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Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Use articles that will help you explain and describe scientific issues and/or statistical data or economic information related to your topic. You will analyze and evaluate these articles in your submission, which should include:

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Child maltreatment is a devastating social problem in American society. In 1990, over 2 million cases of child abuse and neglect were reported to social service agencies. In the period 1979 through 1988, about 2,000 child deaths (ages 0-17) were recorded annually as a result of abuse and neglect (McClain et al., 1993), and an additional 160,000 cases resulted in serious injuries in 1990 alone (Daro and McCurdy, 1991). However tragic and sensational, the counts of deaths and serious injuries provide limited insight into the pervasive long-term social, behavioral, and cognitive consequences of child abuse and neglect. Reports of child maltreatment alone also reveal little about the interactions among individuals, families, communities, and society that lead to such incidents. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

American society has not yet recognized the complex origins or the profound consequences of child victimization. The services required for children who have been abused or neglected, including medical care, family counseling, foster care, and specialized education, are expensive and are often subsidized by governmental funds. The General Accounting Office (1991) has estimated that these services cost more than $500 million annually. Equally disturbing, research suggests that child maltreatment cases are highly related to social problems such as juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, and violence, which require additional services and severely affect the quality of life for many American families. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

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Suggested Citation:”1 INTRODUCTION.” National Research Council. 1993. Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2117.×
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The Importance Of Child Maltreatment Research
The challenges of conducting research in the field of child maltreatment are enormous. Although we understand comparatively little about the causes, definitions, treatment, and prevention of child abuse and neglect, we do know enough to recognize that the origins and consequences of child victimization are not confined to the months or years in which reported incidents actually occurred. For those who survive, the long-term consequences of child maltreatment appear to be more damaging to victims and their families, and more costly for society, than the immediate or acute injuries themselves. Yet little is invested in understanding the factors that predispose, mitigate, or prevent the behavioral and social consequences of child maltreatment. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

The panel has identified five key reasons why child maltreatment research should be viewed as a central nexus of more comprehensive research activity.

1.

Research on child maltreatment can provide scientific information that will help with the solution of a broad range of individual and social disorders. Research in this field is demonstrating that experiences with child abuse and neglect are a major component of many child and adult mental and behavioral disorders, including delayed development, poor academic performance, delinquency, depression, alcoholism, substance abuse, deviant sexual behaviors, and domestic and criminal violence. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Many forms of child abuse and neglect are treatable and avoidable, and many severe consequences of child maltreatment can be diminished with proper attention and assistance. Research on child abuse and neglect provides an opportunity for society to address, and ultimately prevent, a range of individual and social disorders that impair the health and quality of life of millions of America’s children as well as their families and communities. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Research on child maltreatment can provide insights and knowledge that can directly benefit victims of child abuse and neglect and their families. Individuals who have been victimized as a result of child maltreatment deserve to have research efforts dedicated to their experience, in the same manner as our society invests in scientific research for burn victims, victims of genetic or infectious diseases, or those who are subjected to other forms of trauma. Yet the families of child abuse and neglect victims are often not active in social and political organizations. Unable to speak for themselves or employ paid representatives to promote their interests, they have been discounted and overlooked in the process of determining what social problems deserve public resources and attention from the American research community.

3.

Research on child maltreatment can reduce long-term economic costs associated with treating the consequences of child maltreatment, Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Economic issues must also be considered in evaluating long-term treatment costs and loss of earnings associated with the consequences of child victimization. One analysis cited by the General Accounting Office that used prevalence and treatment rates generated from multiple studies (Daro, 1988) calculated potential fiscal costs resulting from child abuse estimates as follows: (1) Assuming a 20 percent delinquency rate among adolescent abuse victims, requiring an average of 2 years in a correctional institution, the public cost of their incarceration would be more than $14.8 million. (2) If 1 percent of severely abused children suffer permanent disabilities, the annual cost of community services (estimated at $13 per day) for treating developmentally disabled children would increase by $1.1 million. (3) The future lost productivity of severely abused children is $658-1300 million annually, if their impairments limit their potential earnings by only 5-10 percent.

Child abuse and neglect is a long-standing global problem and has been for a while, it can either, physical, emotional, sexual, or neglect. These can have significant impacts on the health of the child in the long term. The child may suffer psychologically and physically, unable to hold down a job and so on. Physical abuse accounts for most reported cases of child abuse. Sexual abuse is still being muted, because people find it difficult to understand and acknowledge the abuse of children of all ages. This paper highlights some of the problems; children face when abused and neglected. It summarizes psychological abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and emotional maltreatment. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Keywords: Child abuse and neglect, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse.

Introduction
In the society today, child abuse has become one of the significant problems facing so many nations, millions of children face child abuse every year. As of 2000, victims of homicide were estimated to be around 57000 children all between the ages of 0-4 with head injuries as the most common cause of death along with suffocation and abdominal injuries(World Health Organization, n.d). Over the years, child protection has been left to professionals in social service, health, mental care and the justice system (Kevoli & Mavindu, 2014). It is high time other professionals got involved, economists, anthropologists, historians, philosophers and so on should be able to report cases of child abuse and neglect by getting a clear understanding of what it means. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Child abuse and neglect is any act or series of acts of commission and/or omission by a parent or caregiver, that leads to harm, the potential for harm or threat of harm to a child (Center for Disease Control and Protection, 2018). Child abuse is the intentional harm of a child by a caretaker, also referred to as an act of commission. It is a worldwide issue, and it is not restricted to race, ethnic groups or social strata (Kemoli & Mavindu, 2014). However, some cultures view child abuse in a different light. There are various forms of child abuse, and they include physical abuse, sexual abuse, and psychological abuse.

Physical child abuse is defined as acts committed by a caregiver resulting in physical bodily harm or carries a potential for harm (Krug, Mercy, Dahlberg, & Zwi, 2002). Sexual abuse is defined as acts where a caregiver uses a child for sexual favors and satisfaction. Emotional abuse is the failure of a caregiver to provide the required support needed by a child (Krug, Mercy, Dahlberg, &Zwi, 2002). Neglect refers to the parents’ failing to provide the necessary aid needed for the development of a child. All of these have adverse, long-term effects on the child. This paper discusses all the forms of child abuse, neglect, the risks and effects they may have on the child, as well as its prevention. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Literature review
Physical abuse has been characterized according to a survey as behaviors involving hitting a child with heavy objects at places that are not the buttocks; kicking a child; beating and threatening the child with a gun or knife. In Egypt, it was found that 37 percent reported being maltreated (beaten and/or tied up) by their parents, 27 percent reported bone fractures, consciousness loss (Mercy et al., 2002). In the Korea Republic, about two-thirds of parents reported whipping their children, and 45 percent confirmed to have been involved in maltreating their children (hitting, beating and kicking) (Mercy et al., 2002). In Ethiopia, 21 percent of the city children who attend schools and a whopping 64 percent of children that school in rural areas reported trauma and swellings from beatings. Physical abuse is either manifested as a shaken baby syndrome or battered child syndrome. Both of them involve intentional harm to a child and result in bodily physical harm like hemorrhages small skull fracture of the child in shaken baby and devastating skeletal, skin and nervous system injury in battered child syndrome. These data have shown that child abuse, mostly physical abuse is prevalent around the continent. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Sexual abuse, according to Baker (2003) is

“a form of child abuse when a child is compelled, by manipulation or force to fulfill the sexual demands of an older person, often a family member, force a child to participate in some acts that can include rape, incest, or erotic fondling” (p.68).

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According to the report by Mercy et al., (2002), the occurrence of sexual abuse varies significantly with regards to definitions used, and the kind of information gathered. A few of the surveys conducted were with children, adolescents. Adults who have experienced sexual abuse when they were younger were also involved in the studies. In Romania, 0.1 percent of parents admitted to having abused their children sexually, 9.1 percent of children reported to be sexually abused. Further data has suggested that 20 percent of women and 5-10 percent of men suffered sexual abuse as children. These data show contrasting views of both adults and the children involved, that is why the issue of child sexual abuse remains muted and difficult to deal with. Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Emotional and Psychological abuse is not being reported globally, there are discrepancies between what is regarded as a psychological or emotional abuse mostly due to cultural factors. These factors greatly influence the ways parents choose to discipline their children. In countries like Chile, Egypt, India, Philipines, and the USA, a high percentage of parents reported yelling or screaming at their children. A lower percentage reported calling of evil spirits, cursing the child or refusing to communicate with the child. This data suggests that yelling at children is the common practice of parents all over the continent.

Neglect is regarded as a lack of care by parents and caregivers and may affect the development of the child. In Kenya, a high percentage of children are found sleeping on the streets, and about 21.9% of them reported to be neglected by their parents (Mercy et al., 2002). Child Abuse/Neglect As A Public Health Issue Essay

Risk factors for Child abuse and neglect
The factors surrounding child abuse and neglect are multifactorial, many sources have established various factors, but this paper would only focus on a few.

Domestic violence- Parents who abuse their partners are likely to abuse the children either physically or emotionally.