Child Abuse Essay free essay sample

Child Abuse is harm done to a child; this person causing the abuse can be either a child or an adult. Sadly, child abuse has been practiced in all cultures, and in all ethics throughout the world. In certain places child abuse started to be noticed and considered as one of the major problems in society. It is normally caused by stress or an economic problem, the average of child abuse is frightfully high, which is unacceptable we should unite as a society to make this end throughout the entire world. Experts attribute to the recent increase in reporting that we need greater public awareness of child maltreatment, but societal groups don’t realize that this is a huge problem. There are several points of view on this certain type of issue, as some people think that it is absolutely right that a good portion of attention is being paid to children abuse and also to protect them from harm. There are many different forms of child abuse. That is why it is difficult for people to realize it is going on in today’s society. Some are clearer than others. An example is a little 6 year old boy. He was left to live his father and step-mother when his real mother left him. They would lock him in closets, for more than 24 hours at a time. They would chain him so he could not move. He would be forced to eat food coated in spicy sauces and then deprived of liquids. The poor innocent boys cries would be muffled with a radio or dish soap. His crime ? Not being able to sleep. That story was a very clear example of child abuse. This story however is not so clear. A young boy who appeared to have a perfect life. His family would spend all their time with him. Such as playing football, going to parks, reading stories and such. This boy however was very introverted in a very extraverted family. His parents would pick him up and tickle him; a simple act of affection. However this young boy would scream and cry when being tickled. His parents continued to tickle him and his siblings would do this to him too. When in court, his parents were tried with child abuse. There are four main types of abuse: sexual, physical, emotional, and neglect. Sexual abuse includes a wide variety of things, but it narrows down to any sexual contact with a child or use of a child for sexual pleasure. 85-90 % of cases involve an abuser that knows the child. 35 % involve a family member. There are some behavioral indicators that a child has been sexually abused. They are: the sudden reluctance to go someplace or be with someone, and using sexual words that most children of their age group would not be using, or acting with a sexual maturity not of their age group. Physical abuse is the next type. This can be defined as the non-accidental physical injury of a child including beatings, burns, biting, strangulation, scalding, bruises, welts, broken bones, scars, or serious internal injury or simply if the parent or guardian allows the child to be in a dangerous situation. The signs for physical abuse are if a child avoids physical contact with others, or wears clothing to cover up bruises or cuts. The next type is emotional abuse. This is a pattern of behavior that attacks a child’s emotional development and self worth. It’s a sad reality that children are harassed and torn down by the people who are supposed to shield and protect them from that and love them. This also ties in with our last type which is neglect. Most people are unaware that neglect isnt as serious as the other forms of child abuse but in reality most victims of child abuse suffer from neglect. It is also the most frequent cause of death in child abusive situation. Neglect is when the child is not taken care of or deprived of basic needs by their parents or guardian. This includes, not feeding the child, not bathing it or not providing warmth in the cold. A child’s fate is anything but good when it is left out in the cold with nothing to eat. We are now aware of what child abuse really is and we are now hopefully realizing it more in our community There is however a way to prevent this from happing to our further generations. . Bob Green says, If you know in your heart, if you sense something is wrong, dont go away You have to be as relentless as those children cant be. They have no voice at all. You have to follow your instinct and listen to the little voice in your head that says something is wrong, this isnt normal. Dont ignore that voice. We found out that not all cases of child abuse are prominent and noticeable. In the tickling story no drastic measures were made to help him. There are many hotlines and associations that can help. All you need to do is call, and they alert social services about the problem. There are still so many cases being called in, so the child will never get help. So do something about it. Katie Muchmaker