Know Adverse Consequences Of Child Abuse
Before discussing measures for prevention of child abuse let’s know what exactly it is. Child abuse involves physical harm to children as a result of physical ill treatment, torture and exploitation either by their parents or other caretakers.
While most of the cases of child abuse occur in children’s homes, others are reported in their schools or communities where they interact with other children.
Following are the types of child abuse:
Physical abuse
Physical child abuse refers to infliction of purposeful harm to a child. Physical abuse can either be intentional or just an omission that results in injury.
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse refers to an act of sexually assaulting and exploiting a child through fondling and copulation and various other means such as oral contact to genital or child’s exposure to pornography.
Emotional abuse
Emotional child abuse refers to an act of emotionally and verbally assaulting a child. The continuous disparagement and rebuke are considered as emotional abuse. In addition to this, deliberate isolation or rejection of a child come under this type of abuse.
Neglect
Child neglect is described as child’s deprivation of adequate food, shelter, love and care.
In most of the cases of child abuse, children are victimized by those whom they know and believe such as their own parents or relatives. In case you come to know about any case of child abuse either in your own kid or a child in your neighborhood you would better bring it to the notice of the concerned authorities so that your concern can help in healing.
Symptoms
A child who has been subjected to physical, emotional or sexual assault may feel humiliated, confused and guilty besides being afraid of sharing with others what happened with him or her, especially when a parent and other trusted one has made an assault.
Considering child’s predicament it is essential to identify some signs mentioned below:
A child who has been subjected to child abuse may suddenly change his or her behavior besides performing poorly in school.
Medical or dental problems that remained untreated may also be signs of child abuse.
Any injury in child’s body such as bruise, cut or burn which he or she has not explained earlier may be a sign of child abuse.
Blood mark in the child’s undergarment may also indicate that he or she has been subjected to child abuse.
Child’s reluctance to go to school may show that he or she has been subjected to ill-treatment in school.
Complications
Child abuse affects the children not just physically but psychologically as well. Though some children particularly those with high self-esteem and optimism successfully get over the physical and psychological consequences, others go on suffering the lifelong effects of child abuse.
For others, however, child abuse has lifelong consequences. The lifelong effects may include physical impairment, loss of interest for learning, low self esteem, depression, difficulty in building up new relations or keeping up existing relations, anxiety, negative opinion on parenthood and abnormal behavior.
