Discuss about the Child Abuse for Childrens Participation Rights.
Child abuse or child maltreatment means any unusual behavior of parents, care takers or other person that cause physical or mental harm to the child or any other person. Such behavior can be in any form such as child neglect or child abuse. Child abuses are mainly in these forms such as physical or mental abuse, neglect, sexual assault and any other type of violence. There is no accurate or universal definition for child maltreatment and child abuse, result of which every professional field introduce the definition of child abuse in their context. In Australia all the states and territory have statutory responsibility of child protection. All the state governments provide protection to the children’s of their state. Children’s include all those persons who are less than 18 years of age and also include unborn child. In this paper we discuss the causes of child abuse and effects of child protection system in society (Australian Government, n.d.).
(Introduction to topic)
As discussed above any unusual behavior of any person which cause physical and emotional harm to any children is considered as Child Abuse. In this we discuss the theories related to causes of child abuse. There are three types of theories which are related to the causes of child abuse known as psychological, sociological, and multidimensional theories. These theories differently explain the, meaning and causes of child abuse. Psychological theories are fall under micro-oriented theories, this theory explain that the main cause of child abuse and neglect is the personal factor which is present in the individual or impact of the violent environment in which person live. In Sociological theories author describe that main cause of child abuse are social factors such as oppression, poverty, unequal distribution of economic resources and discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and sex. Multidimensional theories consider both the psychological theory and sociological theory. It recognizes the factors on both individual and social level (Western Sydney University, n.d.).
According to the survey conducted by AIHW, matters related to child abuse and neglect is increasing in Australia. Report issued by AIHW in March, shows that number of children’s involve in child abuse are increasing from 31500-37800. An authority which works for child protection provide evidence for the notification they issued related to child abuse, if they found the reason to believe that offence of child abuse and neglect is committed. Report also concludes that victims of child abuse are generally the young children’s. It was also found in the report that children’s under the age of one year are most likely to be the victim of child abuse. Tim beard, spokesperson of AIHW said that children under the age of 15-17 years are the least victims of child abuse (Peterson, 2013).
After analyzing the above facts and figures it was clear that this problem was at global level, and child abuse is not defined anywhere. Every organization defines it in their perspective. Definition of child abuse contains many types of violence in its ambit such as physical or mental abuse, neglect, sexual assault and family violence. According to me it is necessary that we deal with issue with seriousness, and contribute in resolving this issue either at social level or individual level. As above mentioned, rating related to child abuse is increasing day by day, which become serious issue for all the governments and society at world level.
This issue attracts the discussion at both social and political level. Government takes many measures to protect the children which we discuss later in this paper. It must be noted that factors which cause child abuse are mostly related to unemployment, poverty and low income, but this is not over. These factors are highlighted because cases related to poor families are reported, but there are number of cases which are related to well reputed and established families, and are not reported. We have chosen this topic because it contains a number of issues which are required to discuss at individual level also. Therefore, we can say that this topic contains most serious issues which require discussion at social and political level, and need to be resolved.
Relationship between child abuse and health is very important to understand. Many theories are concluded on this topic. Research shows that child abuse can result in depression, mental disorder, physical disorder, sexual disorder and many others. It was also found that victims of child abuse have low self confidence and it is difficult for them to cope with their family and lead a normal life with their family. Study show that these effects can be last for the lifetime of the victim. Such effects are:
On the basis of the information mentioned in the registers of child protection, we can conclude that cases of child abuse and neglect are mostly found in the poor families, working class families, and other most common factors of child abuse are unemployment, single parents, domestic and family violence. These are the only factors because usually cases of child abuse in high social groups are not reported.
Australian Government initiates many policies and plans for providing care and protection to the children’s. Many models are framed which focused and state that child protection is the primary responsibility of parents. If parents does not provide protection and care to the children then in such case state has right to intervene in the matter. A policy framed by Australian government was looking after children under which state provides care and protection to those children’s who are separated from their families under child protection act. Under this policy a group of people fulfill all the responsibilities of parents of the child. These groups are generally includes the care takers, workers related to child protection, other family members and in some cases parents of child. These kinds of groups are generally called as child’s care team (Kirton, n.d.; Landsdown, n.d.).
In my view, Child protection system has one more face which shows the brutality of child care system. Many parents of the country are treated as disabled parents and child care authorities forcefully separated their children’s from them. These children’s are sent for out of home care. New generation parents who labeled as disable parents enjoy these provisions because they get chance to start a new life, but for the past generations these practices are hard to digest.
I have seen in many cases, in which Parents are labeled as disable parents, and they lost their right on their children’s, and rarely receive any information regarding their children who are under care and protection of child care authority. Usually child care authorities connect all the difficulties of parents with intellectual disabilities. These authorities did not look on other factors and circumstances, and provide along list in the court in which authorities relate all the disabilities with the intellectual disability. Some common allegations imposed by these authorities are dirty and unhygienic home, an unhygienic lifestyle, conflicts in the relationship of parents and many more. Allegations related to physical and sexual abuse are very rare. These authorities usually imposed allegations which can be committed in future but not yet committed. Usually these authorities put question mark on the capacity of parents in fulfilling the basic need of their child and forcefully separate their child from them. I have observed in many cases that authorities have no evidence to prove these allegations.
These authorities also use some other type of allegations in which they alleged the mother that she is not able to protect her child from the adults. In these types of cases the primary concern is related to sexual assault. If mother face any type of violence or if she is also a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault, then in such case authorities claim that mother is not able to provide safe environment to the children. These authorities conclude that mother cannot protect her children from the adults who can cause harm to the children (McConell and Sigurjonsdottir, n.d.).
Situations in case of aboriginal groups are worse than the non-aboriginal groups. Usually it is noted that these protection systems shattered these families and leave these families in more trauma. Child protection systems are very important for the nation, but we argued that these systems leave the aboriginal families in more trauma and grief. These situations are not new, and these policies are practice from many decades which result in more loss to the aboriginal families and children’s. After the colonization aboriginal peoples are facing extreme difficulties such as rape, murder, imprisonment, pillage, removal from their countries and most important separation of their children’s from many years these communities are traumatized by the child protection authorities and judicial systems. These practices are still continued in the Australia. Many new born babies are taken away from their mothers on a concern that they face domestic and family violence in their families (Bessarab and Crawford, 2010).
In last we can say that child protection system has many loop holes but we cannot ignore the fact that this system play very important role in the protection and care of children’s in Australia.
Conclusion:
This paper consist discussion on causes of child abuse and effects of child protection system in society. In this we understand the meaning and causes of child abuse and also discuss the different faces of child protection system in Australia. We also held that situation of aboriginal groups are worse because of child protection system and judicial activities.
References:
Australian Government, Child protection Australia 2013–14, Retrieved on 29th September 2016 from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554513.
Bessarab, D. & Crawford, F. (2010), Trauma, Grief and Loss: The Vulnerability of Aboriginal Families in the Child Protection System, pg 275.
Blue Knot, General information on abuse and impacts of abuse, Retrieved on 29th September 2016 from: https://www.blueknot.org.au/WHAT-WE-DO/Resources/General-Information#2274109-impact-of-child-abuse.
Kirton, D. The care and protection of children, pg 316-334.
Landsdown, G. The realisation of children’s participation rights.
McConell, D. and Sigurjonsdottir, B. H. Caught in the Child Protection Net, pg 172-176.
Peterson, F. (2013), Rates of abused and neglected children on the rise in Australia: report, Retrieved on 29th September 2016 from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-19/child-abuse-children-safety-neglect-video/4968066.
Western Sydney University, chapter 2: Theories about Child Abuse and Neglect, pg 21-31
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