CHILD ABUSE

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CHILD ABUSE
1. Child Abuse – this refers to the maltreatment of a child, whether habitual or not,
which includes any of the following:
a. Psychological and physical abuse, sexual abuse, cruelty, neglect, and
emotional maltreatment;
b. An act which could either be by words or deeds which debases, degrades or
demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a person;
c. Deprivation of a child’s basic needs unreasonably for survival such as food,
clothes and shelter; and
d. No medical treatment is given to an injured child which results in a serious
impairment of his growth and development or in his permanent incapacity or
death.
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CHILD ABUSE
2. Sexual Abuse – It is any sexual act between an adult and a minor or between two
minors when one exerts power on the other.
a. It is any employment, use, persuasion, inducement, enticement, coercion of a
child to engage in, or assist another person engage in sexual intercourse or
lascivious conduct, or the molestation, prostitution, or incest with children.

3. Battered Child Syndrome – refers to child abuse and neglect.

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CHILD ABUSE
Forms of Child Abuse

The kinds of child abuse are:

a. Physical Abuse – It is any act which results in non-accidental and/or
unreasonable inflicting of physical injury to a child which (includes but is not
limited to lacerations, fractures, burns, strangulation, human bites, and similar
acts). It is also known as child battering.
b. Psychological Abuse – It is any harm to a child’s emotional or intellectual
functioning through verbal assault, which includes but is not limited to cursing,
belittling, rejecting and other similar acts.
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CHILD ABUSE
c. Deception – It is the deprivation of children’s proper learning opportunity by
giving them incorrect ideas and concepts. As a result, they may develop an
inclination to solve problems through violence, promiscuity or drug abuse.
d. Child Trafficking – It is the act of engaging in trading, and dealing with children
including but not limited to, the act of buying and selling a child for money or for
any consideration, or barter.
e. Neglect – It is the deprivation of the child’s basic needs unreasonably, such as
food, shelter, clothing, education, medical, general care, love and concern, and
supervision by parents, guardians or custodian.
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CHILD ABUSE
f. Child Labor – Children below 15 years of age are employed, allowed,
permitted to suffer from work in any public or private establishment not directly
under the responsibility of their parents and guardians or employing minors as
artist, actors, actresses, entertainers and the like without a work permit. The
number of child workers under the age of 10 far from negligible, although the
internationally recommended age for work is fifteen years old (ILO Convention
No. 138). Almost all the data available on child labor concerns the 10 to 14 age
groups.
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CHILD ABUSE
g. Abusers and Neglecters

The Special Parent – The parent who has the potential to be abusive, most often
has also been abused during hid childhood days. He has been described as emotionally
immature, lacking self-esteem, inexperienced and having unrealistic expectations of the
child like having in mind that the child should be “someone to love me and never leave
me.”

The Special Child – The child is viewed differently from other children in the family.
The child may be physically handicapped or may be regarded with special meaning (a
child of a former marriage or resembles a negatively regarded person).
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Characteristics of Abusive Parents

1. Inadequate parenting skills and lack of knowledge concerning normal child

development are exhibited.
2. Emotional immaturity with poor impulse control is often demonstrated;
3. They are socially isolated, especially from community resources and lack of
social support system; and
4. They often come from families with violent parents.
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Helping the Young Child Cope with Child Abuse
The child who is a victim of sexual abuse will seldom share her/his ordeals with
the parents. The best thing that parents can do is to tell the child that she/he
believes her/him, and failure to believe can be far from devastating than the abuse
itself.

1. The most significant factor that can reduce the negative impact of sexual abuse
is the support and belief by parents and significant other adults.

2. Stay calm. You should not show to your child that you are shocked with what
she discloses to you and don’t get hysterical.
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3. Let the child know that she/he is not to be blamed for what happened. Do not
blame the child. Let her understand that it is not her fault.

4. A child’s own internal coping resources will have an impact effect if the
child has not had any serious life stressors other than those she has already
encountered, life stressors such as physical abuse and domestic violence. The
self-esteem and resiliency of the child are already lowered; hence she faces
even greater difficulties from an additional stress of sexual victimization.
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5. The child’s developmental level, age and gender influence the effect of sexual
behavior.

If the victim is still young in the chronological age and in the developmental
stage, there are strong and serious negative effects on the child.

There is a strong impact on girl victims than on boys. The latter are more
apt to act out their anger about the abuse while the former are prone to keep
their anger inside and direct it to themselves.
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6. The child who is sexually abused by the person whom she trusts and has a
type of parental type of relationship with the perpetrator has a more serious
effect on the victim than a child who is a victim of a non-friendly member.

7. The child appears to be more seriously affected when physical abuse, threats
or intimidation accompany the sexual abuse.
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Sexualized Behaviors

The children who are sexually abused at an early age are prematurely
introduced to sexual acts. They experience sexual stimulation and pleasure, hence,
they are unable to understand and cope because of their young age. They also
tend to increase their interest in sexual matters. Their sexual behaviors are a
learned response to their experience from the perpetrator and sexual abuse acts.
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The victims of sexual abuse appear to have more problem behaviors in the
area of sexuality. These include:

1. acting out with peers sexually;

2. false or pseudo-mature sexual behavior;
3. excessive masturbation; and
4. confusion on sexual identity and what is appropriate sexually between children
and adult.
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