my opinion

I personally feel that the government is not doing its best when it comes to protecting abused children. Sure it might seem like they are doing a lot but when you start thinking about it they really aren't because there are not hundred but thousand of children that are suffering from child abuse. And i believe that if the government were to be doing its absolute best that we wouldn't be in the same situation if not worse. I think that the government should be less focus on other countries and more focused on on its own citizens. Meaning that they should be less interested in war and and more so focused on the issues that really could change a persons life in this country. Aren't we as citizens supposed to be equally protected under the law, so why even though we are in 2007 letting so many innocent children get permanently disable, emotionally scared and even worse end up dying. All this for what aren't children supposed to be our future so why aren't we protecting them as much as we should??

how to report child abuse

As many of us know there are always a procedure to follow in order to file a report. Well it is certainly no different when it comes to filing a report for child abuse. When filing a child abuse report you should be able to answer as many of the following questions as you can:

· What is the nature and extent of the child's injuries, or the risk of harm to the child?
· Have there been any prior suspicious injuries to this child or his/ her siblings?
· What is the child's name, home address, and age?
· What is the name and address of the parent or other person legally responsible who caused the injury, or created the risk of harm to the child?
· What are the names and addresses of the child's siblings and parents if different from the information provided above?
· Do you have any information regarding treatment of the child, or the child's current whereabouts?

When you have most of the answers to these questions you should immediately dial the Child Abuse Hotline Number: 1-800-342-3720 so that when the Child Protective Specialist picks up the phone and "specialists than will analyze the information you do have and determine if it is sufficient to register a report" or not.

After the report has been created within 24 hours The Child Protective Service should begin their investigation.
http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/prevention/faqs.asp

Laws that were passed...

Over the years their have been several laws established in the United States to help prevent child abuse. One on the first laws that the United States as a whole has established happens to be the one that Congress has passed in 1974 the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (P.L. 93-247) this act established some legal boundaries for the determining the definition of Child abuse, weather it be sexual, physical, or emotional. All of this is planned out through the Children's Bureau which happens to be called the division of the Administration on Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services. Basically what these people do create or enforce "federal programs that promote the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities". They believe that with various programs they will be able to ultimately reach there goal of having "strong, healthy, supportive communities that have a positive impact on the quality of life and the development of children" all across the country.

http://www.policyalmanac.org/social_welfare/child_abuse.shtml
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/acf_about.html#mission

General overview on child abuse

In general child abuse whether it be sexual, physical, emotional and/or neglect put them in much greater risk at being abused again. According tot he American Psychological Association Commission on Violence and Youth (1993) "with the exception of homicide children and youth suffer more victimization than do adults in virtually every category including physical abuse, sibling assault, bullying, sexual abuse and rape." Which comes to show how dangerous life is for a child. Many times these children that are abused try to commit suicide as a way to escape from the present day situations. Studies also show that of the low achievers, runaways, prostitutes, drug abusers, and incarcerated people indicate abuse is a "consistent and pervasive" element of their past. Basically Child abuse is wrong period, children are our future and with constant child abuse related deaths we are hurting our future and it needs to come to a stop.

A chart on Possible Indicators of Emotional Abuse and Neglect in Children

this is a chart found on http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ncfv-cnivf/familyviolence/pdfs/emotion.pdf which helps in indicating wheather a child is being emotionally abused or neglected

Possible Indicators of Emotional
Abuse and Neglect in Children

– Depression
– Withdrawal
– Low self-esteem
– Severe anxiety
– Fearfulness
– Failure to thrive in infancy
– Aggression
– Emotional instability
– Sleep disturbances
– Physical complaints with no medical basis
– Inappropriate behavior for age or development
– Overly passive/compliant
– Suicide attempts or discussion
– Extreme dependence
– Underachievement
– Inability to trust
– StealingOther forms of abuse present or suspected

Neglect

Child neglect is failure to provide for a child's basic needs. Neglect can be physical , educational, emotional and even medical . Physical neglect is when a parent or guardian fails to provide shelter, clothing, food, and in many cases refuses to provide medical care (better known as medical neglect). Physical neglect can also include abandonment for example not allowing a runaway to come back home. Educational neglect is allowing your child to miss school on purpose, failing to enroll the child to school at an appropriate age, and not caring about the child's special "educational needs". Emotional neglect is when you as a parent or guardian fail to provide the love and affection a child needs, or allowing a child to use drugs and/or alcohol be used by a child. Medical neglect is when the parent or guardian fails to provide the appropriate health care even though they can afford it.
According to www.preventchildabuse.com/abuse.htm "neglect is the the most common form of child maltreatment." Which isn't something to be proud of because it might produce feelings of guilt, low self-esteem, violation or loss of control. It might also make children to work extra hard to make their parents proud of them with no results.

*** www.co.dakota.mn.us/.../images/cryingBaby.jpg***

***http://www.preventchildabuse.com/neglect.htm***

Emotional Abuse

Emotional Abuse is basically when a parent or guardian act in a certain way that could cause or has already caused some type of behavioral or mental disorders. It is also known as a way to tear another human being down from the inside. This sort of abuse may not have any visible marks or scars , but it does have the same affect. For instance parents or guardians may use some sort of extreme punishment such as locking a child in a dark room, or by making them inferior by using profane language and rejecting them. "Children who are constantly shamed, humiliated, terrorized or rejected suffer at least as much, if not more, than if they had been physically assaulted." Many times emotional abuse is combined with some other type of abuse most likely neglect.
There are five types of emotional abuse they are rejecting, ignoring, terrorizing, isolating, and corrupting. Rejecting is basically when a parent or caretaker tell you that you are unwanted, blamed for family problem and even considered worthless. Ignoring is when the parent or guardian is unable to meet emotional needs of their children. Terrorizing is when a parent or guardian singles out a child for punishment, or threatens to abandon them. Isolating is when a parent or caretaker doesn't allow the child to participate in activities with other children. And finally Corrupting is when a parent or caretaker allows a child to use drugs and alcohol, and other stuff that they shouldn't be watching or doing.
***pic-http://www.lifedynamix.com/articles/data/upimages/Girl.jpg***
***http://www.preventchildabuse.com/emotion.htm***

Nixmary Brown

One of the most recent cases of physical abuse is the infamous case of Nixmary Brown. In case you don't remember, she was a seven year old girl from Brooklyn, New York who was allegedly beaten to death. She was tortured by her own step father Cesar Rodriguez. The police that found Nixmary's body claimed that she weighed only 36 pounds, "possibly tied to a chair and forced to use a litter box for a toilet." This case has had such a dramatic impact to the public that the New York state Senator created the Nixmary Law which stated that a parent or guardian of a child fourteen years of age or younger who was tortured or murdered by them would face life in prison without any parole.
***pic-http://mihow.com/dailylinks/nixmary.jpg***
***http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/13/earlyshow/main1206722.shtml

Stats on physical abuse....

These are some of the statistics shown on www.yesican.org/stats.html:

*51% of the victims were White, 28% African American, 18% were Hispanic, 2% were American Indian and 1% were Asian.

*this chart here shows the various reason as to why children are being abused.

*In 1999 alone, an estimated 14,001 child abuse cases were confirmed by CPS agencies (child services agencies) that nearly 4 cases of abuse ever single day. Based on these numbers:

1. More than 3 children died each day


2. Approximately 84% of the children were abuse by their parents


3. Mothers alone were responsible for 32% of the physical abuse


4. Boys are at higher risk of being seriously injured than girls

According to the U.S Advisory Board, it is reported that near fatal abuse each year leaves about 18000 permanently disabled children, tens of thousands of victims overwhelming by life long psychological trauma, thousands of traumatized siblings and family members, and thousands of near to death survivors who as adults continue to have physical scars.

***chart-http://www.plsinfo.org/healthysmc/6/images/183.jpg***

***www.yesican.org/stats.html***

Physical Abuse?

Physical abuse is the infliction of physical injury through punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, shaking; in general harming a child. Usually physical abuse is considered a willful meaning you do it because you want to, but there are cases that most often represents unreasonable, severe corporal punishment. Physical Abuse usually takes place when parent or caretaker is angry, because they have no other place to relief their anger so they take out all their anger on their children. Even though many of these injuries can happen accidentally when a child is playing, Physical abuse is something to consider when the injury doesn't quite fit the explanation. "The longer that the abuse continues, the more serious the injuries to the child and the more difficult it is to eliminate the abusive behavior." This means that if the child is being abused at a regular basis the injuries will become more life threatening and it will all come to a point when the children is dead or permanently disabled.
There are several Behavioral Indicators in Child, these are things that a child may do on a regular basis which indicate that they are in fact being abused.

• avoids physical contact with others
• apprehensive when other children cry
• wears clothing to purposely conceal injury, i.e. long sleeves
• refuses to undress for gym or for required physical exams at school
• gives inconsistent versions about occurrence of injuries, burns, etc.
• seems frightened by parents
• often late or absent from school
• comes early to school, seems reluctant to go home afterwards
• has difficulty getting along with others, little respect for others
  overly compliant, withdrawn, gives in readily and allows others to do for him/her without protest
• plays aggressively, often hurting peers
• complains of pain upon movement or contact
• has a history of running away from home,or has reported an abuse by parents earlier.

***pic-http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i176/dmitchell918/child_abuse-stopthepain.jpg
***http://www.preventchildabuse.com/physical.htm
***http://www.safechild.org/childabuse2.htm

Sexual Abuse Statistics

According to the statistics found in www.safechild.org:
*one in every four girls and one in every six boys will be sexually abused by the age of 18
*85%-90% of sexual abuse happens with a person known to the child
*95% of prostitutes were sexually abused as children
*the chart here shows that the major of children that are being sexually abused are young children between the ages of 0 and 12.

After seeing these statistics many people might think that the sexual offender is some desperate ugly, old man or woman that nobody would like, well that is absolutely false because the average sexual offender is under the age of 35, and they usually fall in between the normal intelligence levels. On average these sexual predators have sexually abused about 117 in total, which comes to show you how many children are in danger/harm by these people. Fifty-nine percent of them gain sexual access to their victims through seduction, and enticement meaning that more than half if the offenders tempt them or make them believe that what they are doing is okay, almost as if they lured them into their trap. In many cases this sort of abuse can lead to a long term affects like inappropriate sexual behavior possibly leading to prostitution, constant rape, fear, anger, and even depression.
*charthttp://www.healthofchildren.com/images/gech_0001_0001_0_img0059.jpg*
*http://www.safechild.org/abuse.htm*

Sexual Abuse

Sexual Abuse can be force sexual contact onto a person but in this case the sexual abuse is the type in with the person is engaging in sexual contact with a person who is below a specified age or who is incapable of giving consent because of age or mental or physical incapacity (usually a child).
Many children that are victims of sexual abuse have difficulty living as a normal child should,this includes how they develop both physically and emotionally. Many times the person that sexually abuses the child is a family member, family friends, teachers, and/or spiritual ad visors such as priests etc. over the years many statistics have shown that approximately 1 out of 3 sexual abuse cases involve children 6 years of age or younger which is sad because many times these young children don't even know what is being done to them. Very often, sexually abused children experience "severe emotional disturbances from their own feelings of guilt and shame, as well as the feelings which society imposes on them." Meaning that the sexually abused victim might start to feel guilty and embarrassed about the situation even though he or she is not at fault.
These are some repercussions that most victims may develop or go through:

• unusual interest in or avoidance of all things of a sexual nature
• sleep problems or nightmares
• depression or withdrawal from friends or family
• seductiveness
• statements that their bodies are dirty or damaged, or fear that there is something wrong with them in the genital area
• refusal to go to school
• delinquency/conduct problems
• secretiveness
• aspects of sexual molestation in drawings, games, fantasies
• unusual aggressiveness, or even suicidal behavior

***Pic-http://www.infoforhealth.org/pr/l11/pg13a.jpg***
***http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sexual%20abuse
***http://www.preventchildabuse.com/sexual.htm
***http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Child+Sexual+Abuse&section=Facts+for+Families

What is child Abuse exactly???

Child Abuse is any mistreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental harm or injury which cannot be reasonably explained. Basically what child abuse means, when a parent or caretaker hurts a child or fails to protect the child from death, sexual abuse, serious physical and/or emotional harm. This sort of behavior is a crime against children. According to the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse "It is a sad irony that many abusers genuinely love their children, but find themselves caught in life situation's beyond their control and they do not know how to cope. They are often isolated from friends and family and may have no one to give them emotional support. They may not like themselves and may not know how to get their emotional needs met." There are several types of Child Abuse which can include sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect.

***http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/child%20abuse***