Child maltreatment which is
famous for the term CHILD ABUSE is an emotional, psychological, physical or
sexual mal treatment of children or a child, either by his or her own parents/
caretaker/ guardians or in any case by other abuser.
It has been the issue of concern for centuries not only in our society but even
in U.S more than 3million cases of child abuse are reported every year,
especially in the rural areas where illiteracy rate is high these cases are
found to be prevailing more frequently and among the families who suffer from
anger issues/ alcoholism or any other abusive substances which consequently
leads to both long and short term trauma, injury, psychological distress and
even death of a child.
A study shows that in every eight boys or in every eight girls, one of them is
sexually and psychology abused before their adultery. And among twenty children,
one of them is abused every year.
Child abuse may include anything, either sexually harassing a child, a rape case
or even engaging a child to talk into sex or any other activity inappropriate
for them before their adult age. This specially occurs when a child is deprived
of his/her parents or guardians attention or he may be in the hands of a wrong
person. More than 28.3% adults reports being abused in their childhood due to
fear and lack of confidence at very little age they are unable to express their
feeling but they may show sign which includes Internal injuries, scratches,
cuts. You may experience some behavioral changes in your child if he or she is
being the victim of abuse by someone, he may show aggression toward his loved
ones or even pets, he may seem afraid of meeting new people, insomnia,
depression or anxiety may be one of the signs. Sometimes a teacher, a tutor, a
senior school student, a driver or even maids are also engage in abusing
children, If your complains about one of your servants or shows hesitation in
their presence consider it as a sign special attention shall be given to
investigate the matter properly.
In some cases Parents can harm a child’s emotional and mental development too,
which may result in severe damage and considered as abuse. There may be a single
event or pattern of behaviors behind the abusive act.
Children do not always show
symptoms of being abused so it is not easy to recognize a child being the
victim. If you suspect such type of case, the child must be subjected to
examination by a health care professional or psychiatrist as soon as possible,
ideally within 72 hours of discovery, for the proper diagnosis.
A case of a child molestation was reported last month in which a Mother of 6
year old complaint of her son being abused by a senior boy in a school van who
forced the little child to touch his genitals and tried to engage him in other
sexual act. The child was scared and psychologically traumatized and is now
under the treatment of a health care professional ,hopefully he will be able to
move on soon and get over the incident he went through at early stage of his
life.
Risk Factors: Among all the children, disabled or mentally retarded ones are
more likely to be the prospect of an abuser or the ones having young, single
parent who fail to take care of their child. Other socioeconomic causes such as
Poverty and lack of education can also be the reason being Child Abuse and Child
violence.
Treatment: Irrespective of the nature of abuse, several steps can be taken
immediately to report the violence and help should be called. Any delay in
treatment may decrease the chances for full recovery of your child.
Professional therapist and psychiatrist help is needed in order to make a child
move on and get over such trauma. Family support and attention plays the main
role in healthy recovery of a child by providing them abuse free environment and
should use all available resources to help their children.
Set of cooperative efforts together with hands of society, schools, law
enforcement, parents and family members will help in improvement of the
condition of neglected and abused children, hopefully in near future.