5 page paper

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Sample Paper

November 24, 2017

IDST 395 Essay #3

Cortney Basham

The Issues of Child Abuse in One Parent Family Households

I. Introduction: Identifying the complex issue.

Each day, every month and year-round there are certain types of families that take actions that

can potentially harm and hinder child development. As parents or caregivers expose their own children to

neglect, physical, sexual and or emotional abuse, it ultimately causes the child to develop a wide variety

of physical and psychological issues. This is known as child abuse and at an approximate rate of three

million reports of child abuse case studies year-round gaining the attention of news headlines

(ChildHelpStaff, 2017). Although roughly only three million cases are reported and possibly made public,

there are many reports that go unnoticed or untold. As those reports go unnoticed or untold, society can be

unaware of the fact of what families around are causing towards their own children. With relatively little

apprehension of the origins of causes, treatments and prevention methods of child abuse cases in one

parent households, individuals can be fearful of the consequences formed. Family households that have a

past of struggling with alcohol abuse, drug abuse, mental illness and domestic violence can potentially

cause the parent to take action towards the child.

As parents get a divorce and have young children, the stress of being in a single parenthood

environment influences the risk factors of child abuse. Results on the single parent families versus the

nuclear family households in regards to child abuse reported cases, shows that twenty-seven out of one

thousand children (27 per 1,000) in one parent households are reported to the public. Nuclear family

households, however, averaged fifteen out of one thousand children (15 per 1,000) reported cases of child

abuse (FocaStaff, 2017). Evidence from research and statistics of the reported child abuse cases in the

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selected households, it is more prevalent to see that the issue of child abuse reports are found in the single

parent environments.

How is it relevant to “real life”, to IDST, and to this course?

When individuals have to face the daily struggles of trauma created by child abuse, individuals

develop a certain sense of depression. By factoring into the feelings of loneliness, depression and

isolation sinks onto the child, it becomes harder for them to address the issue to where they would rather

not talk about the trauma to anyone they encounter. Although the severity of the abuse will depend on the

age of the victim, it will also depend on the duration of the administered actions. The long-term effects of

abuse can have negatively impacted those individuals for the remainder of their life’s, robbing them the

joy of family structure and friendly communication when growing up. In 2014, a case study done in the

United States found that state agencies identified than an estimated 1,580 children, which is four to five

children a day, died because of the results of abuse and neglect (ChildHelpStaff, 2017). The issues of

child abuse is that while not all of the suspicions and accusations are fully investigated, children are still

dying and getting hurt because they go still go unheard of. The reality of this issue is that it does happen

more often than society wants to believe. With more child abuse reports appearing in communities,

researchers are looking into methods of treatments plans along with prevention methods to help those

affected.

By referring the attention of child abuse to single parent families to just one particular field of

study, it leaves out other information additional fields of studies might obtain. In associations with the

interdisciplinary field of study, it enables new insights from different disciplines by combining them into

one activity. By exhibiting that different types of disciplines differ in their own way, with the

combination of two or more academic disciplinarians, it creates a deeper understanding of the problem.

Disciplinary fields that give insights to the current issue are from an applied professional field of a social

worker and what methods they use to aid the victims. Second are insights brought from the economies

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perspective with the scarce distribution of resources provided to families that effect their current

socioeconomically status (SES).

II. Discussion of insights

A) Description of the selected articles (or books)

Narrowing down the research of articles and books to the specific issues of child abuse in single

parent families, it is now clear that the issue is dealing with numerous types of disciplines. In one article

done by Nicholas Ameyaw-Akumfi, “What Social Factors May Increase the Child's Vulnerability to

Abuse?” it addresses the assessments made by a professional when working with children and families.

By understanding the factors that contribute to child abuse in single parent families, it gains helpful

knowledge when identifying what types of abuse children deal with and the prevention methods that are

taken by the professional. Nicholas continues in the article by stating the increasing amount of social

support families receive, along with the influential aspect of teaching single parents the proper techniques

of parenting education (Ameyaw-Akumfi, 2013). Another article relating to the professional roles that

social work must follow is found in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) of “Social

Workers and Child Abuse Reporting”. From this article, it displays that social workers are obligated to

certain laws and standards when faced with the situation of reporting the cases of child abuse to the

authorities. First and foremost, social workers have a commitment to their clients’ needs, as well as their

responsibilities to societal needs, so when faced with the difficult situation it can be challenging to report

them to the police (NASWStaff, 2015).

Moving along, shifting from an applied professional field to an economies viewpoint of how

single parent families deal with being in a low occupational status in society. The article of David

Francis, “Poverty and Mistreatment of Children go Hand in Hand” looks at dealing with welfare benefits

that lower income families receive from the working mother. From the article, Francis examines the cases

of the working mothers with absent fathers that potentially lead to the predicted that child abuse would

increase by twenty-one percent (21%) (Francis, 2017). Those children who are currently living below the

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poverty line are more acceptable to be the subject of neglect and abuse because the single parent homes

cannot provide the basic necessities to live. Last article brought towards discussion is a submission piece

made by Maren K. Dale’s, “An Underlying Issue of Poverty in Child-Neglect Cases” in which he talks

about how to address poverty as a significant factor in child abuse cases. Single parent families that live

below the poverty line have more influence on a child being abused because of harsh neighborhoods they

grow up in (Dale, 2014).

B) Discussion of insights from an Applied Field (Social Work)

The first disciplinary field that brings insights to the issues of child abuse in single parent

families, are from the applied professional field of social work. Social workers are classified under the

field of human science and services, by which they promote social change and further the development of

comminutes and families in their area. As social workers are concerned with the social and psychological

functioning of children and their families, they also can be called upon to deal with the situation of

children that have been abused. In a job title that involves the profession towards social work, it would be

a norm to see numerous cases of child abused victims that are seeking help. One role that social workers

follow is being committed to their clients’ needs which range from any issue involving child abuse. They

also have an obligation when it comes to their responsibilities to society, it is mandatory for social

workers to report any type of abuse they witness or hear under the National Association of Social

Workers law. Regardless if clients are in a therapeutic session, if the social worker fails to report the

abuse they will be considered as a liability in the court of law and face jail time (NASWStaff, 2015).

Social Work takes a look into the early signs of abuse that can be identified so that they can start

developing and implementing prevention programs for children and parents. Although the abuse occurs

often in the child’s home behind closed doors, they can also happen in community organizations such as

schools and social events. Social work uses the information collected from the families’ situations by

using referrals to help resolve any conflict. As more social support connections are found worldwide the

single parent’s families can gain the information provided to them to decrease the chances of child abuse.

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All children deserve to be heard, protected, and helped no matter what the situation is (Ameyaw-Akumfi,

2013).

C) Discussion of insights from Economics

The next disciplinary field that brings insights to the issue of the one parent families dealing with

child abuse, is by looking further into the field of economics. The field of economics measures the

amount of resources available to those families whose needs are not meet with the current distribution of

wealth (Repko, 2014). With negative effects in the economy the single parents is challenged with difficult

work experience, current income, and their occupational status level in society. Economics can shed some

light on the current issue by explaining how the current socioeconomic status of families have the power

to influence child abuse. Examination from the socioeconomically status in single parent families, shows

that the lower income the more chances of an increase of failure in provide for the families

responsibilities. Certain low income families that do not make enough financially cannot provide for

medication, hospitals and doctor visits for their child are considered preforming acts of child abuse and

neglect. With not enough money, children in the one parent households are at greater risk for higher

health issues growing up such as poorly-controlled diabetes and asthma (Francis, 2017).

As economics examines the one parent household’s salary, their work experience and

occupational status, it can also look at the parent’s educational level. When parents do not complete

grade school or high school because of reasons of being below the poverty line, they can have an

influence on the child as well. When children in the one parent families follow in the footsteps of their

biological parent children develop lower grades, poor attendance and have lower expectations to pursue

higher education (Dale, 2014).

3. Integrating Disciplinary Insights:

A) In what major ways do each discipline’s insights differ from the other(s)?

As disciplines are unique in their own individual ways, particular academic fields are greater than

others in gaining insight towards the issue of child abuse in one parent households. The professional

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disciplinary field of social work and the economy perspective might be equally interested in the aspect of

child abuse, but differ separately. The differences between social work and economics insights are that

social work looks into aiding those abused in one parent families’ with prevention methods, treatment

plans and referral programs. While the economics perspective analyzes how to balance resources

available in the environment to those single parent families living below the poverty line.

The specifics that an academic disciplinary fields generally follows constrict the research down

by limiting boundaries needed to address the topic issue towards that field only. When fields of academic

studies leave out information that additional disciplines can bring, it restricts a deeper connection for a

better understanding. With the topic issue of child abuse in the one parent family households explained in

different interdisciplinary fields, coming up with a corresponding method to tackle the issue can be

challenging.

B) How does combining these insights foster a more comprehensive understanding of this

phenomenon? What new learning occurred?

As interdisciplinary studies combine disciplines into one activity, it enables the creation of new

insights to further understand why these issues of child abuse in one parent homes keep happening. By

studying the matter of different disciplines interacting with one another, people can develop an

informational awareness level to gain a more comprehensive understanding on the issue at hand (Repko).

Once exploring how the combinations of social work and the economics perspective function together, it

can look into how single parents work experience, current income, education and occupational status play

a role on family structures. Breaking down economics into separate elements that deal with poverty,

health concerns and household responsibilities gives social work an evaluation towards the families that

are struggling with basic necessities. Both disciplines contributed to cases where children found in lower

income one-parent households are at a higher risk for being abused and even in better socioeconomic

status of the household abuses still occurs (PennMedicine, 2007).

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Having considered the issues of child abuse in one parent family household, it also brings an

aspect of looking at the new learning process each report has created. From these reports, learning how

prevention methods along with interventions has prepared people to make an improvement in a child’s

life to feel safer. It could also could be said that, with the new learning formed, it can be easier when

realizing the early signs of child abuse and halting the matters if continued. However, there are limitations

that cannot make the risk of child abuse go away. In a report done by The Children’s Bureau published in

2017, found that thirty percent (30%) of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children

(Department of Health and Human Services, 2017) . Children that are being abused now can show signs

of continued cycles of abuse for their own offspring.

C) After considering these insights, what new questions can be asked about this phenomenon?

In addition to learning about the issues of child abuse in the one parent households, new questions

can bring in the insights others disciplines can relate to by answering the phenomenon. Since child abuse

is a worldwide issue, questions regarding how child abuse relates to America and in which ways do each

state define abuse and neglect? In relations to the profession of social work under law to report any

suspicions of child abuse, what are other fields that are under law to report these accusations? Last but not

least that individuals ask questions to child abuse, is the question of is what type of abuse is the most

reported to the police in the one parent homes?

4. Conclusions:

A) In future research, what other discipline(s) might speak to this issue?

In a way for future research to provide a creative new insights on child abuse in single parent’s

homes is by examining what other disciplines look at to get their field’s viewpoint on the issues. Other

disciplinary studies that can provide insights to the issues are the current families’ geographical location

in which they are located in. With the families’ geographic location being an important factor, it has an

influence on the further development of society and the culture around them effecting them in many

ways. In America in relation to other nations; it has an effect on the intercultural influences, the

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development of social structures, and the position in the community around the family and children to

influence a different type of behavior to impact the single parent households. Another branch of

knowledge is understanding the awareness level on how history can play a role on the aspect of heredity

that is where the biological parent passes on traits to their offspring. As the course of interdisciplinary

studies does not single out one field, it now gives people additional insights to other options to look into

the subject matter.

B) Summary statement regarding the work done for this essay

In the final analysis of the essay regarding the issue of child abuse in the one parent households, it

addressed how a parent or caregiver inflicts neglect, physical, sexual and or emotional abuse towards their

own child, as well as creating the child to develop a wide variety of physical and psychological issues.

While only the three million reports are made public, child abuse does intend to happen more often in

society with the single parent homes. With the insights made from a social work and an economic

perspective, it helps other academic field’s insights to the issue at hand. In short, child abuse is an

ongoing cycle that keeps happening more than people want to believe, and with those being abuse it can

still occur onto their offspring and so on.

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Reference Page

Works Cited Ameyaw-Akumfi, N. (2013). "What Social Factors May Increase The Child's Vulnerability To Abuse?"

Retrieved from https://www.modernghana.com/news

ChildHelpStaff. (2017). "What is Child Abuse?" Retrieved from https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse/

Dale, M. K. (2014). "Addressing the Underlying Issue of Poverty in Child-Neglect Cases". Retrieved

from http://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/committees/childrights/content/articles/spring2014-

0414-addressing-underlying-issue-poverty-child-neglect-cases.html

Department of Health and Human Services. (2017). "Child Maltreatment". Retrieved from

https://americanspcc.org/child-abuse-statistics

FocaStaff. (2017). "FAMILY STRUCTURE CHILD ABUSE STATISTICS". Retrieved from

http://www.facesofchildabuse.org/stats-facts.html

Francis, D. (2017). "Poverty and Mistreatment of Children go Hand in Hand". Retrieved from

http://www.nber.org/digest/jan00/w7343.html

NASWStaff. (2015). "Social Workers and Child Abuse Reporting". Retrieved from

https://naswpress.org/publications/legal/inside/child-abuse-reporting-intro.html

PennMedicine. (2007). "One-parent Households Double Risk Of Childhood Sexual Abuse". Retrieved

from https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2007/march/oneparent-households-

double

Repko, A. F. (2014). Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies. In A. F. Repko,"Introduction to

Interdisciplinary Studies". California: SAGE Publications .

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