I. Child Abuse is "any mistreatment of a child that results in harm or injury" and includes;
A. Physical Abuse involves purposely hurting a child causing bodily injury.
B. Emotional Abuse involves purposely crushing a child's spirit with threats or put-downs.
C. Sexual Abuse involves inappropriate touching of specific body parts without good reason.
D. Neglect is failing to provide for the needs of a child in your care.
II. Signs and examples of Child Abuse.
A. Physical Abuse
1. Normal injury locations are elbows, knees, and forehead.
2. Abnormal injury locations are the middle of the back, thighs, buttocks, and mouth.
3. Types of injuries include: a. Cuts/laceration b. Bruises in abnormal areas c. Bound or gag marks d. Bite marks e. Hair pulled out f. Black eyes g. Broken bones h. Burns i.e., cigarette, hair dryer, electrical, rope i. Poisoning
B. Emotional Abuse
1. "Injuries" are expressed in various ways.
a. Low-self esteem i.e., believing they are a "bad person" or deserving of the abuse.
b. Problems with feelings i.e., development of the inability to show his/her feelings or to understand other's feelings.
c. Difficulties with relationships i.e., a lack of proper emotional development and/or trust can make meaningful relationships difficult.
2. Examples of "injuries."
a. Verbal i. "You are stupid" ii. "You are bad" iii. "You can't do anything right" iv. "You are worthless" v. "I wish you had never been born"
b. Non-verbal
i. Avoiding the child.
ii. Failure to show physical affection.
iii. Ignoring the child every time he/she goes to the adult with a need.
iv. Consistently not giving respect/importance/credibility to the child or his/her ideas.
C. Sexual Abuse
1. Physical injuries/signs.
a. Tears in the skin around genitals. b. Bruises around the genitals. c. Soreness around the genitals. d. Discomfort around the genitals. e. Redness around the genitals.
2. Examples of good and bad touching.
a. Good touching.
i. Medical treatment
ii. Assistance with clean up.
iii. Teaching menstruation care.
b. Bad touching.
i. Fondling of specific body parts.
ii. Squeezing of specific body parts.
iii. Insertion or touch with finger or other objects into body cavities.
D. Neglect
1. Examples of physical and emotional neglect.
a. Withholding love.
b. Withholding attention.
c. Withholding affection.
d. Withholding food.
e. Withholding clothing.
f. Withholding shelter.
2. Signs of neglect.
a. Malnutrition.
b. Poor hygiene.
c. Without supervision for long periods of time.
d. Constantly tired.
e. Constantly dirty.
f. Loner.
g. Shy.
III. Resources available to victims
Variouse hard hitting campaigns have been made, these are but a few. Barnardo's showing how abuse affects children. Warning, graphic images. 1.http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/ahoyoi/Child%20abuse%20stuff/zzzz.jpg
2.http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/ahoyoi/Child%20abuse%20stuff/advert3.jpg
3.http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/ahoyoi/Child%20abuse%20stuff/z.jpg
Racheal Shanks · Thu Feb 09, 2006 @ 02:21pm · 2 Comments |