Child Abuse

Child abuse can be defined as a physical, sexual, or emotional mistreat or neglect of children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), child maltreatment is defined as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential harm, or threat of harm to a child.

I am going to look at this social problem from the functional analysis approach. This approach looks at society and its problems as a unit, made up of different parts that work together in order to make society “run properly”.

There are four main categories in which child abuse can occur. They are, neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse. In this post I am going to focus more on neglect and physical abuse.

Child neglect occurs when the responsible adult does not provide adequately for the child’s needs. These needs would include physical needs such as food and clothing. Emotional needs being nurturing and affection. Educational needs which would include not enrolling your child in school, and medical needs which would be not providing your child with medication or attention from a physician.

Obviously a families income plays a huge role when dealing with neglect. According to the Institute for Research of Poverty, children living in families with limited economic resources are at higher risk for maltreatment than children from higher economic strata.

Physical abuse is physical harm directed at a child by an adult. It can involve things like hitting, punching, kicking, shoving, burning, bruising, stabbing or shaking a child. Another form of physical abuse is the transmission of toxins from the mother to the child. An example of this is fetal alcohol syndrome. One area where child abuse is considered poorly defined has to deal with child discipline.

So where do you draw the line when comparing child abuse with child discipline? Do some parents go overboard when disciplining their children? Do you think parents living in poverty physically abuse their children more so then families that are well off?

Everything needs certain “parts” in order to function properly right? For example without gas, tires or an engine, a car won’t run. Families can be viewed in the same way. In order for a family to run properly, (parents and children being happy), certain “parts” are needed. One of those parts is money. Money seems to always play a role in everything! Studies have showed that families who are financially stable tend to have less problems when dealing with child abuse, parental fighting, and health issues. When money is an issue, or is absent, parents seem to be stressed, angry and have little patience. This can lead to an increase in child abuse. Another “part” that is needed for families to function properly is emotional stability. When parents are able to provide their children a stable environment, their children tend to be better off. However, when parents are always degrading their children by calling them names, making fun of them or emotionally abusing them, their children will end up with problems later on in life. As you can see, when certain “parts” are missing within a family, it can lead to an increase in the probability of child abuse occurring.

Here is a video about a little girl named Kelsey Briggs who was a victim of child abuse. The video tells her story.