Have you ever wondered what it's like to be abused? Moat likely not. But for many kids in the U.S. and also the world, it happens everyday. Children are punished, neglected, and suffering because of it. They never see it coming and there is no way for them to get out of their situation without the effort of someone willing to help. Children who are abused don't wish for this to happen to them, but it does. "Nearly 700,000 children are abused in the U.S. annually. An estimated 683,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect in 2015."(National, 2015). Imagine seeing a child with bruises all over their body. Imagine the torture they go through everyday, never knowing when the next time they're going to be hit, yelled at, threatened, or even when they will eat next. Some kids don't even get to watch the sun come up the next day because of the abuse. "National estimates of child deaths from abuse and neglect in the U.S. totaled 1,640 for 2012 and 1,580 for 2014." (SPCC, 2016). This amounts to at least four child maltreatment deaths per day. Although abuse and neglect fatalities have declined, there has actually been an increase in the reporting of cases of abuse (679,000 in 2013 to 702,000 in 2014). According to SPCC, the U.S. actually has one of the worst records among industrialized nations meaning more fatalities. It is very eye opening and scary because there are children being abused right in our own backyard than anywhere else in the world.
There are four types of abuse. They include physical, neglect, sexual and also emotional. If that isn't crazy enough, these kids are being abused by close family. On National Children Alliance, it is said that, "About four out of five abusers are the victims' parents. A parent of the child victim was the perpetrator in 78.1% of substantiated cases of child maltreatment." (NCA, 2014).
Neglecting a child includes any harm a parent or caretaker does to a child's health or welfare. It is the most common type of maltreatment. There are actually two types of neglect: severe and general. Severe is when a parent or caretaker put the child in a situation where their health is endangered. The child may also be at risk for malnutrition. The child also does not have proper food, clothes, shelter or medical care. General neglect is when the child is not provided necessities like food and shelter but the caretaker also leaves the child where there is no supervision, but they have not physically abused the child. In an article done by the SPCC, they say, "Children left in these circumstances may also be particularly vulnerable to accidents, injuries, or crime." (SPCC, 2015). Also since the parents see no wrong doing of these actions, it creates a lot of controversy when talking about the age a child should be left home alone. Another form of neglect that nay be not seen as much is when a woman is pregnant and they are using substances or drinking that cause harm to their baby and there are also other risk factors that show they are not able to take care of the child properly. There are many indicators which may make one suspect that a child is being neglected including when the child is either sleepy or hungry, they have poor hygiene, or they are depressed.
In my opinion, sexual abuse is a whole topic to talk about on its own, but it is still a form of child abuse, and the worst kind. Children should never have to experience such horrific things and should not be taken advantage of at such a young age. One statistic that really stands out is, "1 out of 3 girls and 1 out of 5 boys will be sexually abused before they reach age 18." (11 facts, 2016). Sexual abuse does not have to be physical, but most times it is. It can be an adult showing one's genitals to a child or pressuring the child for sex are both considered sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is hard to determine because a lot of cases go unreported. What is also crazy is that, "Children are most vulnerable to CSA between the ages of 7 and 13." (CSA, 2012). Those kids are very young and still growing up and they have never experienced something like that and don't know how to handle it. People are taking advantage of children because they are so innocent to even do anything or even know what is happening to them. Also said by the National Center for victims of crime, "Children who had an experience of rape or attempted rape in their adolescent years were 13.7 times more likely to experience rape or attempted rape in their first year of college." (CSA, 2012). This is interesting because a child may have already been sexually abused when they were younger and then the chances of it happening again are higher for the, than anyone else. Warning signs are different depending on the age that the child has been abused. Some signs include, sleeping problems, crying, clingy, having nightmares, fear of certain things, depression, doing poorly in school, etc.
Emotional abuse, or also known as psychological abuse can substantially hurt a child's emotional development and health. It involves trying to scare the child, humiliate them and also potentially ignore them. Some children, when being emotionally abused are also facing some other type of abuse, but not always. Emotional abuse can happen because a parent is stressed which takes away their focus on the care their child needs. They may be "emotionally unavailable, forget to offer praise and encouragement, expect their child to take on too much responsibility for their age, be over-protective, and also take out their anger on the child." (NSPCC, 2017). There are two types of emotional abuse and they include passive abuse and active abuse. Passive is when the parent has a negative attitude and has a low opinion of their child, they fail to recognize the child's individuality, and they fail to promote the child to make friends and be social. Active abuse is when the parents rejects, terrorizes, isolates and even exploits the child. " 1 in 14 children have experienced emotional abuse by a parent or guardian and over 19,000 children were identified as needing protection from emotional abuse last year." (NSPCC, 2017). This kind of abuse, just like any other, effects a child deeply and effects the way they see themselves and how they react to others. it is not something that should be taken lightly because words can cut a person deeply, especially a child. Babies and preschool children who are being emotionally abused may be, "overly affectionate towards strangers they haven't known for long, lack confidence, not appear to have a close relationship with their parent or be aggressive or nasty toward other children and animals." (NSPCC, 2017). Older children may use language, and act in a way you wouldn't expect, struggle with tier emotions, seem distant from their parents, or lack social skills.
The last, but not least, type of child abuse is physical abuse. Physical abuse is any non-addcidental harm done to a child resulting in injury. This usually happens when a parent is frustrated or angry and they shake or throw the child. A parent may also deliberately assault their child by burning, cutting, twisting their limbs, or anything done to torture the child. This is one of the worst things that could ever be done to a child. What is even worse is that a disabled child is over 3x more likely to be abused than a non-disabled child. Many times, when children are abused, it results in a head injury. This occurs from being shaken violently, being thrown, being hit or hitting their head on a surface. Babies and small children's brains are still being developed so if they are hit or shake, it causes a lot of damage to their brains. Physical abuse not only causes a lot of harm to a child's body and health and in severe cases, death. "According to data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 50 states reported a total of 1,546 fatalities."(Child, 2014) Many researchers also believe that a lot more fatalities are going unreported. Indications of physical abuse are bruises, the most concerning ones being on the ears, neck and upper lip because it is much harder to injure those parts of the body due to just a fall. According to the SPCC, "Patterned injuries such as loop marks, slap marks or grab marks are highly suspicious and in some cases indicative of inflicted trauma." (SPCC, 2017). It's hard to imagine a child being smacked around and put in so much pain and suffering everyday of their lives. Children should not be getting bitten, burned, or by any means be getting a fracture to the ribs, which are actually the most common type of fracture seen in an abused child. This needs to end.
The effects of child abuse are outstanding and greater than what anyone could expect.
This list is found on the Ark of Hope for Children:
- "38% increase arrest rate for violent crimes
- 84% of all prison inmates had been abused as a child
- 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile
- 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult
- 30% more likely to commit violent crime
- 65%+ of people in treatment for drug abuse have been maltreated as a child
- 25% less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at a greater risk for STD's
- 82% CAN grow up to be pedophiles themselves
- 80% meet criteria for at least one psychological disorder as adults
- Long-term consequences such as chronic illness due to untreated wounds"
- (Ark, 2016)
The list of effects goes on and on and they are not things that anyone should have to go through. Children who have been abused should not have to pay any consequences for something they did not do. People who were abused when they were kids should be getting help so they can live a normal healthy life for once. The effects of child abuse should not live with someone forever.
Works Cited
"11 Facts About Child Abuse." DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social Change. Do Something, 2017. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.
"Child Sexual Abuse Statistics." Child Sexual Abuse Statistics. National Center for Victims of Crime, 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.
"Child Abuse Statistics." Childhelp. Childhelp, 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
"Child Abuse Statistics." Childhelp. Childhelp, 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.
Nspcc. "Facts and Statistics." NSPCC. Spcc, 2017. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.
