Child Abuse: Do We Really Know Everything?
While I was growing up I was raised in a home with a loving and supportive family. I went to a catholic school in my hometown and never really associated with anyone outside of that school. While I was growing up I thought every family was raised the same way I was, until I got my first job. I worked for the recreation department in the city I lived in and worked with children who had been through things I had never experienced before. Many of the children I worked with lived in homes where the parents hit them, talked down to them, did drugs in front of them, overall abused them. That is why I picked the topic of child abuse for this paper, because I want to learn more and teach more about child abuse and feel that people, like I used to be, should know more about what is really going on in the world.When I hear the word abuse many different definitions and ideas go through my head. I think about sexual abuse, physical abuse, and verbal abuse just to name a few. I feel that everyone in one way or another has experienced a form of abuse, whether it is from someone passing on the street or a family member. The word "Abuse means any willful act that results in any physical, mental, or sexual injury that causes or is likely
Many children around the country are abused every day, most of which are abused by their own parents. This just frustrates me because these people are the ones who gave life to these children, they are the ones who are raising these children and just for that these parents think they can do whatever they want to these poor innocent children. As I said earlier the number of unreported cases is incredible. These children being abused are afraid to tell anyone about the abuse because they are scared that their parents, who are abusing them, may find out and hurt them even more (Berlinger & Barbieri, 1984). Also, many of these children do not report their parents because they feel that it is their fault they are being treated this way. "Victims of abuse frequently experience feelings of shame, isolation, powerlessness, embarrassment, and inadequacy. They may even accept the responsibility for the abuse by blaming themselves (Johnson, 1987). Many people think that neglecting a child is not a form of abuse but they are wrong, it is abuse and should be reported. The word "Neglect means a caregiver's failure or omission to provide a child with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the child's physical and mental health, including but not limited to, food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, medicine, and medical services that a prudent person would consider essential for the well-being of the child..."(www.angelfire.com). The number of children neglected and abused in this country is unbelievable. In "1974 600,000 cases of child abuse and neglect were reported in the United States, in 1994 the number rose to 3.4 million cases" (www.angelfire.com). In a survey researchers found that
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Approximate Word count = 1164
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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