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It is known that child abuse has many short and long-term affects on the child. It is our duty as citizens to ensure that these children receive the care they deserve. These incidences are incredibly harmful to the child and the outcome can be quite severe. If we do not recognize what is occurring within our society, the cycle will continue. Child abuse is not something new and children have continued to be maltreated and exploited throughout history. It is impossible to capture the diversity, complexity and devastation the child endures due to the abuse. Abusers take on an array of relationships with their victims whether it is a parent, caregiver, guardian or someone who is in a position of trust. Child abuse can occur in a variety of forms and not all are obvious to the eye. It occurs when a person mistreats or neglects a child resulting in injury, significant emotional or psychological harm or critical risk of harm to the child. One of the least understood forms of child abuse is emotional abuse. Emotional abuse can be verbal threats, socially isolating a child, intimidation, exploitation, terrorizing or routinely making unreasonable demands on the child. This form of abuse can cause serious behavioural, cognitive, emotional or mental disorders. This is the most prevalent and can be the most cruel and destructive of all types of abuse. It is an attack on the child’s mind and self-concept and the victim comes to see themselves as unworthy of love and affection. This form of abuse is usually a long-term pattern and is usually very hard to diagnose or even to define. In some cases the emotionally abused child shows no signs of abuse. This form of abuse often co-exists with other types of abuse. In many cases emotional abuse is part of a pattern of family stress and dysfunctional parenting. The effects of this form of abuse can leave much hidden damage and scar the victim for the rest of their life perhaps requiring years of therapy. The victim can often find themselves coping with many obstacles such as poor self-esteem, insecurities, and substance abuse. Even the sense of abandonment they felt as a child can result in desperate clinging to those they attempt to acquire a relationship with. The next serious and more silent form of abuse is neglect. Neglect is an extremely complex and multifaced form of abuse. This form of abuse can occur when a child is not being provided with the essential requisites they need. They are considered to be neglected if their caregivers fail to provide basic physical, educational, and emotional support whether it is intentional or unintentional. There are two different forms of neglect which a child may endure. The first is physical neglect. This occurs when a child’s needs for food, shelter, clothing, medical care, cleanliness and protection are not met. The other form is emotional neglect. This will occur when the child’s needs to feel loved, wanted, safe, and worthy are not met. Neglect is often chronic and usually involves repeated incidents. In the past and presently the majority of child abuse cases in the social welfare system involve neglect, Need a source here to support this statement (footnote) and so over time there has been considerable effort to provide clear, concise definitions of the term.
Approximate Word count = 2188
Approximate Pages = 8.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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