Child abuse is an issue we encounter and need to address. It is not only physical but mental as well. Child abuse is a global problem, which we come across in families not only in the United States but overseas also. Imagine coming home to a corrupted household that taunts you with every step you take. Imagine being in fear of those who you love and care about; people who you thought could give you the protection and safekeeping that every child deserves. Parents and guardians, wake up! Take in the fact that the things you’re doing are not only affecting the children but our future, as well. Our kids are our future!
Early childhood experiences affect all of us in many different ways as an adult. Child abuse is one of the reasons why we have many unethical people, such as criminals committing iniquities against our laws and constitution. The American SPCC, American Society For the Positive Care of Children, states that “14% of all men in prison and 36% of women in prison in the USA were abused as children”. They also mention that “Children who are abused and neglected are about 9 times more likely to be involved in criminal activity”. Here we see that child abuse affects children raising them to be criminals as adults.
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Physical abuse involves physical harm or injury to the child. Physical abuse has many effects on a child’s both mind and body. Children’s health development is affected by many types of abuse, especially physical. Improper developments such as; impairment in the brain, language, and vision, with the risks for diseases internally and anxiety. In addition, Children can die due to not only because of physical abuse but rather child abuse in general. CDC states that” There were 676,000 victims of child abuse and neglect reported to child protective services in 2016”. Not only that but they also stated that” About 1,720 children died from abuse or neglect in 2017”.
Moreover, mental abuse is a serious matter that can lead to chronic illnesses in the mind and can affect relationships throughout the individual’s life. Mentally abused children can developmental afflictions. This then gives the possibility of making the child an abuser themselves when they grow up. A medical review by Timothy J. Legg, who has a Ph.D., showed that child abuse can be connected to low development with difficulties in keeping strong relationships. This then may lead to school and work problems. In addition to this, the medical review also showed that abuse can lead to criminal behavior.
A good example of a criminal who was abused as a child was John Wayne Gacy. John Wayne Gacy was a serial killer roaming around 1972 through 1978. He committed acts of rape, murder, and torture to at least 33 teenage boys and young men. He was born in March 1942 and died in May 1994 due to being executed by lethal injection. At the young age of four, his father had already started beating him with a belt as a punishment. Even with the protection of his mother, his father continued to both physically and verbally abuse him saying things like “he would grow up as a queer”, “sissy” etc…
Another example of an infamous criminal who experienced abuse in their childhood was Aileen Wuornos. Wuornos started engaging in sexual activity at the age of 11in order to get her hands on food, drugs, and cigarettes. Wuornos claimed that her grandfather, Lauri Wuornos would strip her naked and sexually assault her through beatings and sexual acts. From 1989 through 1990 she murdered seven men in Florida by shooting them at point-blank range. She claimed that the men that she had killed either raped her or attempted to rape her. She then was convicted for about six of those murders and was sentenced to death through lethal injection.
In the “Trials of Gabriel Fernandez”, a little 8-year-old boy was killed by his mother and her current boyfriend at the time. He was tortured, abused, and treated like an animal for eight agonizing months in which his mother and boyfriend would beat him like he was a punching bag. His brother claimed that Gabriel “would sleep bound and gagged inside a small cabinet.” He also said that his” mom and her boyfriend made Gabriel eat spoiled or expired stuff.
Not only this but, it wasn’t only the parents to blame for Gabriel’s death but also the social workers and the police force’s failure to fully analyze the situation even though the situation was reported many times. The law enforcement apparently called many to the house and assess the situation but reported that “no abuse” was going on in the household. Gabriel as an 8-year-old child would often write suicide notes stating how “he wanted to be a good boy” and how “he would kill himself.” Even though these horrific events, Gabriel wrote a letter to his mother literally a couple of days before his death on things that he loved about his mother.
Prosecutors believed that Gabriel’s mother was the one who instigated the abuses. Her family members also claim that” she was uneducated, started using drugs at an early age which stopped brain development, was diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, suffered from eating disorders, and had abnormalities on her scans. She was also a victim of gang rape and rape by an uncle at an early age.” Even Pearl Fernandez, Gabriel’s mother, was affected by abuse as a child! This, however, is not an excuse for you to tell your boyfriend to beat your own son, your blood, your supposed little soldier all the way to his death before he has even reached his teenhood.
Pearl Fernandez pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. While her boyfriend Isuaro Aguirre was sentenced to death and is still currently on death row in California’s San Quentin prison.
Around the world in 2014, approximately 1 billion children the age of 2 through 17 experienced physical, sexual, emotional, or multiple types of violence, according to “Releasing Children from Poverty Compassion.” They also stated that” one in every 5 women and one in every 13 men have reported that they have been sexually abused as a child”. The U.S. spends about 7 trillion dollars in order to fight against child abuse each year. Millions of children are suffering and we need to help them as much as possible and as soon as possible.
Every year more and more people have reported child abuse in the United States. Exactly about 3 million reports each year according to ‘Child Help.” About 20.7% of adults report being sexually abused, and 10.6% of adults report being emotionally abused in their childhoods according to the same source. Here are a couple of signs which you should be wary of a child has random injuries which he/she cannot explain, the child is having a school slump, the child’s parents do not acknowledge the child, the child is overly compliant, passive, or withdrawn. These signs are all according to “Child Welfare.”
There are a couple of myths about child abuse. Some of them are “It is only abuse if it’s violent”,” Only bad people abuse their children”, and” Abuse doesn’t happen to good families.” However, these are all false! There are so many parents out there not knowing that what they are doing to their children is going to affect their futures. Though, there are also a lot of parents who know exactly what they are doing but don’t care enough about their children to stop the abuse. These types of parents are just cruel and worse than animals, for even animals know how to care for their young.
Parents who clearly do not want their children to have a lot of options from which they could choose rather than making the child suffer. They could give up the child for adoption, they could give up the child to foster families, or maybe just not have a baby at all! It just doesn’t make sense for people to have children only to abuse them and kill them. These types of people can be likened to demons!
Child abuse is like bullying “If you see something say something, if you hear something say something.” Do not be afraid to call for help! Do not question yourself in these decisions. Do not doubt yourself, for if you do it might already be too late to save the child. The worst situation that can come out from you calling for help is that it was all just a misunderstanding and the child is actually not being abused. Ask yourself though however would you really take that chance!?
There are a couple of ways in which you can prevent child abuse from happening or making it worse. One way is literally to just be a nurturing and caring parent, always watch out for your child’s needs, and discipline only when necessary. Another way is by helping a friend, neighbor, or relative; if you see them struggling to parent their child, ask if you can do anything for them so that they can either rest, do what they need to do, and or just have a little break. This does mean you should fully take over their roles as the parent but just from time to time, it might be a good thing for both you, the parents, and the child. After all who doesn’t deserve a break once in a while
Remember that children are human beings too. They are not toys, punching bags, or stress relievers, they are all human beings! They have feelings, emotions, hopes, and dreams that they will soon aspire to have as they’re growing. If you are not confident and do not feel ready yet to have a child, but will soon have one, due to some circumstances that you went through, you can always go through parental therapies which where can better prepare you to be a parent at least in some way. Please refrain from harming and or endangering the kid’s well-being for who knows maybe the child will someday grow up and find the cure to cancer, or maybe even become the next U.S. president, maybe even explore the depths of the ocean which we haven’t reached. Just imagine the things they can do if we only stop or at the very least lessen the occurrence of which a child is being abused. The possibilities of their futures are endless and all we have to do is nurture and guide them to the right path, which involves no violence, but only love and care.
Overall, some people may not agree and say that “child abuse is not happening, it doesn’t affect the children at all, it gives them discipline...etc.”, but as much as you think it’s not happening it is and thousands maybe even millions of kids are dying due to abuse. Even if it’s not happening as often anymore, would you really be satisfied and be complacent about the fact that you could’ve done something in order to save children who haven’t even reached their teens yet!? So in full support of the ISPCAN, whose goal is to end child abuse. Everyone, not just parents should be wary of what they’re doing to a child. Child abuse is a grave matter which needs to be resolved because not only are we affecting them, but rather the world’s future generations. If you or anyone else does see or hear of child abuse please contact the “Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline” (1-800-4-A-Child;1-800-422-4453). You can make a difference! You can save a life! You can be the bridge to which a child can get their future! Let’s stop the abuse that a child does not deserve! For one day they might be the ones who will change the world and future. It is up to you, their lives are now in your hands, or be forever haunted by the fact that you, yourself could’ve made a difference, but chose to ignore the signs, SAVE THEIR LIVES!
Works Cited
- “Child Emotion and Psychological abuse.” Legg, Timothy https://www.healthline.com/health/child-neglect-and-psychological-abuse
- “Child Maltreatment in the U.S.” https://americanspcc.org/child-abuse-statistics/
- “Child Abuse and Neglect” https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/index.html
- “Trials of Gabriel Fernandez” Verhoeven, Beatrice https://www.thewrap.com/trials-of-gabriel-fernandez-most-shocking-details/ (Streamed show on Netflix)
- “John Wayne Gacy” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne_Gacy, https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/john-wayne-gacy
- “Aileen Wuornos” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aileen_Wuornos, https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/aileen-wuornos
- “Facts about Child Abuse” https://www.compassion.com/poverty/child-abuse.htm
- “What is Child Abuse?” https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse/
- “Child Abuse Signs” https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/whatiscan.pdf#page=4&view=Recognizing%20signs%20of%20abuse%20and%20neglect%20and%20when%20to%20report
- “Facts and Myths of Child Abuse” Smith, Melinda https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/whatiscan.pdf#page=4&view=Recognizing%20signs%20of%20abuse%20and%20neglect%20and%20when%20to%20report
- “Ten Ways to Prevent Child Abuse” https://preventchildabuse.org/resource/ten-ways-to-help-prevent-child-abuse/
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