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All children are dependent upon adults
for their survival and well-being. Certainly every child's birthright
should include good physical, nutritional, and emotional care. Abuse of
children by the adults who are supposed to protect them appears to span
all ethnic backgrounds and income levels. For various reasons, doctors
and the general public are loath to report cases of battered and
otherwise abused children to the proper authorities-the police, family
service agencies, etc.
Child Abuse Effects
Clinical observations have long suggested
that child abuse effects can seriously alter a child's physical
resources-not only the ability but even the willingness to survive. For
many abused children, lingering physical disabilities merge with
intellectual and emotional ones in a pattern that invites lifelong
problems. Even if the abused children did not suffer extremely severe
injuries, about one-third evidenced poor physical growth and over half
suffered neurological abnormalities. Mole than 60 percent had
personality problems, including low self-esteem, poor social
relationships, learning disorders, and behavior difficulties.
Child Abuse Root Causes
Physical punishment starts with infants.
An infant crawling on the floor picks up something dirty and puts it in
his or her mouth, so you tell the child not to do that. The child, of
course, doesn't really understand, puts the thing in his mouth, and
mommy or daddy slaps his hand. Now that’s something done for the
child's own good, but it's also something that teaches the child that
love and violence go together; that those who love you are also those
who hit you.
Our society upholds a tradition of family autonomy. Children's rights
have never been defined because we believe in the inviolability of the
family and feel that we shouldn't wrest control from parents who have
the right to discipline their children. Abusive parents or guardians
are usually under stress (suffering from unemployment, inadequate
housing, alcoholism, drug addiction, unprepared-ness for child-rearing,
marital or other family tensions, etc.). It is common for child abusers
to have been battered children themselves. Often such parents believe
that their beatings merely represent strict and proper discipline. Here
is where family counseling can be especially helpful. There are times
when a parent loses control to the point of striking or humiliating his
or her child. Such an incident is almost always followed by a sense of
guilt and even remorse on the part of the abusive parent.
Unfortunately, there are many children whose parents, despite their
feelings of guilt, abuse them to an extent out of all proportion to the
"offense" - often so severely that the helpless victim must be taken to
a hospital. Husbands and wives who treat each other violently punishes
their children physically more often than other couples and their
children act violently against siblings more often than do the children
of other couples
Child Abuse Treatment
If you are one of those parents who
cannot control an impulse to hurt or shame your child, or if your have
ever had to get medical attention for your child after an abusive act
on your part, you need help for child abuse treatment! Some years ago a
mother on the West Coast found herself in the above position. After
looking for someone who could help her overcome her harmful behavior
and learn to understand her motivation, she and a social worker friend
established Parents Anonymous. This national organization operates in
much the same way as Alcoholics Anonymous. If you think you may need
such support on child abuse treatment, write to Parents Anonymous,
22330 Hawthorne Boulevard, Torrance, CA90505. The New York office of
Parents Anonymous is at 250 West 57 Street, Room 1701 , New York, NY
10019.
All authorities in this field believe that with improved circumstances
and child abuse treatment, some battered children can lead relatively
normal lives. However, very severely damaged children are never able to
develop adequate skills of learning and living. Luckily, most parents
have sufficient self-control to curb their angry and/or unreasonable
feelings. Part of the problem of child abuse lies in the fact that, the
aggressive impulses parents may experience during their years of
child-rearing are in sharp conflict with the social ideal of
unfaltering parental love and devotion. In all cases of child abuse,
each family member needs help. Everybody is harmed psychologically when
a fist is raised, when emotional support is denied, or when caring
communication ceases.
Child abuse is a complicated, serious, national problem whose solution
must involve many different professionals working with children and
parents: pediatricians, psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, family
court judges, social workers, etc. Today more and more emphasis is
being placed on the prevention and early identification of possible
child abuse situations
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