Child Abuse And Its Awareness

CHILD ABUSE AND ITS AWARENESS

CHILD : the most fragile part of the society. The part we ignore which needs the most attention to create the best future of the country. The one who is prone to all good or bad learnt faster than we respond to our reflexes. The one who knows the least yet faces the most of the wrath of the society, in ways we cannot imagine what could it be dealing with. It may or may not be able to express itself. (not the definition of child that science gave us. It is in consideration with what it faces when an abuse happens to it.)

DEFINITION OF CHILD ABUSE :

Physical and mental abuse and injury, neglect or negligent treatment, exploitation and sexual abuse.

WHERE IT MAY HAPPEN :

1. Anywhere, there is no whereabout of abuse especially towards a child.

2. Home : because family is the first to be closest to the child and it may seem very far from doubt, but that is what we need to know that the one we can’t think of, might be the biggest part of the trouble or trauma the child might be facing. The family is either the creator of the traumatic experience or the one who exaggerates it by taunts or no support. (not in every case, exceptions are always there).

3. School : the institution the family trusts after themselves, the most.

4. Day care/ baby sitters : why not ? easiest pray for them is the child to complete their heinous fantasy crimes.

5. Prison : I don’t even need to explain this but anyway. Criminals all around. (a juvenile who does crime can also be a child facing abuse within the prison parameters.)

INDIA AND ITS STEPS FOR CHILD PROTECTION :

POSCO Act 2012 and Immoral Traffic Prevention Act

This act has strengthened itself to fight for the right of the children. The number of cases being filed under this act have increased, it has happened because the legal knowledge of the people have increased. It has resulted in the good as it increased the number of the convictions. The relationship between the accused and the victim plays an important role, it was clearly stated by the National Crime Records Bureau.

IMPACT OF THE CHILD ABUSE :

Besides the physical and emotional trauma, there is the fact that the immediate impact is the one that is immediately felt and turns to be the most hurtful. It can also result in being a lifelong physical and psychological trauma. The society also plays the very role of hyping it or helping the victim by reacting to the victim or their behavior towards the victim. Research tells that there has been direct impact on the memory center, emotional lobe, decision making center and other functioning of the brain of the victim.

PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE :

Parents : Their role is the biggest as they are the immediate family of the victim. They should also teach their kids the importance of “good touch” and a “bad touch”. The relations of the parents and the children should be friendly, frank and open minded. Parents should also teach the child to not harass the others and could happen with them as well. They should make the child empathize with the pain like that of a victim to not make a big mistake of being an accused and an even bigger mistake of being the victim with emphasis to hiding the pain that it faces. The pain should be talked out and a positive environment around the victim should be kept.

The NGOs : I don’t know how much the donation to an NGO works, but I do understand the importance of an NGO, as they are the voice of those who wouldn’t be able to step up as powerfully(or not stand up at all) for themselves as the NGO would.

Reporting the incident : The ministry of Women and Child Development has an ‘e-box’. It helps in reporting the child abuse online. It helps the child to file the report anonymously(if they choose) themselves. The reports are received by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

Police Report : Police officers are legally bound to look at the complaint of the child abuse. It is a great help that the POSCO Act makes it illegal to watch and not do anything against the abuse faced by the child (specifically to say, illegal if you know and/or see and do not make a police report about it). The number of cases being brought to the trial have also increased because of this act.

TYPES OF CHILD ABUSE

1. Shaken baby syndrome : where the baby or toddler could cause itself or somehow serious head injuries.

2. Munchausen by proxy syndrome : inducing medical illness in a child or convincing that the child is sick is a serious and dangerous abuse.

3. Drug use of the mother when she is pregnant : drugs and alcohol may cause the child Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and thus proves wrong towards the child.

The above paragraph proves that the child abuse is not just physical, it might have many other mannerisms as well. But in this article I have specifically focused on the physical and sexual abuse of the child.

SIGNS OF THE ABUSE

1. Cuts

2. Bites

3. Bruises

4. Resistance of going to a specific place or person

5. Fear of adults

6. Keeping quiet

7. Staying alone

8. Not opening up to anyone

9. Losing interest in favorite activities

EMOTIONAL CHILD ABUSE

These are :

1. Mental

2. Verbal

3. Psychological

Mainly they all connect to the emotional distress the child is feeling inside.

In the end, keep your ears, eyes and mind open towards the child and its changing behavior. The abuse is not limited to these categories written above, it can also be online abuse and many other unlisted. The most important thing is to be the child’s support and hear them out. Be friendly and help them cope up at their own pace rather than being another traumatic event in their life with your sarcasm and taunts, scolding and/or trying or showing to disown the child or any such vicious behavior. Try to make a better world for the ones who are beginning to see it, leaving behind their innocence to be adults who might or might not be a good future for the generation after them and so on.