Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention

Paper Summary:

In this essay, the writer points out that the sad irony of the continuing high incidence of child abuse in the United States today is the fact that the nation has historically prided itself on recognizing the individual rights of every citizen. Unfortunately, the research quickly makes it clear that the United States has failed to protect the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of the country's most vulnerable citizens, its children. The writer emphasizes that children lack the capacity to defend their rights on their own. The writer concludes that providing abusive parents with the educational resources they will need to help them to change these behaviors is certainly a step in the right direction, just as coordinating such parenting classes with other informal and formal support services as noted above are steps in the right direction - but even these approaches are not going to be enough to change these sometimes-inexplicable behaviors in many cases.


Outline:
Background and Overview
Incidence and Implications of Child Abuse in the U.S. Today
Intervention Initiatives

From the Paper:

"In reality, these alarming statistics may not reflect the entire picture either. For example, the rate of reported child abuse fatalities has increased each year, with an estimated 1,400 child fatalities from abuse taking place in the United States in 2002 alone; nevertheless, recent studies indicate that fully 50-60 percent of deaths from child abuse are not recorded. Not surprisingly, the incidence of child abuse among substance abusing parents and caregivers has been shown to be higher than for their nonsubstance-abusing counterparts."
"There are also some significant differences in the incidence of child abuse according to socioeconomic status, whether parents are married, cohabitating or single; there are also cultural and racial differences in the incidence of child abuse as well. Interestingly, child abuse appears to take place in a vicious cyclical fashion in some cases wherein parents fail to provide a nurturing and supportive environment for their children who then act out in ways that attract an abusive response from the parents; this pattern of behavior is also more frequent among low-socioeconomic families."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ashley, O. S., Brady, T. M., & Marsden, M. E. (2003). Effectiveness of substance abuse treatment programming for women: A review. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 29(1), 19.
• Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review of Psychology, 371.
• Dane, B. (2000). Child welfare workers: An innovative approach for interacting with secondary trauma. Journal of Social Work Education, 36(1), 27.
• Dodds, T. L. (2006). Defending America's children: How the current system gets it wrong. Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, 29(2), 719.
• Eisler, R. (2000). Tomorrow's children: A blueprint for partnership education in the 21st century. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

More papers on Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention:

• Term Paper # 148761 : "Child Abuse: Long-Lasting Consequences and Early Prevention"
• Cause and Effect Essay # 68682 : "Social Causes of Child Abuse"
• Research Paper # 98743 : "Child Abuse and Adult Criminal Behavior"

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