Public Response to Child Abuse, Essay Example

Variation in Definitions

Approaching the topic of definitions’ variation, one should keep in mind that child maltreatment is a very wide concept, and it encompasses a large number of harmful actions or inactions regarding children. It is clear that no concise and short definition to child maltreatment was ever possible to be given because the body of knowledge extends, and new horrible forms of child maltreatment are discovered by the research and practitioner community. One can see that the majority of people nowadays still regard child maltreatment as a violent action that should necessarily be accompanied with traumas, blood, and cracked bones (Barriere, 2007). However, the recent research has found out that child maltreatment also includes neglect (which actually refers to the absence of any action regarding caretaking and child rearing, as well as no attention paid to the child). Moreover, commercial sexual exploitation involves no direct physical harm and no neglect, but still represents a grave form of child maltreatment.

As one can see from the present account, children can be abused, traumatized, and maltreated in a number of ways. There is a wide spectrum of child abuse methods that involve only psychological or emotional pressure on children. Hence, it is highly necessary to design inclusive, heterogeneous, and comprehensive definitions sensitive to the changes in the research findings that are able to react to the new discoveries regarding maltreatment types, and can help adjust the public and legal responses to child maltreatment accordingly.

Causes of Child Maltreatment

Despite the fact that child maltreatment is a horrible, prosecuted practice all over the world, its causes and determining factors are still not clearly understood. As Goldman and Salus (2003) admitted, the risk factors commonly associated with child maltreatment include the parent or caregiver, family, environmental, and individual child factors. These contributing risk factors are regarded as the potential threat of increasing the probability of child maltreatment; however, they should not be considered the inevitable supplements of the child maltreatment cases, since the single-parent families with low socio-economic status do not necessarily harm their children.

From the review of the child maltreatment risk factors outlined by Goldman and Salus (2003), one should note that the family and the environment seem to be the strongest predictors of maltreatment. Family members and peers often maltreat children, and the level of child violence, teen prostitution, sexual and criminal abuse, etc. is traditionally higher in socially non-prestigious regions with a high level of poverty and unemployment. Parents having problems with drug or alcohol abuse, or experiencing certain mental disorders, are also more apt to abuse their children. The disadvantaged social position often urges children and teens to get involved in prostitution and drug sales, which is an individual factor, though some children may be forcedly involved in abusive practices without understanding the situation adequately. Hence, the environment in which children exist and the people surrounding them in their family and community act as prime risk factors for child maltreatment, and prime actors conducting abuse and maltreatment.

References

Barriere, D. (2007). Outraged at Public Response to Child Abuse. Child Abuse Effects. Retrieved from http://www.child-abuse-effects.com/outraged-at-public-response-to-child-abuse.html

Goldman, J., & Salus, M. K. (2003). A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, pp. 27-89.