A Child's Nightmare

In school Georgia was an outspoken child; she loved to run around and play just like any other child. When her father would walk in the room to pick her up, the light in the little girls’ eyes would die, and she would whimper and cry that she didn’t want to go with her dad. After months of investigation, Georgia’s preschool teacher was able to have a state psychiatrist come in and speak with Georgia. This poor little girl cried and cried saying her dad told her not to tell anyone, that what it was their little secret; it took Georgia an hour to finally be brave enough to admit to the Doctor that her dad had been touching her in inappropriate places. Georgia was taken from her home and placed in foster care. This is something that happens throughout the nation. Millions of children a year are taken advantage of. Whether it is by a stranger, or someone they love, every few seconds a child is either physically abused or sexually abused by an adult.
Darkness2light.org says that “One out of four girls are sexually abused before the age of eighteen; one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of eighteen, and about 40% of all cases have been victimized by someone in the child’s close family.” This site also goes on to state that “Nearly 50% of all victims of forcible sodomy, sexual assault with an object, and forcible fondling are children under the age of twelve.” Sexual abuse on a child has a very definite line. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect defines child sexual assault as: "contacts or interactions between a child and an adult when the child is being used for sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or another person when the perpetrator or another person is in a position of power or control over the victim.” Childhelp.org states that “children who have been sexually abused are 2 ½ times more likely to develop alcohol abuse and are nearly four times more likely to develop drug addictions.” There is no grey area when a child is being sexually abused. So what can be done for these children? There are a few steps that should be taken.
Increased awareness for and research on the topic of sexual abuse. Research is specifically needed in evaluation of victims, and management strategies for the victims. Future studies should also make an effort to include better methods of obtaining sexual abuse histories, better definitions of abuse, improved sampling, more extensive data collection, and more sophisticated analyses. Health care providers should also become more educated in this topic and more sensitive to the possibility of sexual abuse patients. A great thing that this nation does provide is therapy for these victimized children.
On Childhelp.org, sexual abuse therapy is described as “therapy for the victims include reducing or preventing the negative effects from occurring, helping the victim in achieving normal development for his or her age, and preventing further abuse from occurring or being unreported.” The therapists working with these children and adolescents may use group therapy, cognitive therapy, or behavioral techniques to help the victim come to terms with emotions, be able to manage behavior and life, and relearn acceptable behavior and normal sexual activity. It is very important for boys to reassert their masculinity and to re-channel their aggressive behavior into physically healthy activities. Unfortunately, this is not the same for physical child abuse.
What is child abuse? On dictonary.com, child abuse is stated as “mistreatment of a child by a parent or guardian, including neglect, beating, and sexual molestation.” But when asking one parent to the next, their definition of child abuse might vary. A mother of a two year old, Danyelle Aders, was interviewed on her definition of child abuse. “I believe that child abuse is the forceful action of physically hitting a child for the benefit of the parent. I do not believe in spanking, as this is a physical force contact with a child.” Katrina Peltier, a mother of three boys was interviewed saying “A spanking never hurt anyone in the long run. My boys will sometimes get so out of control that a spanking was what I had to do to make them listen. But I do think that excessive force is considered abuse. Once is all it takes, and more hits than that, I think, is considered abuse.”
Child abuse is nearly an epidemic across the United States. Childhelp.org says seventy five percent of children that are abused are under the age of four. But one of the most unfortunate stats is that most of the child abuse in this nation is not even reported to anyone, and are just pushed out of sight. Many of the deaths of young children that are reported as abuse, there was no forewarning that anything prior abuse had happened to the child until it was too late. According to childhelp.org, 36.7% of all women and 14.4% of all men in prison in the United States were abused as children; and one third of all abused children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse. So how do we protect these poor innocent children?
According to preventchildabuse.com, the behavior of children may signal abuse or neglect long before any change in physical appearance. Some of the signs may include: “Nervousness around adults, aggression toward adults or other children, inability to stay awake or to concentrate for extended periods, sudden, dramatic changes in personality or activities, unnatural interest in sex, frequent or unexplained bruises or injuries, low self-esteem, poor hygiene.” Have you seen a child showing these signs? Do you know someone that is suffering, but do not want to report the abuse. Just think of the hurt and the pain that the child is suffering, and that you can end that suffering with a simple phone call to the police.
In doing research on this child abuse, there were multiple sites on how to prevent child abuse. Here are the top ten ways to do so:
1. Be a nurturing parent. Children need to know that they are special, loved and capable of following their dreams.
2. Help a friend, neighbor or relative. Being a parent isn’t easy. Offer a helping hand take care of the children, so the parents can rest or spend time together.
3. Help yourself. When the big and little problems of your everyday life pile up to the point you feel overwhelmed and out of control – take time out. Don’t take it out on your kid.
4. If your baby cries… It can be frustrating to hear your baby cry. Learn what to do if your baby won’t stop crying. Never shake a baby – shaking a child may result in severe injury or death.
5. Get involved. Ask your community leaders, clergy, library and schools to develop services to meet the needs of healthy children and families.
6. Help to develop parenting resources at your local library.
7. Promote programs in school and around your community. Teaching children, parents and teachers prevention strategies can help to keep children safe.
8. Monitor your child’s television and video viewing. Watching violent films and TV programs can be disturbing to some young children.
9. Volunteer at a local child abuse prevention program.
10. Report suspected abuse or neglect. If you have reason to believe a child has been or may be harmed, call your local department of children and family services or you local police department.
If half of our nation would take even just half of these steps, millions of children could have happier lives. Neighbors of little Georgia suspected that her father had been molesting her, but they did not take a stand to protect her. Thankfully, her preschool teacher took this young girl into the safety of the state. Too many abused children get pushed into the shadows, because bystanders don’t want to be the one to break up a family. The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) reported an estimated 1,760 child fatalities in 2007. This translates to a rate of 2.35 children per 100,000 children in the general population. NCANDS defines "child fatality" as the “death of a child caused by an injury resulting from abuse.” Now is the time to stop the epidemic. Now is the time to save our next generation.