Curbing Child Abuse
Child abuse is one of major problem faced by many children around the world and
its take the attention of all nations. Children can be abused by different people like
parents, strangeness, and member of their families, teachers and other children at
school or in the community. Regardless who are the abusers, causes and effects are
all same like any other abuse. Child abuse can be categorized into four types:
physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Each type has
different causes and different effects on child life and on the community.
“Child abuse is a problem no one really talks about. Abuse and
neglect is the number 1 cause of injury to children in the country.
More children die of abuse or neglect than of natural causes.”
Abuse appears in families for many different reasons. One reason for abuse and
neglect by parents is that they do not understand the needs of their children. For
example, a mother might think that her son is crying because he is hungry while he
is feeling pain. She tries to feed him but he cries more. If this misunderstanding
happens a lot, the mother becomes frustrated and the parent will lose her temper.
She might start hitting or pushing the baby. She might even stop caring at all.
Another cause for abuse and neglect is poverty. It is noticed that in poor families,
parents tend to care less for their children and even to show more abuse. This might
be the result of frustration which the parents feel as they are unable to make a good
living.
“Poverty is the worse form of violence”
Although poverty might be an important factor for child abuse, studies show that
abuse occurs in all kinds of families in all social backgrounds. Even in rich families
where the parents fight a lot, the stress forces the parents to abuse and neglect their
children.
Besides, if parents are addictive to drugs or alcohol, the chances for child abuse and
neglect become very high. Also, if the family as a whole does not communicate with
1|Page
the neighborhood and remains isolated all the time, then there are more chances that
the children will become victims of child abuse and neglect.
These are basic steps we need to take for prevention of child abuse. The first step
required to prevent child abuse is to activate legal intervention. What we need is a
decisive set of laws which protect the rights of the child inside the family, and against
the possible aggression of the parents The second step for intervention is to provide
for a hotline for reporting. When abused children become aware that there is a hotline
to receive their complaints seriously, they will take the initiative and report to protect
themselves.
Public awareness is also very important to prevent the problem of child abuse. Public
awareness is not an easy thing to attain. The only way to do so is to establish
specialized agencies for the protection of child rights, and to educate the public about
their obligations towards these agencies and the children of the community. Finally,
one of the most important steps needed to prevent child abuse is to educate parents.
Children are an important element in any community; they desire a maximum love
and care should be given to them without any restrictions. We all want to protect
them and guide them in the right direction.
“Children are like different roses.
Don’t crush and spoil their fragrance.”
2|Page