Child Neglect Research Paper
Child Abuse and Neglect: Causes and Definitions
Abstract
Sadly, children have been abused and mistreated throughout history and child abuse unfortunately still exists, with figures showing 198,355 reports of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect made to authorities in 2002-2003 alone (Healey, 2006). As we understand more about human development we have learnt that what happens in our childhood has an enormous impact on our adult lives. The reality of the situation is that most Australians and other communities worldwide are not properly recognising the extent of the child abuse and neglect problem. Definitions are inconsistent and exposure to information is limited providing a window of opportunity for a step toward a more effective means of decreasing the rates of child abuse and neglect. Broadly speaking, child abuse is about an adult harming a child. Child abuse can occur through someone doing something hurtful or by someone not doing something to provide for, or to protect a child.
The literature …show more content…
on child maltreatment uses a variety of definitions of varying generality. Some authors discuss “maltreatment” which specifically encompasses physical abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, and sometimes also sexual abuse. Other authors specify the nature of the maltreatment (i.e. physical abuse, neglect, etc), while still others may detail the specific inclusion criteria, such as the presence of long-bone fractures. Further, many published studies simply utilise research samples comprised of cases which have come to the attention of local authorities. These cases are defined by the legislative definition of maltreatment, but, the manner in which legislative definition is operationalised is subject to considerable bias. Consequently cases of maltreatment defined by the legislative definition may by quite variable in regard to the nature and severity of abuse and neglect.
The definition of child abuse is difficult to determine even within a particular country. Given the many cultural and societal influences affecting the way in which a country defines abuse, defining abuse globally is obviously a formidable task, although definitions of abuse and neglect to contain commonalities across countries. Child maltreatment includes both the abuse and neglect of a child, two different types of problems with slightly different causes, perpetrators, and outcomes. Furthermore, abuse occurs in a number of different forms including physical abuse, emotional abuse (also known as psychological maltreatment), neglect, and sexual abuse.
Physical abuse is often described as a situation in which a child sustains injury due to the wilful acts of an adult. This type of abuse can be defined very loosely, as the ill-treatment of children. However, the definition may be as specific as stating that the injuries are inflicted by particular acts such as biting, hitting, kicking, or slapping; and/or occur through the use of objects such as belts, sticks, rods, or bats. These more specific definition are usually the result of laws created to protect children. For instance in Israel in 1989 an amendment was passed known as the Law for the Prevention of Abuse of Minors and the Helpless. Specific types of abuse were defined within this amendment, creating a more definitive classification of each type of abuse in Israel (2001). In many countries, the definition of physical abuse involves the presence of a physical mark created by intentional physical contact by an adult. One advantage of clear definitions is that they result in a more accurate reporting of physical abuse to the authorities (Kasim, 2001).
Child neglect, is seen by most experts, as an act of omission which some divide into three categories; physical neglect, educational neglect, and emotional neglect (DePanfilis & Salus, 1992). Other literature such as that of Zuravin and Taylor (1987; as cited in Pecora, Whittaker, Maluccio, Barth & Plotnick, 1992) broke neglect down into eight separate parental omissions. Polansky, Hally, and Polansky, who have done an extensive amount of research in the area of neglect, provide a more consice working definition “child neglect may be defined as a condition in which a caretaker responsible for the child either deliberately or by extraordinary inattentiveness permits the child to experience available present suffering and/or fails to provide one or more of the ingredients generally deemed essential for developing a person’s physical, intellectual, and emotional capacities. (1975, p.5). There are certain scales developed around neglect to help define what it is. These include the Childhood Level of Living Scale (CLL). The child neglect index (CNI) (see appendix A) was developed assesses neglect in the following areas, supervision, food and nutrition, clothing and hygiene, physical health care, mental health care, and developmental/educational care (Trocme, 1996).
There appears to be inherent difficulties in defining the concept of neglect as initial attempts to define this in practice focused on the conditions necessary for a child’s optimum growth, with the attendant assumption that the opposite of these conditions was neglect. However, because of the complex relationships between many numerous factors that determine how a child develops, many numerous factors that determine how a child develops, many assertations in the child development literature regarding the conditions necessary for the child’s development have not been substantiated nor empirically demonstrated. Many of the children who have grown up in what might be considered physically and emotionally “neglectful” circumstances appear well adjusted and undistinguishable from others in the general population (Stein & Rzepnicki, 1983).
The most difficult type of abuse or neglect to define or isolate is emotional abuse. The core issue of emotional (or psychological) abuse is that it is a sustained pattern of verbal abuse and harassment by an adult that results in damaging a child’s self-esteem or social competence. However, Garbarino, Guttman and Seeley (1986) have suggested the definition that is most widely used, concluding that emotional maltreatment, or what they term psychological maltreatment, is not an isolated event but rather a pattern of psychically destructive behaviour that may include one or more of the five following behavioural forms as classified by James Garbarino and associates (Garbarino, 1978). Firstly rejecting behaviours which communicate or constitute abandonment of the child such as refusal to show affection or acknowledge the child’s worth, secondly isolating by cutting the child off from participating in normal opportunities for social experiences or friendships, and thirdly terrorising by verbally threatening the creating a climate of fear, bullies and frightens the child, making them believe the worl is capricious and hostile (Garbarino, 1978; Garbarino, Guttman & Seeley, 1986). Fourth, ignoring the child through the caregiver being psychologically unavailable to the child and failing to respond to the childs behaviour, and lastly corrupting through caregiver behaviour encouraging the child to develop values that reinforce antisocial or deviant behavioural patterns making the child unfit for normal social experiences (Garbarino, 1978; Garbarino, Guttman & Seeley, 1986).
Although both foundations of both the simplistic and complex definitions of emotional abuse have been covered through the interperetations of the above authors it is important to recognise that emotional abuse is difficult to define. Many parents are responsible for emotional abuse at one stage in their child’s life or another, and emotional abuse is that which underlies all other kinds of abuse and/or neglect. Emotional abuse and neglect was not overtly included in abuse definitions until the early 1970’s (Polansky, Borgman & DeSaix, 1972). The inclusion of emotional neglect and abuse flourished from the assertation that emotional care in childhood affected later psychological adjustment, bringing about such links as the adequate emotional care to delayed physical growth in the “failure to thrive” syndrome (Helfer & Kempe, 1976; Williams & Money, 1980). Because such assertations are difficult to demonstrate empirically and are by no means universally accepted, many question whether emotional abuse and neglect exist in any but extreme cases, which is the main difficulty in the attempt to define it. Emotional abuse is also much more difficult to measure as there may be not physically vasable signs or recognitions detectable.
Sexual abuse is the least frequently reported from of child mistreatment (6% of all cases). Experts believe that sexual abuse may be the most under-reported type of abuse because of the secrecy or “conspiracy of silence” that so often characterises these cases. There appears to be no universally accepted definitions of what constitutes child sexual abuse, although there are many ad hoc formulations and operational guidelines (Faller, 1988). Sexual abuse includes fondling a child’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism, and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials. on the other hand, popularly, definitions of sexual abuse are broad in describing sexual abuse such as the ‘exploitation of a child for the sexual gratification of an adult’ described by Fraser (p.58; 1981). This definition shows a striking likeness to many other of sexual abuse and identifies a difficulty or discrepancy in the definition as it is not always an adult who is the perpetrator of the crime. There are two different types of sexual abuse that may occur, extra-familial abuse and familial abuse, the former being most common (Gillham, 1991). There are five general stages that sexual abuse proceeds through being engagement including grooming of the child, sexual interaction which may take mayny different forms, the secrecy phase, the disclosure phase, and finally the suppression phase (Gillham, 1991).
There are various problems with attempting to define child sexual abuse, including that the guidelines more often than not are derived from research studies in which investigators have attempted to formulate specific, operational definitions, which are nonetheless broad enough to include a wide range of abusive and potentially abuse experiences. Those validity of definitions with clarity is taken away by the fact that the diversity between them all can sometimes be quite considerably different. (Faller, 1988). Unlike with other types of abuse the child is more often coerced into it, than simply subjected to the situation as with other types of abuse (i.e. physical abuse). This makes sexual abuse difficult to define in a way that allows detection as the actions of the perpetrator appear more neutral in most of the stages, as sexual abuse progresses over time. A main problem with defining child abuse is that it is very difficult to identify and prove, and is very easy to deny (Gillham, 1991).
Australian law defines child abuse and neglect as the “maltreatment of a person under the age of eighteen years... it is the result of action or inaction on the part of an older person which results in harm or injury to a child. It may also delay physical or intellectual development” (Education Department of Western Australia, 1994).
On top of all the difficulties in defining types of abuse listed above, one of the major difficulties in defining abuse and neglect and the four specific forms is the differences in cultural opinions and attitudes. These occur in the attempts of all child abuse definitions where cultural opinins on what is morally and legally right and acceptable differs. For instance physical abuse can be a result of parent and/or school discipline in which a child is punishced by beating or other forms of corporal punsishment, the interperetation of which is subject to large cultural differences. Many western countries classify corporal punishment of any kind as physical abuse, although this is not true for the United States or Canada, and in Sri Lanka caning a child at school is still permitted (DeSilva, 2001). Exploitation which is defined as another type of abuse is also defied through countries condoning child labour and sexual exploitation of which each certain country does not view as negatively impacting upon the child. Even within emotional abuse western values are often inherently different from that of other countries which believe shaming is appropriate and that emotional distancing is for strengthening emotional development of the child (Archard, 2004).
Just as some cultures are more accepting of severe physical punishment, there are also individual differences within society as to the different levels of tolerance toward maltreatment, and therefor would have a different ideal of their own internalised appropriate definintion. Theoretically cased differences in perceiving maltreatment also create another difficulty in creating a universal definintion of the child ause and neglect concepts as medical professionals would focus on the diagnostic and pathology of parent as the major etiological factors, whereas other societal groups or professions such as social workers will tend to focus of the maladaptive social conditions present rather than individual pathology. These all affect how the case is viewed, whether it be parents, child, environment, and objective or subjective indicators that maltreatment occurred. So although general definitions are the same, the applications of these may vary, reflecting a need for the operational definitions to work together. Child abuse and neglect are complex problems, aqnd there is no one single cause. Different forms of child abuse are caused by different factors or different combinations of factors. At the core of all forms of child abuse is a lack of basic respect for children. A range of different theories have been developed to fufil the need for an organisation of the causes of child abuse so that they are able to be more easily categorised and therefor a clearer way of which aspects and how need addressing in order to take a step forward in rectifying the problem. However just as there are difficulties inthe defining process of abuse, there are also with the causes with general theories and ideas, followed by many recreations, interpreretations, add-ons, or improvements to describle the same idea. Four major causal theories are discussed in this report and how other sub-categories of causal behaviour can be designated to each.
Biological theories of the causes of child abuse surround the close biological relationship between parent and child. Imprinting occurs in children naturally however if imprinting occurs in a negative way then that process itself could act as a cause of abuse. The idea where the children mimic and observe parental behaviour and use that as a milestone to create and determine their own could impact negatively if the behaviours that the parent/s is displaying is of a developmentally detrimental nature to the child.
Secondly personal theories have a lot to answer for in regards to how parents treat their children.
Following the theories suggesting the negative or detrimental treatment of a child is carried with them throughout their lives causing emotional problems that sustain through and beyond their childhood, any may possibly eventually be reflected in their own parenting. Child abuse and neglect can sometimes occur when parents have had a personal problem or illness which affects their ability to parent their children. Many parents who have had a mental illness that is being treated and who receive adequate support can parent their children well. Paqrents who have a mental illness that is unrecognised or untreated or who lack instant supports may neglect or abuse their children. Their illness may make it difficult for them to identify or meet their hild’s growing needs for security or
stimulation.
Parents who are addicted to illicit drugs or alcohol can leave their children in unsafe environments or without adequate supervision. When substance or alcohol affected, some parents may be more prone to using violence against their children. Without adequate support, parents with intellectual disability may sometime not be able to care for their children. The personalistic theories also attribute poor child care to differences among differences among parental personalities, especially their character structures (Polansky, Chalmers, Buttenweiser & Williams, 1991). Sometime child abuse and neglect can be caused by parents who have poor parenting skills. This may be because they did not have positive role models in their own parents. Sometimes a lack of confidence, and low self-esteem prevent parents from knowing how to change harmful or negative parenting styles. Some adults engage in physical and sexual violence towards children. This violence may often stem from individual psychological problems, low self-esteem, and a history of abuse and violence in their own childhood. Sex offenders hurt children because of a range of complex psychological and emotional problems.
Family theories (such as the systems theory)have identified the ability for family borders to be influenced in a negative way, causing negative familial actions to occur (abusive interactions). Parents under familial stress can negatively impact on family dynamics, and is where child abuse can occur, especially when they find it difficult to use and find support. Stress of this kind may be caused by divorce and separation problems. Parents under this tress can therefore easily transfer their stress onto their own family and abuse their children. The stress can also affect their judgement and decision making as a parent. These boundaries of the family may also be distorted because of poor parenting skills.
Lastly the ecological/ societal theories are commonly and recently the most influential as they provide a more integrative approach to the etiology of maltreatment that focuses on the interaction of both the individual and the environmental characteristics. It stands to reason that any compelling intervention model must incorporate this multifactor perspective in its selection and organisation of services for families, and is therefore one of the bbest descriptors of causes. Parke and Collmer (1975) identify the following significant factors, the cultural attitude toward violence, social stress impacting on the abusive family such as inadequate housing, unemployment, absence of day-care facilities, family size and social isolation of the abusive family, as impacting heavily on the increased risk of child abuse and neglect to occur within the family. This theory also takes into account the negative effects material and social deprivation, and also poverty have upon increasing the incidence of abuse. low standards of the community and what the community lacks to understand about the parents and the position that they are in, and what isolation begins to occur because of these reasons.
If parent’s ability to care for their children is influenced by the total societal context in which they live, then feeling unsupported by their surrounding could well create parents who neglect (Germain, 2001). As the ecological perspective invites us to look at how society contributes to neglect, the societal perspective shows that we have difficulty accepting our values and institutions actually stimulate neglectful situations. This shows through the welfare system in a round about way encouraging neglect through the cutting and restrictions of the benefits that they offer to parents, such as the welfare crisis in Australia now.
The system may discourage mother’s self-sufficiency and perpetuate the problem. Another example is forcing them into seemingly decaying neighbourhoods through the new upgrades and building in previously affordable areas, the cost to live in a house and live in general having inflated also. This all causes additional stresses to the parents and thence on the child. Immigrant and minority populations are confined. All negative if the parent is subjected to consistent oppression.
The recommended definition for abuse taking into consideration previous and current definitions and causes is a broad approach, recognising the impact of society, the parent and the impact on the child. Child abuse is a very complex and dangerous set of problems that include child neglect and the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children.
Child neglect is the failure to provide for the shelter, safety, supervision, and the nutritional needs of the child. Child neglect can be physical, educational or emotional neglect. Physical neglect is refusal or delay in seeking health care, abandonment of any sort, expulsion from the home, or refusal to allow a runaway to return home, and inadequate supervision. Educational neglect includes the allowance of chronic truancy, failure to enrol a child of mandatory school age in school, and failure to attend to a special educational need. Emotional neglect includes such actions as marked inattention to the child’s needs for affection and refusal or failure to provide needed psychological care.
Physical abuse is forms of physical injury inflicted upon the child with cruel or malitious intent. Physical abuse can be the result of punching, kicking, beating, biting, burning, sha\king, or otherwise harming a child. The parent or caretaker may not have intended to hurt the child, rather the injury may have resulted from over-discipline or physical punishment.
Emotional abuse is acts or omissions by the parents or othewr caregivers that could cause serious behavioural, emotional, or mental disorders (including bizarre forms of punishment).
Sexual abuse includes the disclosure of children to sexual acts, whether it be their observation of sexual activity (through pornographic material or direct observation), or involvement in the sexual activities (including fondling, masturbation, oral stimulation, or penetrative sexual acts).
A comprehensive framework for understanding the phenomena of child abuse appears to be a helpful approach, which integrates various models without losing sight of the overall scope or totality of the problem. The ecological framework for understanding human behaviour may act as such an integrative model. The ecological model of child abuse requires a broad understanding of the etiology of abuse based on the knowledge generated by research on this social problem. Only as a broad rather than a narrow view of the problem occurs, can a range of appropriate interventive and preventative strategies be applied to this problem. These strategies include intervening not only at the level of individual families in which the problem of child abuse has occurred but also at the societal level in which all families live.
This broader and more inclusive definition of abuse and neglect is more desirable. This broader definition will mean that access to services will be granted to a greater number of families and children including those “at risk of harm” and those minimally harmed. This will mean the families of these children are presumable more likely to benefit from prevention and intervention programs than families that have already severely neglected their children, as it is indicated that those who have already neglected are one of the most difficult populations to reach through current service models (Bath, Richey & Haapala, 1992). This will allow the service to be meaningful and go beyond short-term, crisis-oriented programs that currently dominate public child welfare services.
The research finding indicating that the community and certain groups of the public view child abuse and neglect cases more severely than do the services portrays a desperate need to address this perception with services offering this kind of intervention as if they do not the system will keep distancing itself from the community to which it should be responsible. This continuing tension might lead to further alienation of the community and a further rejection by it of the goals of the child protective system.
References
Archard, D. (2004). Children, rights and childhood (2nd Edition). New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis. Chapter 14. The problem of child abuse.
DePanfilis, D., & Salus, M. (1992) A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: A Basic Manual. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Faller, K. C. (1988). Child Sexual Abuse: An Interdisciplinary Manual for Diagnosis, Case Management and Treatment. London: Columbia University Press.
Fraser, B. G. (1981). Sexual child abuse: The legislation and the law in the United States. In P. B. Mrazekk and C. H. Kempe (eds), Sexually Abused Children and Their Families. New York: Pergamon.
Gillham, B. (1991). The Facts About Child Sexual Abuse. London: Biddles Limited.
Abstract
Sadly, children have been abused and mistreated throughout history and child abuse unfortunately still exists, with figures showing 198,355 reports of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect made to authorities in 2002-2003 alone (Healey, 2006). As we understand more about human development we have learnt that what happens in our childhood has an enormous impact on our adult lives. The reality of the situation is that most Australians and other communities worldwide are not properly recognising the extent of the child abuse and neglect problem. Definitions are inconsistent and exposure to information is limited providing a window of opportunity for a step toward a more effective means of decreasing the rates of child abuse and neglect. Broadly speaking, child abuse is about an adult harming a child. Child abuse can occur through someone doing something hurtful or by someone not doing something to provide for, or to protect a child.
The literature …show more content…
on child maltreatment uses a variety of definitions of varying generality. Some authors discuss “maltreatment” which specifically encompasses physical abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, and sometimes also sexual abuse. Other authors specify the nature of the maltreatment (i.e. physical abuse, neglect, etc), while still others may detail the specific inclusion criteria, such as the presence of long-bone fractures. Further, many published studies simply utilise research samples comprised of cases which have come to the attention of local authorities. These cases are defined by the legislative definition of maltreatment, but, the manner in which legislative definition is operationalised is subject to considerable bias. Consequently cases of maltreatment defined by the legislative definition may by quite variable in regard to the nature and severity of abuse and neglect.
The definition of child abuse is difficult to determine even within a particular country. Given the many cultural and societal influences affecting the way in which a country defines abuse, defining abuse globally is obviously a formidable task, although definitions of abuse and neglect to contain commonalities across countries. Child maltreatment includes both the abuse and neglect of a child, two different types of problems with slightly different causes, perpetrators, and outcomes. Furthermore, abuse occurs in a number of different forms including physical abuse, emotional abuse (also known as psychological maltreatment), neglect, and sexual abuse.
Physical abuse is often described as a situation in which a child sustains injury due to the wilful acts of an adult. This type of abuse can be defined very loosely, as the ill-treatment of children. However, the definition may be as specific as stating that the injuries are inflicted by particular acts such as biting, hitting, kicking, or slapping; and/or occur through the use of objects such as belts, sticks, rods, or bats. These more specific definition are usually the result of laws created to protect children. For instance in Israel in 1989 an amendment was passed known as the Law for the Prevention of Abuse of Minors and the Helpless. Specific types of abuse were defined within this amendment, creating a more definitive classification of each type of abuse in Israel (2001). In many countries, the definition of physical abuse involves the presence of a physical mark created by intentional physical contact by an adult. One advantage of clear definitions is that they result in a more accurate reporting of physical abuse to the authorities (Kasim, 2001).
Child neglect, is seen by most experts, as an act of omission which some divide into three categories; physical neglect, educational neglect, and emotional neglect (DePanfilis & Salus, 1992). Other literature such as that of Zuravin and Taylor (1987; as cited in Pecora, Whittaker, Maluccio, Barth & Plotnick, 1992) broke neglect down into eight separate parental omissions. Polansky, Hally, and Polansky, who have done an extensive amount of research in the area of neglect, provide a more consice working definition “child neglect may be defined as a condition in which a caretaker responsible for the child either deliberately or by extraordinary inattentiveness permits the child to experience available present suffering and/or fails to provide one or more of the ingredients generally deemed essential for developing a person’s physical, intellectual, and emotional capacities. (1975, p.5). There are certain scales developed around neglect to help define what it is. These include the Childhood Level of Living Scale (CLL). The child neglect index (CNI) (see appendix A) was developed assesses neglect in the following areas, supervision, food and nutrition, clothing and hygiene, physical health care, mental health care, and developmental/educational care (Trocme, 1996).
There appears to be inherent difficulties in defining the concept of neglect as initial attempts to define this in practice focused on the conditions necessary for a child’s optimum growth, with the attendant assumption that the opposite of these conditions was neglect. However, because of the complex relationships between many numerous factors that determine how a child develops, many numerous factors that determine how a child develops, many assertations in the child development literature regarding the conditions necessary for the child’s development have not been substantiated nor empirically demonstrated. Many of the children who have grown up in what might be considered physically and emotionally “neglectful” circumstances appear well adjusted and undistinguishable from others in the general population (Stein & Rzepnicki, 1983).
The most difficult type of abuse or neglect to define or isolate is emotional abuse. The core issue of emotional (or psychological) abuse is that it is a sustained pattern of verbal abuse and harassment by an adult that results in damaging a child’s self-esteem or social competence. However, Garbarino, Guttman and Seeley (1986) have suggested the definition that is most widely used, concluding that emotional maltreatment, or what they term psychological maltreatment, is not an isolated event but rather a pattern of psychically destructive behaviour that may include one or more of the five following behavioural forms as classified by James Garbarino and associates (Garbarino, 1978). Firstly rejecting behaviours which communicate or constitute abandonment of the child such as refusal to show affection or acknowledge the child’s worth, secondly isolating by cutting the child off from participating in normal opportunities for social experiences or friendships, and thirdly terrorising by verbally threatening the creating a climate of fear, bullies and frightens the child, making them believe the worl is capricious and hostile (Garbarino, 1978; Garbarino, Guttman & Seeley, 1986). Fourth, ignoring the child through the caregiver being psychologically unavailable to the child and failing to respond to the childs behaviour, and lastly corrupting through caregiver behaviour encouraging the child to develop values that reinforce antisocial or deviant behavioural patterns making the child unfit for normal social experiences (Garbarino, 1978; Garbarino, Guttman & Seeley, 1986).
Although both foundations of both the simplistic and complex definitions of emotional abuse have been covered through the interperetations of the above authors it is important to recognise that emotional abuse is difficult to define. Many parents are responsible for emotional abuse at one stage in their child’s life or another, and emotional abuse is that which underlies all other kinds of abuse and/or neglect. Emotional abuse and neglect was not overtly included in abuse definitions until the early 1970’s (Polansky, Borgman & DeSaix, 1972). The inclusion of emotional neglect and abuse flourished from the assertation that emotional care in childhood affected later psychological adjustment, bringing about such links as the adequate emotional care to delayed physical growth in the “failure to thrive” syndrome (Helfer & Kempe, 1976; Williams & Money, 1980). Because such assertations are difficult to demonstrate empirically and are by no means universally accepted, many question whether emotional abuse and neglect exist in any but extreme cases, which is the main difficulty in the attempt to define it. Emotional abuse is also much more difficult to measure as there may be not physically vasable signs or recognitions detectable.
Sexual abuse is the least frequently reported from of child mistreatment (6% of all cases). Experts believe that sexual abuse may be the most under-reported type of abuse because of the secrecy or “conspiracy of silence” that so often characterises these cases. There appears to be no universally accepted definitions of what constitutes child sexual abuse, although there are many ad hoc formulations and operational guidelines (Faller, 1988). Sexual abuse includes fondling a child’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism, and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials. on the other hand, popularly, definitions of sexual abuse are broad in describing sexual abuse such as the ‘exploitation of a child for the sexual gratification of an adult’ described by Fraser (p.58; 1981). This definition shows a striking likeness to many other of sexual abuse and identifies a difficulty or discrepancy in the definition as it is not always an adult who is the perpetrator of the crime. There are two different types of sexual abuse that may occur, extra-familial abuse and familial abuse, the former being most common (Gillham, 1991). There are five general stages that sexual abuse proceeds through being engagement including grooming of the child, sexual interaction which may take mayny different forms, the secrecy phase, the disclosure phase, and finally the suppression phase (Gillham, 1991).
There are various problems with attempting to define child sexual abuse, including that the guidelines more often than not are derived from research studies in which investigators have attempted to formulate specific, operational definitions, which are nonetheless broad enough to include a wide range of abusive and potentially abuse experiences. Those validity of definitions with clarity is taken away by the fact that the diversity between them all can sometimes be quite considerably different. (Faller, 1988). Unlike with other types of abuse the child is more often coerced into it, than simply subjected to the situation as with other types of abuse (i.e. physical abuse). This makes sexual abuse difficult to define in a way that allows detection as the actions of the perpetrator appear more neutral in most of the stages, as sexual abuse progresses over time. A main problem with defining child abuse is that it is very difficult to identify and prove, and is very easy to deny (Gillham, 1991).
Australian law defines child abuse and neglect as the “maltreatment of a person under the age of eighteen years... it is the result of action or inaction on the part of an older person which results in harm or injury to a child. It may also delay physical or intellectual development” (Education Department of Western Australia, 1994).
On top of all the difficulties in defining types of abuse listed above, one of the major difficulties in defining abuse and neglect and the four specific forms is the differences in cultural opinions and attitudes. These occur in the attempts of all child abuse definitions where cultural opinins on what is morally and legally right and acceptable differs. For instance physical abuse can be a result of parent and/or school discipline in which a child is punishced by beating or other forms of corporal punsishment, the interperetation of which is subject to large cultural differences. Many western countries classify corporal punishment of any kind as physical abuse, although this is not true for the United States or Canada, and in Sri Lanka caning a child at school is still permitted (DeSilva, 2001). Exploitation which is defined as another type of abuse is also defied through countries condoning child labour and sexual exploitation of which each certain country does not view as negatively impacting upon the child. Even within emotional abuse western values are often inherently different from that of other countries which believe shaming is appropriate and that emotional distancing is for strengthening emotional development of the child (Archard, 2004).
Just as some cultures are more accepting of severe physical punishment, there are also individual differences within society as to the different levels of tolerance toward maltreatment, and therefor would have a different ideal of their own internalised appropriate definintion. Theoretically cased differences in perceiving maltreatment also create another difficulty in creating a universal definintion of the child ause and neglect concepts as medical professionals would focus on the diagnostic and pathology of parent as the major etiological factors, whereas other societal groups or professions such as social workers will tend to focus of the maladaptive social conditions present rather than individual pathology. These all affect how the case is viewed, whether it be parents, child, environment, and objective or subjective indicators that maltreatment occurred. So although general definitions are the same, the applications of these may vary, reflecting a need for the operational definitions to work together. Child abuse and neglect are complex problems, aqnd there is no one single cause. Different forms of child abuse are caused by different factors or different combinations of factors. At the core of all forms of child abuse is a lack of basic respect for children. A range of different theories have been developed to fufil the need for an organisation of the causes of child abuse so that they are able to be more easily categorised and therefor a clearer way of which aspects and how need addressing in order to take a step forward in rectifying the problem. However just as there are difficulties inthe defining process of abuse, there are also with the causes with general theories and ideas, followed by many recreations, interpreretations, add-ons, or improvements to describle the same idea. Four major causal theories are discussed in this report and how other sub-categories of causal behaviour can be designated to each.
Biological theories of the causes of child abuse surround the close biological relationship between parent and child. Imprinting occurs in children naturally however if imprinting occurs in a negative way then that process itself could act as a cause of abuse. The idea where the children mimic and observe parental behaviour and use that as a milestone to create and determine their own could impact negatively if the behaviours that the parent/s is displaying is of a developmentally detrimental nature to the child.
Secondly personal theories have a lot to answer for in regards to how parents treat their children.
Following the theories suggesting the negative or detrimental treatment of a child is carried with them throughout their lives causing emotional problems that sustain through and beyond their childhood, any may possibly eventually be reflected in their own parenting. Child abuse and neglect can sometimes occur when parents have had a personal problem or illness which affects their ability to parent their children. Many parents who have had a mental illness that is being treated and who receive adequate support can parent their children well. Paqrents who have a mental illness that is unrecognised or untreated or who lack instant supports may neglect or abuse their children. Their illness may make it difficult for them to identify or meet their hild’s growing needs for security or
stimulation.
Parents who are addicted to illicit drugs or alcohol can leave their children in unsafe environments or without adequate supervision. When substance or alcohol affected, some parents may be more prone to using violence against their children. Without adequate support, parents with intellectual disability may sometime not be able to care for their children. The personalistic theories also attribute poor child care to differences among differences among parental personalities, especially their character structures (Polansky, Chalmers, Buttenweiser & Williams, 1991). Sometime child abuse and neglect can be caused by parents who have poor parenting skills. This may be because they did not have positive role models in their own parents. Sometimes a lack of confidence, and low self-esteem prevent parents from knowing how to change harmful or negative parenting styles. Some adults engage in physical and sexual violence towards children. This violence may often stem from individual psychological problems, low self-esteem, and a history of abuse and violence in their own childhood. Sex offenders hurt children because of a range of complex psychological and emotional problems.
Family theories (such as the systems theory)have identified the ability for family borders to be influenced in a negative way, causing negative familial actions to occur (abusive interactions). Parents under familial stress can negatively impact on family dynamics, and is where child abuse can occur, especially when they find it difficult to use and find support. Stress of this kind may be caused by divorce and separation problems. Parents under this tress can therefore easily transfer their stress onto their own family and abuse their children. The stress can also affect their judgement and decision making as a parent. These boundaries of the family may also be distorted because of poor parenting skills.
Lastly the ecological/ societal theories are commonly and recently the most influential as they provide a more integrative approach to the etiology of maltreatment that focuses on the interaction of both the individual and the environmental characteristics. It stands to reason that any compelling intervention model must incorporate this multifactor perspective in its selection and organisation of services for families, and is therefore one of the bbest descriptors of causes. Parke and Collmer (1975) identify the following significant factors, the cultural attitude toward violence, social stress impacting on the abusive family such as inadequate housing, unemployment, absence of day-care facilities, family size and social isolation of the abusive family, as impacting heavily on the increased risk of child abuse and neglect to occur within the family. This theory also takes into account the negative effects material and social deprivation, and also poverty have upon increasing the incidence of abuse. low standards of the community and what the community lacks to understand about the parents and the position that they are in, and what isolation begins to occur because of these reasons.
If parent’s ability to care for their children is influenced by the total societal context in which they live, then feeling unsupported by their surrounding could well create parents who neglect (Germain, 2001). As the ecological perspective invites us to look at how society contributes to neglect, the societal perspective shows that we have difficulty accepting our values and institutions actually stimulate neglectful situations. This shows through the welfare system in a round about way encouraging neglect through the cutting and restrictions of the benefits that they offer to parents, such as the welfare crisis in Australia now.
The system may discourage mother’s self-sufficiency and perpetuate the problem. Another example is forcing them into seemingly decaying neighbourhoods through the new upgrades and building in previously affordable areas, the cost to live in a house and live in general having inflated also. This all causes additional stresses to the parents and thence on the child. Immigrant and minority populations are confined. All negative if the parent is subjected to consistent oppression.
The recommended definition for abuse taking into consideration previous and current definitions and causes is a broad approach, recognising the impact of society, the parent and the impact on the child. Child abuse is a very complex and dangerous set of problems that include child neglect and the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children.
Child neglect is the failure to provide for the shelter, safety, supervision, and the nutritional needs of the child. Child neglect can be physical, educational or emotional neglect. Physical neglect is refusal or delay in seeking health care, abandonment of any sort, expulsion from the home, or refusal to allow a runaway to return home, and inadequate supervision. Educational neglect includes the allowance of chronic truancy, failure to enrol a child of mandatory school age in school, and failure to attend to a special educational need. Emotional neglect includes such actions as marked inattention to the child’s needs for affection and refusal or failure to provide needed psychological care.
Physical abuse is forms of physical injury inflicted upon the child with cruel or malitious intent. Physical abuse can be the result of punching, kicking, beating, biting, burning, sha\king, or otherwise harming a child. The parent or caretaker may not have intended to hurt the child, rather the injury may have resulted from over-discipline or physical punishment.
Emotional abuse is acts or omissions by the parents or othewr caregivers that could cause serious behavioural, emotional, or mental disorders (including bizarre forms of punishment).
Sexual abuse includes the disclosure of children to sexual acts, whether it be their observation of sexual activity (through pornographic material or direct observation), or involvement in the sexual activities (including fondling, masturbation, oral stimulation, or penetrative sexual acts).
A comprehensive framework for understanding the phenomena of child abuse appears to be a helpful approach, which integrates various models without losing sight of the overall scope or totality of the problem. The ecological framework for understanding human behaviour may act as such an integrative model. The ecological model of child abuse requires a broad understanding of the etiology of abuse based on the knowledge generated by research on this social problem. Only as a broad rather than a narrow view of the problem occurs, can a range of appropriate interventive and preventative strategies be applied to this problem. These strategies include intervening not only at the level of individual families in which the problem of child abuse has occurred but also at the societal level in which all families live.
This broader and more inclusive definition of abuse and neglect is more desirable. This broader definition will mean that access to services will be granted to a greater number of families and children including those “at risk of harm” and those minimally harmed. This will mean the families of these children are presumable more likely to benefit from prevention and intervention programs than families that have already severely neglected their children, as it is indicated that those who have already neglected are one of the most difficult populations to reach through current service models (Bath, Richey & Haapala, 1992). This will allow the service to be meaningful and go beyond short-term, crisis-oriented programs that currently dominate public child welfare services.
The research finding indicating that the community and certain groups of the public view child abuse and neglect cases more severely than do the services portrays a desperate need to address this perception with services offering this kind of intervention as if they do not the system will keep distancing itself from the community to which it should be responsible. This continuing tension might lead to further alienation of the community and a further rejection by it of the goals of the child protective system.
References
Archard, D. (2004). Children, rights and childhood (2nd Edition). New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis. Chapter 14. The problem of child abuse.
DePanfilis, D., & Salus, M. (1992) A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: A Basic Manual. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Faller, K. C. (1988). Child Sexual Abuse: An Interdisciplinary Manual for Diagnosis, Case Management and Treatment. London: Columbia University Press.
Fraser, B. G. (1981). Sexual child abuse: The legislation and the law in the United States. In P. B. Mrazekk and C. H. Kempe (eds), Sexually Abused Children and Their Families. New York: Pergamon.
Gillham, B. (1991). The Facts About Child Sexual Abuse. London: Biddles Limited.