Monday, January 13, 2020
Parenting: Abuse and Neglect Essay
Introduction     The solemn responsibility of being parents to a child is grave, and the consequences are immense should they fail in any of the areas of parenthood. On the contrary, when it comes to deliberately hurting a child, or causing damage to their psyche’ as a person, the term â€Å"failure†would not be adequate or appropriate to describe its effects. Whether abusing or neglecting a small person, studies reveal that the results are almost the same: the destructive effects are colossal and prevailing for almost all of the rest of the child’s life. This paper attempts to describe, explain and enumerate various factors that point to parental abuse and neglect. It argues that though neglect and abuse may not have the same exact results or degree to the child or victim, both exhibit dire outcomes in the overall functioning and existence of the life of the child. Problem Statement     The following statements of the problem guide the direction of this study with the succeeding chapter providing the description towards these problem statements. Answers to the problems are incorporated in the analysis and discussion of the findings and results. Statement of the Problem What is parenting abuse? What is parenting neglect and the manners that parents show or demonstrate this negative aspect in a child’s life? What are the facts to consider regarding family factors, the victim, and the perpetrator on the problem? Methodology     The researcher utilized the convenience and accessibility of the World Wide Web and/or the internet, other books and journals available to the researcher. III. Analysis and Discussion of Findings and Results of study Parenting Abuse.     As cited by Dr. Richard Gardner in the American Journal of Family Therapy (Gardner, 2002p.6), parental abuse may take many and varied forms. Some of them are subtle and may be very difficult to identify especially when proving them in the court of law. However, parental abuse occurs when a parent treats a child in a manner that results in physical injury, emotional or psychological harm, or anything that might cause the child to be exposed to serious threats such as deprivation of necessary parental benefits which eventually results in lifelong incapacity in the life of the child (Hay, Tom. 1997 in Whipple and Webster-Stratton, 1991). When the parent abuses his/her position of trust, that of being the child’s guardian and caregiver, the consequent result are maltreatment and exploitation. This is, basically, parenting abuse. Parental Neglect.     What is parenting neglect, and what are its manifestations or the manners that parents show or demonstrate this negative treatment of a child? Parental neglect is definitely a form of parental abuse. It is defined as a disregard of the fundamental responsibilities on the part of parent, or parents, to provide for the child’s emotional, psychological, and physical development. When parents fail to provide an atmosphere where a child can feel loved, wanted, and sheltered within home environment, parental neglect is taking place. If the parents are constantly physically unavailable, or physically present but inattentive to the child’s legitimate needs, they are essentially abandoning their primary duty as guardians. Although not easily identified as physical assault, parental neglect is equally serious and as damaging to a child ((Hay, Tom. 1997 in Rodgers, 1994, p. 14). Factors that Contribute to the Overall Set-up of Abuse.     Facts point to many factors that must be considered when dealing with parental abuse and neglect.     Family Factors. Child abuse happens anywhere in the population regardless of socio-economic status of the neighborhood. It occurs even when the family is religious or totally agnostic, or in families from culturally diverse backgrounds. Nonetheless, studies reveal the greater tendency for those coming from the lower economic echelon to experience neglect ((Hay, Tom. 1997 in Trocme et al., pp. 94-98). There is a higher incidence too, for physical abuse (but not so much with emotional abuse) among the poverty stricken (Hay, Tom. 1997 in Jones and K. McCurdy, 1992, pp. 201-215). Unemployment in the family system is a contributor to stress which results to the likelihood of ill-treatment ((Hay, Tom. 1997 in Krishnan and Morrison, 1995, pp. 101-113).     The Victim. As early as in prenatal stage, abuse can take place. If a pregnant mother is alcohol or drug user, it poses a real threat to the child in the womb. The tendency of the baby to be born with birth defects is very high and might cause retardation in physical or mental growth. The high threat that is posed to a child in the belly of a self-destructive mother cannot be underestimated. If perchance the child is successfully carried to its full term, damage has already been done by consistent substance abuse. The usual objects of abuse are children – preschoolers and infants (Hay, Tom. 1997 in Hegar et al., 1994, pp. 170-183). It might be that because children are naturally weak, they are predisposed to maltreatments, and are often overlooked by parents when arguing which at times culminate in aggression. As is always the case, children are the ultimate victims in abusive homes.     The Abuser. As often is the case, parents who are abusive were themselves abused in their childhood years. Many of this kind are not ready for family life. They get none or little enjoyment from their experience as parents. These tend to isolate themselves from their community and have a way of controlling their families which is unnatural. The way they manage their households is through authoritarian means. Experts noted that abusive parents are usually afraid to expose themselves or be vulnerable, and are emotionally weak and therefore unable to ask for help or support from social work organizations, or at least from concerned relatives (Hay, Tom. 1997 in Caliso and Milner, 1994, pp. 27-44). Conclusion and Recommendations     Because of the increasing number of cases of child custody in courts, rules and regulations as to who will be the rightful custodian of the child in contest are several times expanded. The pros and cons of different sides of the issues are weighed carefully and from these amendments came the existing balancing of â€Å"tender-years presumption,†â€Å"best-interests-of-the-child presumption,†and the â€Å"joint-custodial concept.†    It is assumed that because mothers are female, and therefore naturally more doting to their children, they are viewed as inherently better than men when it comes to child-rearing. This is the presupposition under the tender-years presumption. And so, because of this heavy leaning of the law on the side of the mothers, the father seeking for the custody of his child must present convincing proofs to the court of the deficiencies on the part of the mother for the court to give some consideration in transferring to the father primary custodial status. Here enters the best-interests-of-the-child presumption. It ignores gender in custodial considerations. Instead, its focus is on the capacities of both parents in raising the child. Factors are carefully considered, especially those that relate to the child’s best interests. Often, fathers are on the advantageous side in this argument and have greater opportunity to secure primary custody status. The decade of 80’s has witnessed a burgeoning of child custody litigations and it was during this decade that the joint-custodial concept has become the prevailing trend in matters of child guardianship.     While courts of law has become sharper, and should I say, fairer, in meting out its judgment on child custody, it nonetheless created unintentionally a problem resulting from the constant amending and polishing of regulations in child custodianship. Parents in disputes, have now learned (either one of them or both) to manipulate and program the child to become alienated to the other parent. Experts call this problem â€Å"Parental Alienation Syndrome.†A parent who has the upper hand learns to scheme and make the child hostile to the estranged spouse in order to enhance his/her position in the course of the proceedings. PAS is a childhood disorder and is the actual result of the parents’ battle over the child in the court. If the child becomes hostile to one of his/her parents and engages in active campaign of denigration against this parent, the likelihood is that this child has been the victim of programming (brainwashing) by the other parent. This is parental alienation syndrome. And it uses the child in the campaign of vilification of the target parent (Gardner, 2002).     This is a pathetic scenario. Either of the parents definitely will finally win his/her case, but the one ending up to be the real loser is the child. Actually, the whole affair is itself an abuse of the child. Family is supposed to be a home and a place for children to grow healthy physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Home is not supposed to be a tug of war between parents where the rope being pulled is the child. Abuse and neglect should never become part of parenting styles. Reference Gardner, Richard. 2002. Parental Alienation Syndrome vs. Parental Alienation: Which diagnosis should evaluators use in child-custody disputes? The American Journal of Family Therapy, 30 (2): 93-115.New York:   Hay, Tom. 1997. 87 child abuse and neglect overview paper: in R.L. Hegar, S.J. Zuravin and J.G. Orme, â€Å"Factors  predicting severity of physical child abuse injury,†   Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 9(2), 1994, pp.  170-183. Accessed July 7, 2007 Hay, Tom. 1997. 87 child abuse and neglect overview paper: in E.E. Whipple and C. Webster-Stratton, â€Å"The role of parental   stress in physically abusive families,†   Child Abuse and Neglect, 15(3), 1991,pp. 279-291.    Accessed July 7, 2007   Hay, Tom. 1997. 87 child abuse and neglect overview paper: in K. Rodgers, â€Å"Wife assault: The findings of a  national survey,†Juristat Service Bulletin, Accessed July 7, 2007   Hay, Tom. 1997. 87 child abuse and neglect overview paper:in Trocme et al., supra note 6, pp. 94-98. Accessed   July 7,2007 Hay, Tom. 1997. 87 child abuse and neglect overview paper: in   D. Jones and K. McCurdy, â€Å"The links between   types of maltreatment and demographic characteristics  of children,’†Child Abuse and Neglect, 16(2), 1992, pp. 201-215. Accessed July 7, 2007 Hay, Tom. 1997. 87 child abuse and neglect overview paper: in V. Krishnan and K.B. Morrison, â€Å"An ecological model of child maltreatment in a Canadian province,†  Child Abuse and Neglect, 19(1), 1995, pp. 101-113.  Accessed July 7, 2007   Hay, Tom. 1997. 87 child abuse and neglect overview paper: in J.A. Caliso and J.S. Milner, â€Å"Childhood physical  abuse, childhood social support and adult child abuse potential,†Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 9(1), 1994, pp. 27-44. Accessed July 7, 2007 Â
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