Child Abuse And Neglect In Australia

Historical Perspective

Discuss about the Child Abuse and Neglect In Australia.

It has been observed that the child abuse is becoming more prevalent in Australia. The main purpose of this paper is to discuss the child abuse. For addressing the discussion in a proper way it is anticipated that the historical perspective of the child neglect and child abuse are put as a subject and debated further.  The various developments in the past twenty years have placed the child abuse on the top of the agenda. The various countries like Australia began to acknowledge the existence of the child abuse during the 1970s. There have been various mandatory laws that have been introduced in the various Australian Territories and States. Recently even the public awareness has been increased of the issues that are connected with the child neglect and child abuse. All these awareness are due to the increase in the newspaper coverage, radio and television. (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare., 2015)

It has been explained in the first settlement in Australia Scott & Swain that the definition of child abuse is always covered in normative and deviant context of the rearing practices of the child and it falls within the context of historical and cultural context. It has been estimated by Fabion & Loh that there are one quarter of convicts until the 1820s and all were under the age of 18 years. It is a public and a social health problem as well as a children’s right issue in the countries like Australia.  There can be adverse consequences of the neglect and the abuse of the child and the young people. Child abuse is very much prevalent in various countries like Australia and now it has become very easy to be spoken about and accept the social issue. (Beckett, 2003)There are useful frameworks provided by the Socio-economic factors but these are not complete. There has been mandatory reporting and the sharing of information in regards to child abuse these days. The government has also started taking various initiatives for its prevention and intervention.

The cruelty to the children has always been there the evidence of the mistreatment of the children through the hands of the adults has been described throughout the ages and across various societies. If we look back in to the history than according to Smith the children has always been maimed, killed, starved, neglected and abandoned with cruelty. It is very well said that the child neglect and abuse is not something unique in the 21^st century. If we look back in to the history then we can find that the first wave of child protection movement had already arrived in Australia in the last decade of the nineteenth century  when there was a realization on the part of people that something needs to be done for the protection of the children those who were being ill treated by various people that included their families. (Bromfield, 2004)

Physical Abuse

Cradock (2013) outlines that there must be a distinction made between the early days of the child protection movement in the nineteenth century where the focus was on ‘child saving’ of children from impoverished environments and what is now understood as more a ‘pathological’ form of child abuser.   The differing definitions of child abuse in all forms is further complicated by how to distinguish a child ‘abuser’ from a ‘non-abuser’, as there is a wide range of services and professions each with differing ‘knowledge’ and expertise along with the fundamentally political aspect of child protection services and funding restrictions that will always affect varied knowledge construction and resultant specialist practices (Cradock, 2013).

The Australian Government defines child abuse as any kind of non accidental behavior by the parents, other adults, the caregivers or any other older person that is outside the norms of the conduct and further entails a risk of causing any kind of emotional or physical harm to the young person or the child. These behaviors may be intentional or un-intentional and can also include the act of omission like the commission or neglect. (CFCA Resource Sheet, 2005).  It has been seen that the main indicator of the child abuse is poverty but poverty itself does not means that the child is at a risk of being abused. Basically the child abuse is one of the umbrellas that cover all the maltreatment that are suffered by the children at the hands of the other people. There has been a different variation in the form of legal and operational of child abuse in Australia due to which it is not very easy to provide a consistent data regarding the incidence of child abuse. The child abuse or maltreatment has been divided in to four main forms that include physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and emotional abuse. (Child Family Community Australia., 2012)

Physical Abuse is a term that is defined as a non-accidental injury caused physically to a child and the physical abuse is considered to be one of the core forms of child abuse and maltreatment since the ages. The roots of the physical abuse include the physical punishments. It was noted by Radbill (1974:3) that there is a necessity of physical punishments to the children that are very severe for the maintenance of discipline, for pleasing certain gods, expelling evil spirits or transmitting the educational ideas. It has been written by Randbill these physical punishments have been given to the children since the early ages and there were also laws for the same. Though there were some people who use to speak out against the extreme physical punishment. (Holzer, 2008)

Neglect

There can be a physical injury that can occur from a single or a repeated episode. The physical injury may take the form of minor injury to the major form that is death. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012)

Neglect, the child neglect became a social concern after the industrial revolution throughout the western world. There were many orphanages, factories and work houses where the children work as the laborers. (Bacon, 2001) The children here were kept as slave labor as the demands for the services of the children were growing by the development of the industrial revolution in the late 19^th century. Under these areas the children as young as 5 years used to work for 16 hours a day , were beaten and were also starved due to which they suffered variety of illnesses.  The various concerns for the neglected and abandoned children resulted for the formation of the first child protection society and child rescue that resulted in the enactment of the first legislation that was designed to protect the children.

Infanticide, when the physical abuse and neglect are taken to its extremes than it results in exposure and infanticide and these are the universal forms of fatal child abuse that has been practiced through the centuries. In the rural Europe until 1980s there were basically the girls who were in particular to the risk of death and being sold. (Baer, 2006)

Sexual Abuse, it is basically the use of the child be it a male or a female for sexual gratification by an adult or an older child, it has been occurring throughout the history. The sexual abuse use to take place in the families it self when in the late 16^th century various legislations were enacted in England due to which the children were being protected from the sexual abuse. With the passage of time many educators started taking initiative of warning the parents of keeping an eye on the children all the time and keeping it ensured that the children were never naked in front of the other adults so that the children could be protected from the sexual abuse. (Brewerton, 2007)

Emotional abuse, it is also known as psychological maltreatment. It is a verbal abuse or harassment to a child by an adult with a main aim of damaging the confidence level and the self esteem of the child. There is no physical injury left by the emotional abuse due to which it is the most common form of hidden maltreatment. There are different forms of maltreatment in the case of emotional abuse at different rates and cultures. (Brodsky, 2008)

Infanticide

According to the various researches it has been found out that there were around 49,721 cases of child abuse in Australia during the year 1990-91 that were investigated by the territory welfare department and the state. Approximately forty five percent of the cases were substantiated and around seven percent were assessed. There has been a continuous awareness rather than an increase in the children that are being neglected and abused ever since the statics has been kept by the State Welfare Departments. (Bromfield L. &., 2005) This can be due to the awareness in the greater parts of the community. There have been various educational and legislative changes that are being adopted to look in to the matter of child abuse.

Mandatory reporting means the general laws that are passed by the parliament and the other designated officer that requires the various other designated officers to report the cases that are suspected and known in relation to the child abuse that further includes the sexual abuse. These reports of the suspected or the known cases shall be made to the various government authorities. The mandatory reporting laws are distinct from the various other industry based obligations and legal laws that are related to the criminal conduct and other types of misconduct. The people who are covered under this law for the purpose of reporting includes the people who deal with the children in the course of their work and include doctors, nurses, police and teachers and the people who at any time encounter the cases of child abuse shall report these cases to the child welfare agencies. In the 21^st century it has become very important that there shall be reporting mechanisms and the information shall be shared from time to time by various agencies so that a more comprehensive picture is being enabled about the children that are being at risk of being abused and further appropriate and timely actions can be taken. All these needs of information sharing has led to the coming up of the mandatory reporting and preventive measures. (Coohey, 2011)

The child sexual abuse has become very common fact these days due to which the government has chosen various mandatory reporting laws for measuring the social policy, crime prevention and the public health. The annual incidence that was recorded by the government officially and the various child protection agencies in the countries like Australia ha been quite stable in the past eight years and has been recorded to be between 3400 and 4800 Australian children being abused annually from the year 2004 to 2013. (Cook, 2005) However it has been seen that the real incidence that has been recorded is far being higher than the recorded. It has been founded by the research of recent global review that highest amount of girls are being abused in the countries like Australia. It has been noted that various reasons arise for the gap between the real incidences and the official incidences. One of the most prominent reasons that have been noted for this gap is that there are many cases that has not been reported or investigated by the various authorities of the government. (Cyr, 2010)

Sexual Abuse

There are various adverse consequences that are suffered by the children who are being sexually abused though it has been found that the severity of the consequences might vary from the individual to individual. These consequences might lead to physical injury to mental or psychological injury along with the negative effects on the socialization and behavior of the children. The main and the immediate consequences of this include stress, traumatic disorder, low self esteem and depression. It has been found by the various researches that there is high suicide rates and accidental fatal drug overdose in the case of the children who are the victims of the sexual abuse. (Dubowitz, 2007)There is an emotional abuse when the child is being abused sexually and it also has severe consequences.

One of the first reporting laws that were used for the welfare of the child abuse was the work of Colorado pediatrician that included C Henry Kempe along with his various colleagues those who were indulged in the identification of the cases of the child abuse and they conceptualize it as a battered child syndrome. (Edidin, 2012)

The Battered Child syndrome was defined by Kempe as” a term that is used to categories a condition that is clinical in the children who are young and have received serious abuse in the form of physical abuse and is a cause of death and childhood disability .This problem can occur at any age but generally the affected children includes the children who are younger than 3 years of age. (English, 2004)

It has been researched that there has been first Australian laws for reporting the cases of child abuse in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The first law that is the Australian Mandatory reporting law came in to being in 1969 in South Australia. (Evans, 2005) It has been consistently supported by the Australian government that the Australian mandatory laws are very necessary component for the social policy and they respond to the child sexual abuse. The examples of this include:

• The Layton Review in South Australia in the year 2003
• The wood enquiry in the year 2008 in New south Wales
• The Cummins, Scales and Scott inquiry in Victoria in the year 2012

Conclusion

It has been concluded from the various researches that the child abuse has been becoming more prevalent in Australia.  There are wide ranges of consequences that are faced by the children who are being abused sexually or physically. Though there have been various preventive measures that are being taken by the government to overcome this issue and look in to the matter. (Flaherty, 2009)It is the responsibility of the Australian government to protect the children from being abused and this issue cannot be ignored at all.  There shall be effective child abuse prevention that can also be developed from the family that is strong and has a service base. Along with the government it is the responsibility of the guardian and the family to keep a vigilant eye on the children and protect them from being abused. The government t, community and the individuals shall work in conjunction to eliminate this issue from the society and keep the students safe protected and happy so that they enjoy their childhood freely rather than being abused.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012). Census of population and housing: Estimating homelessness.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2015). Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved October 8, 2016, from Child protection Australia 2013-14.: www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129550762

Bacon, H. &. (2001). Attachment theory and child abuse: An overview of the literature for practitioners. London.

Baer, J. C. (2006). Child maltreatment and insecure attachment: A meta-analysis. ournal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, , 187-197.

Beckett, C. (2003). Child protection: An introduction. . London: SAGE Publications.

Brewerton, T. (2007). Eating disorders, trauma, and comorbidity: Focus on PTSD. Eating Disorders, .

Brodsky, B. &. (2008). Adverse childhood experiences and suicidal behavior.

Bromfield, L. &. (2005). Child Abuse Prevention Issues No. 22. Retrieved October 8, 2016, from www.aifs.gov.au/nch/pubs/issues/?issues22/issues22.html

Bromfield, L. M. (2004). The limitations of using statutory child protection data for research into child maltreatment. Australian Social Work.

CFCA Resource Sheet. (2005). Abuse. Christoffel.

Child Family Community Australia. (2012). What is child abuse and neglect? Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies. Retrieved October 8, 2016, from What is child abuse and neglect? Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies: www.aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/what-child-abuse-and-neglect

Coohey, C. R. (2011). Academic achievement despite child maltreatment: A longitudinal study. Child Abuse & Neglect,.

Cook, A. S. (2005). Complex trauma in children and adolescents. Psychiatric Annals,. Psychiatric Annals, , 390-398.

Cyr, C. E.-K. (2010). Attachment security and disorganization in maltreating and high-risk families: A series of meta-analyses. Development and Psychopathology,. 87-108.

Dubowitz, H. &. (2007). Physical abuse and neglect in children. The Lancet, , 1891-1899.

Edidin, J. P. (2012). The mental and physical health of homeless youth: A literature review. . Child Psychiatry and Human Development , 354-375.

English, D. W. (2004). Another look at the effects of child abuse. ational Institute of Justice Journal, , 251, 23-24.

Evans, E. H. (2005). Suicidal phenomena and abuse in adolescents: A review of epidemiological studies. . 29(1), 45-58.

Flaherty, E. T. (2009). Adverse childhood exposures and reported child health at age 12. Academic Pediatrics, 9(3), 150-156.

Holzer, P. J. (2008). NCPASS comparability of child protection data: Project report. . Melbourne.