Child Abuse Prevention

Most abusive parents love their children and never intend to abuse them. When these parents find themselves in stressful situations, however, they sometimes lose control of their own actions and emotions, and the children bare the brunt of their frustrations. For abused children, violence is a way of life.

Often, abusive adults were themselves victims of child abuse. They have never experienced, nor have they learned, acceptable ways of disciplining their children. They instead teach their children the same unacceptable ways of dealing with anger through violence. There are four distinguishable types of abuse:

1. Physical Abuse - injuring a child by hitting, kicking, shaking, or burning, etc. him/her; also includes throwing objects at the child.
2. Emotional Maltreatment - crushing a child’s spirit with degrading derogatory verbal attacks, threats, or humiliation.
3. Sexual Abuse - sexual contact with a child (incest, inappropriate touching, rape); pornographic use of a child.
4. Neglect - failure to provide for a child s physical or emotional needs (food, clothing, shelter, medical care, physical or emotional attention); failure to provide guidance or supervision, abandonment.

The physical effects of child abuse and neglect are obviously painful injuries, many of which require medical attention and often lead to severe medical problems including permanent disabilities, retardation, and even death. The emotional effects of child abuse and neglect are profound: the abused child has low self-esteem, many insecurity and emotional problems, all of which result in relationship difficulties throughout life.

« this page last modified 05/19/04 »