Child Abuse: Saddest and Most Tragic Problem Today


        Child abuse is one of the saddest and most tragic problems in America
today.   Each year an estimated one to two million American children are being
beaten, neglected, or sexually abused by their parents or guardians.   Infants
only   a few days old as well as teenagers are subject to child abuse.   There are
four types of child abuse:   physical abuse, physical neglect, sexual abuse, and
emotional abuse.   Child abuse is a serious problem that plagues America's youth
and should be stopped.

Physical abuse is a form of child abuse that should be stopped as soon
as possible.   According to social agencies, beatings of children have multiplied
over the past twenty years.   Physical abuse is any abuse that is harmful to the
child.   This kind of abuse includes the physical discipline which results in
observable injuries on the child.   It also includes use of a life-threatening
weapon, like a gun or a knife, against a child and any abuse resulting in death.
Any abuse which results in a sever injury requiring prompt medical attention,
that could be life threatening, that could cause mental and/or   physical
impairment, could cause disfigurement, or chronic pain is too classified as
physical child abuse.   Another form of physical abuse is any knowing or willful
mistreatment which in the opinion of a licensed medical doctor causes great
bodily harm and/or results in hospitalization for treatment of this injury or
condition; this may include physical injury sustained as a result of abuse or
conditions which result from a parent's willful failure to act to stop this from
happening to the child.

Physical neglect is defined as failure to provide for a child's physical
survival needs to the extent that there is harm or risk of harm to the child's
health and safety.   Physical neglect includes these four things:   inadequate
food, inadequate shelter, inadequate medical care, and inadequate supervision.
Forty-two percent of all... [continues]

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"Child Abuse: Saddest and Most Tragic Problem Today." StudyMode.com. 10, 1999. Accessed 10, 1999. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Child-Abuse-Saddest-Most-Tragic-Problem-2920.html.