Child abuse is a widely used term in the modern society. This is because there are many cases of child abuse that happens in our society. Child abuse includes all forms of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. It also includes acts/ forms of child neglect. Child abuse leads to potential or actual harm to the health and survival of a child. There are several types of child abuse. They include physical abuse, emotional abuse, child neglect and sexual abuse.
Lack of parental knowledge causes some parents to neglect and emotionally abuse their children without knowing. According to Odhayani (2013), a 3-year-old boy was taken to a doctor suffering from abdominal pains. The child had been taken to the hospital three times with the same problem. The doctor observed that the mother was so harsh on the child. She kept shouting hurting words to the child expressing how stubborn the child had become. According to this case, the child was hostile towards his schoolmates. The child was suffering from recurrent abdominal pains and hostility because of stressful conditions at home. Lack of affection from the mother made the child suffer from stress.
Close family members perpetuate most of the child abuse cases. Therefore, the family is very crucial when dealing with a child abuse case. According to Peterson (2014), one of the approaches to child abuse is through the parenting approach. If parents took good care of their children, then the children would not be exposed to harmful situations. Through parenting interventions, a child feels loved and develops warm emotions towards oneself and others. According to Keenan, (2015) the family dynamic model can be used to approach a child abuse case. The model concentrates on the social interactions between the child and the family members. The family members are interrogated on their interactions and relationship with the child, and this helps to determine if the family interactions with a child are causing any threat to the health and survival of the child. According to Gilgun (2015), it is good for family members who notice cases of child abuse to report to the relevant authorities for assistance. In this article, four mothers who suspected that their husbands were sexually harassing their children reported the case to their pastor. According to the article, some pastors were helpful, but others were not. Reporting child abuse cases to the relevant authorities is good because the authority will provide a long-term solution to the situation.
Family members who are victims of a child abuse case should acquire counseling to be guided on how to deal with the situation. According to an article by Milton (2015, family members who are affected should be helped through the Nursing Family Partnership. NFP is a strategy whereby nurses or healthcare practitioners offer information and guidelines on how to bring up children without subjecting them to child abuse. This is important because some parents/ family members do not realize when they are abusing their children.
- Gilgun, J. & Anderson, G. (2016). Mothers Experiences with Pastoral Care in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse. Journal of Religion and Health. Vol 55, issue 2
- Keenan, H., Campbell, K. (2015). Three Models of Child Abuse Consultations
- Milton, C. (2015). Adapting and Retesting Evidence-Based Child Maltreatment Prevention programs. Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada.
- Peterson, A., Joseph, J. & Feit, M. (2014). Interventions and Service Delivery Systems. National Academy of Sciences. National Academy Press. Washington DC.
- Odhayani, A., Watson, W., & Watson, L. (2013). Behavioral Consequences of Child Abuse. College of Family Physicians of Canada.