English Writing Reflection

6

Ashley Waddy

ENG 112

December 3, 2015

Child abuse and racism

It is illegal to treat people differently or unfairly simply because they belong to a different race or culture. Neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse are a major contributor to child maltreatment, poverty and neglect are highly correlated. Children as well as young people from black and minority ethnic groups experience racism which extends to impact the child’s wellbeing but may vary depending on many circumstances. Some people may view it as racism significantly damages children’s chances of fulfilling their potential; however, research suggests that the effects of racism on a child’s emotional as well as physical and psychological development may be profound since the harmful determinant of population health is in its infancy.

Child abuse that results from racism is the hardest form of prejudice to recognize because children are the one group that is viewed as naturally subordinate until a certain age is reached a stipulated age, they are the responsibility of their parents or guardians that have been accorded the responsibility of having custody of the children. The essential components of child abuse are a claim by adults to the effect that the child is there’s and they see fit to do exactly what they want, or children exist to serve, honor and obey adults.

Children can also experience racism because of what their religion or nationality may be. Racism that results to child abuse takes many different forms which are inclusive of written or verbal threats or insults, damage to property, including graffiti and personal attacks of any kind which includes violence. Consequently, a child that is subjected to any form of racism is more likely to have a negative self-image and low self-esteem, the role of anyone working with children or providing activities for them is to ensure the protection of children who may be vulnerable to racist bullying and racial abuse. Black and ethnic children are most likely to experience bullying than their white counterparts since white children usually witness racial bullying as bystanders as the most common expression of racism is through racist name-calling. Research shows that this form of racism towards children is often viewed by adults as trivial although there is some limited research evidence which shows that racial bullying frequently involves the

It is of great importance that all those who work with children to have a good understanding of how racism can harm children and have the ability to recognize when it occurs and deal with it. Training and awareness of the negative effects of racism and child abuse should be part of a group’s program of care for children or young people while using their services, and policies or procedures should be put in place to ensure that it clear that expressions of racism are unacceptable and the perpetrators of such victimization will be consequential.

The ultimate role of anyone working with children or providing services or activities for them is to ensure their protection from vulnerabilities that result from or constitute to racist bullying and racial abuse since the direct costs associated with child abuse and neglect are estimated at 24.4 billion dollars which is inclusive of hospitalization, chronic health problems, mental health, child welfare, and judicial system costs. The indirect costs are estimated at 69.7 billion dollars which include special education, juvenile delinquency as well as adult mental health as well as health care, lost productivity to society, and adult criminality. The National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths estimates that nearly five innocent children die as a result of abuse and neglect in America, the federal data shows that an estimated total of 10,440 children in the United States have died from abuse and neglect between 2001 and 2007.

Children are the assets of the society and country therefore they should not be tortured in any such way that they may not develop any kind of complex in the future. Their family who plays a primary role in the determination of what the and how the child experiences and recovers from something that is a traumatic experience, parental support is a key mediating factor that determines how a child will adapt to victimization.

Familial support and adequate parental support on the emotions of the child who has been victimized functions to mitigate against the development of posttraumatic pathology. The family environment itself should be held responsible for the victimization since the parental response to the traumatic event and the extent that parents themselves are influenced by their own childhood histories of loss and trauma have a major impact on the child’s adaptation to trauma. A child’s ability as well as willingness to report their victimization that happened plays an important role in legal and therapeutic intervention. Investigations that are involving abuse have frequently been impeded when children have failed to disclose abuse, deny abuse that has occurred, or recant a prior disclosure. The failure when making a clear disclosure at the time of a formal investigation likely results in the finding that suspicions of abuse are majority unfounded or unsubstantiated, which often result in termination of the investigation, this means that the child subsequently remains at risk of continued abuse.

We should eliminate the discrimination from the society, this includes child abuse and racism. We should encourage children to adopt practices and cultures that enable them to be mentally sharp rather than having any kind of inferiority complex or superiority complex. Children are the next generation of the society so they should be treated well, which would lead them towards the development of the society. The particular issues faced by Black children whose experience of living with domestic violence can be compounded by racism, children may be affected by witnessing the abuse which is meted out to closest relatives or friends which may greatly have a negative toll on them leading to the lowering of their self-esteem and poor performance in school.

Studies that seek to examine the trends in demographic and other risk factors that are predictive of or correlated with child maltreatment should be carried out with earnest in order to ensure that our children are well protected from victimization. The parents, guardians and all the stakeholders involved in the development of child related policies should engage in discussions that seek to raise visibility and build awareness about the problems while looking at the available data on the best practice with keen focus on what’s working and not working. They should also try to help identify solutions to the problems that arise from childhood related issues and then report the findings which will help in the making of recommendations to drive future policy.

Children are not only the assets of the society or the cogs and wheel in the machine is geared and steered towards the achievement development milestones but are the source of our support in our old age. The victims should rise above their child abuse experiences and strive to be agents of best practices in preventing child and youth fatalities since they have the responsibility to run the society in a proper way rather than taking revenge of their child abuse or racism therefore stopping at its tracks conflict that can be avoided. May be by overcoming the child abuse and the racism we can bring the peace in the world through use of child protective services and also child welfare services by ensuring the effectiveness of Federal, State, and local policies/systems that are within services that are aimed at collecting accurate, uniform data on child fatalities in a coordinated fashion.

In January 2013, the Congress passed the Protect Our Kids Act, which is a major milestone in the race to help child fatalities. This act creates a bi-partisan, two-year Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities which consists of 12 members that are appointed by the President and congressional leaders. The commission worked together to evaluate current programs and prevention efforts, and recommended a comprehensive national strategy that helps reduce and prevent child abuse and neglect fatalities which included the development of a national, multi-agency strategy for stopping maltreatment deaths, the increment of the current federal spending on child protection by three to five billion dollars since child welfare financing reform is crucial to make child protective services an entitlement for eligible children. The amendment of the current federal and state confidentiality laws which was originally intended to protect living child victims from publicity was undertaken.

The standardization of data collection about maltreatment deaths that lead to the quality national statistics that will inform effective prevention strategies and require states to provide such information to the department and also within and across systems in order to receive federal funds was implemented and fully funded state child death review teams that look at each child’s death and develop prevention recommendations were also put in place.

The development of a public education campaign that helps encourage public reporting of child abuse as well as neglect and to enlist communities in protection of children was deemed absolutely necessary since many cases of maltreatment deaths arise from neglect and racism, thus the issue of child neglect and racism should receive the same equal amount of time and a public education campaign and by child protection professionals. This recommendation led to the development of a model protocol to ensure civil and criminal legal proceedings related to child abuse and also neglect is very closely coordinated with relevant agencies, that include the multidisciplinary approach should be law enforcement, prosecutors, child welfare workers and medical professionals, that may be the first to come into contact with a child who is abused.

It is said that child abuse is one of the hardest forms of abuse to recognize because we as adults automatically think that it is naturally subordinate, people that are or may be racist against children consider them to be a burden of some kind.

“One day, around the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the little boy went up to his grandmother and said, "Grandma, it's a good thing Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, because if he wasn't, you wouldn't know how to love me the way you do (Catherine McCall MS) .”

Works Cited

Daro, Deborah. Confronting child abuse: Research for effective program design. Simon and Schuster, 1988. Retrieved from: https://scholar.google.com

Gordon, Sue. "Putting the picture together-Inquiry into response by government agencies to complaints of family violence and child abuse in Aboriginal communities." Austl. Indigenous L. Rep. 7 (2002): 49. Retrieved from: https://scholar.google.com

Daro, Deborah, and Richard J. Gelles. "Public attitudes and behaviors with respect to child abuse prevention." Journal of Interpersonal Violence 7.4 (1992): 517-531. Retrieved from: https://scholar.google.com

O'Hagan, Kieran P. "Emotional and psychological abuse: Problems of definition." Child Abuse & elect 19.4 (1995): 449-461. Retrieved from: https://scholar.google.com

DePanfilis, Diane, and Marsha K. Salus. A coordinated response to child abuse and neglect: A basic manual. DIANE Publishing, 1994. Retrieved from: https://scholar.google.com

Catherine McCall MS, LMFT. Psychology Today. 30 March 2012. Print. 7 December 2015.