structures and Systems where children can express their feelings and emotions freely without any inhibitions.
• Create Structures and Systems to ensure safety and to ensure that children are supervised.
• Educate children about safety measures. Provide information about the emergency contact numbers. • Create awareness: About child protection systems and networks. Keep this information handy.
• Build network of concern individuals and groups to help children. Develop support systems for children.
Build public opinion for child protection so that child protection will get priority in planning and budgeting.

 

Effects of child abuse and neglect

All types of abuse and neglect leave lasting scars. Some of these scars might be physical, but emotional scarring has long lasting effects throughout life, damaging a child’s sense of self, their future relationships, and ability to function at home, work and school. Effects include:

Lack of trust and relationship difficulties. If you can’t trust your parents, who can you trust? Without this base, it is very difficult to learn to trust people or know who is trustworthy. This can lead to difficulty maintaining relationships in adulthood. It can also lead to unhealthy relationships because the adult doesn’t know what a good relationship is.

Core feelings of being “worthless.” If you’ve been told over and over again as a child that you are stupid or no good, it is very difficult to overcome these core feelings. As they grow up, abused kids may neglect their education or settle for low-paying jobs because they don’t believe they are worth more. Sexual abuse survivors, with the stigma and shame surrounding the abuse, often struggle with a feeling of being damaged.

Trouble regulating emotions. Abused children cannot express emotions safely. As a result, the emotions get stuffed down, coming out in unexpected ways. Adult survivors of child abuse can struggle with unexplained anxiety, depression, or anger. They may turn to alcohol or drugs to numb out the painful feelings.

Risk factors for child abuse and neglect

While abuse and neglect occurs in all types of families, children are at a much greater risk in certain situations.

Domestic violence. Even if the abused parent does their best to protect their children, domestic violence is still extremely damaging. Getting out is the best way to help your children.

Alcohol and drug abuse. Parents who are drunk or high may be unable to care for their children, make good parenting decisions, or control often-dangerous impulses. Substance abuse can also lead to physical abuse.

Untreated mental illness. Parents who are suffering from depression, an anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, or another mental illness may have trouble taking care of themselves, much less their children. A mentally ill or traumatized parent may be distant and withdrawn from their children, or quick to anger.

Lack of parenting skills. Some caregivers never learned the skills necessary for good parenting. Teen parents, for example, might have unrealistic expectations about how much care babies and small children need. Or parents who were themselves victims of child abuse may only know how to raise their children the way they were raised.

 

Stress and lack of support. Parenting can be a very time-intensive, stressful job, especially if you’re raising children without support from family and friends, or you’re dealing with relationship problems or financial difficulties. Caring for a child with a disability, special needs, or difficult behaviors is also a challenge. It’s important to get the support you need, so you are emotionally and physically able to support your child.

 

Risk Factors :

 

• Special needs that may increase caregiver burden (e.g., disabilities, mental-health issues, and chronic physical illnesses)

• Parents’ lack of understanding of children’s needs, child development, and parenting skills

• Parental history of child abuse and/or neglect

• Substance abuse and/or mental-health issues, including depression in the family

• Parental characteristics, such as young age, low education, single parenthood, having a number of dependent children, and low income

• Nonbiological, transient caregivers in the home (e.g., mother’s male partner)

• Parental thoughts and emotions that tend to support or justify maltreatment behaviors Family-related risk factors include:

• Social isolation

• Family disorganization, dissolution, and violence, including intimate partner violence (IPV)

• Parenting stress, poor parent-child relationships, and negative interactions Risk factors associated with community include:

• Concentrated neighborhood disadvantage (e.g., high poverty, residential instability, high unemployment rates, and high density of alcohol outlets) and poor social connections

 

Types of Neglect :

 • Physical neglect is abandoning the child or refusing to accept custody and not providing for basic needs, such as nutrition, hygiene, or appropriate clothing.

• Medical neglect is the act of delaying or denying recommended healthcare for the child.

• Emotional neglect is the act of isolating the child, not providing affection or emotional support, or exposing the child to domestic violence or substance use.

• Educational neglect is the act of failing to enroll the child in school or homeschool, ignoring special-education needs, or permitting chronic absenteeism from school.

• Disorganized neglect: in which cognition, thought and reflective reason are minimized, affect is dominant, and feelings drive behaviour and social interaction.

• Depressed or passive neglect: ‘in which both cognition and affect are discarded as meaningless sources of information about danger and protection’ (

 

 

RISK FACTORS

 

CHILD CHARACTERISTICS

children can be at greater risk of abuse and neglect if they have a physical and/or mental disability (e.g., mental retardation, physical impairments such as deafness and blindness, serious emotional disturbance). Psychological and emotional problems, and learning difficulties appear to be associated with abuse but this association might arise because these conditions share a common aetiological pathway with abuse. There is limited evidence that physical disability predisposes to abuse”

 

Family Characteristics

Family Structure Over the past several decades, America’s families have become increasingly complex, creating a multiplicity of contexts in which child abuse and neglect may occur.

 

Deficient Parenting Skills A growing body of research explores the relationship between deficiencies in specific parenting skills and perpetration of child abuse and neglect. A number of studies have characterized parents who abuse or neglect their children

 

Intimate Partner Violence Numerous studies have reported that interparental violence and child abuse co-occur in families at a high rate (Capaldi et al., 2009)

 

Consequences

Physical Consequences The immediate physical effects of abuse or neglect can be relatively minor (bruises or cuts) or severe (broken bones, hemorrhage, or even death). In some cases, the physical effects are temporary; however, the pain and suffering they cause a child should not be discounted. Child abuse and neglect can have a multitude of long-term effects on physical health. NSCAW researchers found that, at some point during the 3 years following a maltreatment investigation, 28 percent of children had a chronic health condition. Below are some outcomes other researchers have identified.

 

Abusive head trauma. Abusive head trauma, an inflicted injury to the head and its contents caused by shaking and blunt impact, is the most common cause of traumatic death for infants. The injuries may not be immediately noticeable and may include bleeding in the eye or brain and damage to the spinal cord and neck. Significant brain development takes place during infancy, and this important development is compromised in maltreated children. One in every four victims of shaken baby syndrome dies, and nearly all victims experience serious health consequences.

 

Impaired brain development. Child abuse and neglect have been shown to cause important regions of the brain to fail to form or grow properly, resulting in impaired development. These alterations in brain maturation have long-term consequences for cognitive, language, 67 Long-Term Effects and Consequences of Child Abuse and academic abilities and are connected with mental-health disorders. Disrupted neurodevelopment as a result of maltreatment can cause children to adopt a persistent fear state, as well as attributes that are normally helpful during threatening moments but counterproductive in the absence of threats, such as hypervigilance, anxiety, and behavior impulsivity

 

Poor physical health. Several studies have shown a relationship between various forms of child maltreatment and poor health. Adults who experienced abuse or neglect during childhood are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, lung and liver disease, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and obesity. Specific physical health conditions are also connected to maltreatment type. One study showed that children who experienced neglect were at increased risk for diabetes and poorer lung functioning, while physical abuse was shown to increase the risk for diabetes and malnutrition. Additionally, child maltreatment has been shown to increase adolescent obesity. A longitudinal study found that children who experienced neglect had body mass indexes that grew at significantly faster rates compared to children who had not experienced neglect.

 

Psychological Consequences

The immediate emotional effects of abuse and neglect—isolation, fear, and an inability to trust—can translate into lifelong psychological consequences, including low self-esteem, depression, and relationship difficulties. Researchers have identified links between child abuse and neglect and the following:

 

Difficulties during infancy. Of children entering foster care in 2010, 16 percent were younger than 1 year of age. When infants and young children enter out-of-home care due to abuse or neglect, the trauma of a primary caregiver change negatively affects their attachments. Nearly half of infants in foster care who have experienced maltreatment exhibit some form of cognitive delay and have lower IQ scores, language difficulties, and neonatal challenges compared to children who have not been abused or neglected.

 

Poor mental and emotional health. Experiencing childhood trauma and adversity, such as physical or sexual abuse, is a risk factor for borderline personality disorder, depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders.Child maltreatment also negatively impacts the development of emotion regulation, which often persists into adolescence or adulthood.

 

Cognitive difficulties. NSCAW researchers found that children with substantiated reports of maltreatment were at risk for severe developmental and cognitive problems, including grade repetition. In its final report on the second NSCAW study (NSCAW II), more than 10 percent of school-aged children and youth showed some risk of cognitive problems or low academic achievement, 43 percent had emotional or behavioral problems, and 13 percent had both.

 

Social difficulties. Children who experience neglect are more likely to develop antisocial traits as they grow up. Parental neglect is associated with borderline personality disorders, attachment issues or affectionate behaviors with unknown/little-known people, inappropriate modeling of adult behavior, and aggression.

 

Economic Consequences While child abuse and neglect usually occur within the family, the impact does not end there. Society as a whole pays a price for child abuse and neglect, in terms of both direct and indirect costs.