Child Abuse and its Effect on the Community
Child Abuse refers to the harm, or risk of harm, that a child or youth may experience while in the care of a person they trust or depend on, including a parent, sibling, other relative, teacher, caregiver or guardian. Child abuse takes the form of neglect and/or abuse. While abuse is more active in the way it is inflicted, it is abuse when something is actually done to harm the child. In the case of neglect, harm comes to the child because something is not done which should have been. Thus sexual molestation of a child is abusive whereas depriving a child of adequate food and exercise is neglectful. One similarity between abuse and neglect is that both if carried far enough, can be fatal. The effect of child abuse in the community, nation and the world is that every year, more children are murdered, raped, kidnapped and most children suffer greater emotional than physical damage. Child abuse is reported on an average of every 10 seconds and three children die every day as a result of such abuse. Child Abuse in our troubled world is reaching epidemic proportions.
Children who survive abuse grow up more likely to negatively impact our society in many ways, not just by handing down the legacy of abuse to their own children. Child abuse bursts out of the family and infects our society with callousness and cynicism, anger and violence, and crime, drugs and disease. The effects of child abuse on victims are devastating and life-long, and its effects on our society are pervasive. Still, it is difficult to measure the prevalence of abuse in our society, and no attempts to measure so far have overcome the basic difficulties of underreporting. This is frustrating because we seem to be able to measure everything else from the number of thumbtacks produced annually to the number of times the average person thinks about sex every week. It reflects an attitude in our nation and in our government - our priorities are skewed. Also frustrating is the fact that there are many simple, cost-effective solutions to the problem of child abuse and neglect. Still, they are not funded.
On the hopeful side, the private sector and volunteer organizations have taken the leadership role in healing our society of the effects of abuse. There are many organizations, staffed by volunteers and funded through donations, which are doing good work to prevent and fix the problem. You can get involved.
Most of us dismiss child abuse as stories we see on the news on the T.V. set, the Internet, in newspapers, or learn about through other media sources. Child abuse is not that. It is happening next door, down the street, and within our own community. And it's time the problem is taken seriously.
Child Abuse in our troubled world is reaching epidemic proportions.
To move forward we can:
- Become conscious that abuse happens.
- Empower children to recognize the warning signs of abuse.
- Understand and learn how to create a truly safe environment for children.
- Create an open environment in which children are able to tell parents or caregivers that they are being abused.
- Understand how best to deal with abuse if it has already happened.
Nurturing environments are characterized by loving action and loving words. We believe that the responsibility of putting these goals into practice starts with each one of us.
