By Izzie Clay

J8 Summit
rd

Monday 3 June 2013 Zurich International School

http://kyllerkyle.deviantart.com/art/Child-Abuse-350536978

Did you know that in concurrence to UNICEF each year almost 3,500 children die from physical abuse and/or neglect under the age of 15? Or that according to the nonprofitable organization Childhelp in the United States, 3.3 million accounts of child abuse are made per year involving nearly 6 million children? From these statistics you can see how big a controversy child abuse is and how frequently it occurs. Surprisingly, child abuse is more common in developed countries than undeveloped countries. For instance in the United States, Mexico and Portugal, reports of child abuse are ten times higher than other countries with the next highest rates (UNICEF). Child abuse often occurs because adults blame all of their stress on the children, as the children they are looking after are often not their own and the parents are often substance abusers.

Although an ordinary characteristic, stress is a big element in why child abuse occurs, as once the stress starts accelerating and building up, parents suddenly blame their children for their own problems. According to Childhelp, 10% of children who are abused have single (widower/ widow, unmarried or divorced) parents. As you can see, being a single parent and having to work are hard things to balance at the same time without one out-weighing the other. This can cause extra stress between trying to get your children to and from school whilst trying to hold down a job that has a good enough wage to support the dietary and housing needs of the family. It is also believed that the recession is a big factor of child abuse, as with parents often and rapidly losing their job, the children are suddenly blamed for any extra costs that the parents can't afford. These costs are for things, such as phones, toys or even any types of expensive food or excessive food (Childhelp). The kids are then told how if they didnt exist the parents would be able to keep their heads above water without being in debt. Also that it would be more likely to be able to keep a job if they didn't have to ferry the kids around everywhere. Although the parents don't realise it, their stress also has major effects on their children in many different ways. Parents who find it hard to hold down jobs and that perpetually go out hunting for new ones don't acknowledge that their kids have been left without sufficient care. They dont realise t hat while they are out searching for a new job their children are left alone, without sufficient protection in case they have an accident or without knowledge of what to do in case of an emergency. Child abuse occurs for many reasons all of different sizes, but a major contributor is stress,

although it is one of the most common emotions felt and places the entire animadversion on their children.

Having a step-parent can also be a big contributor to child abuse, due to the fact that the parents are not related to the children they are having to support because of their new marriage/relationship. Evidence provided by Childhelp shows that 40% of children who are abused are those with step parents. This can be caused by external stress on the stepparent and added to that which is created by the biological child of the parent. The stress can come from the fact that the children believe that their biological parents are the only ones that can be right rendering the step-parent unable to live up to these impossibly high standards, and eventually causes an unmanageable amount of stress for the step parent. It has also been proved that step parents have a low incident rate of abusing their own children (if they had any) from their previous marriage(s)/relationship (s), in sharp contrast to those that are not their own (Childhelp).This can happen for many different reasons, but one reason that can have a major effect on this problem is when the new partner left their previous marriage primarily because of the kids. This means that the new step parent may have just come out of a relationship with unwanted kids only to remarry back into another with someone elses kids. It is also proven that children with step parents are 100 times more likely to be murdered as step children as a result of abuse and neglect than those with biological parents (Child Abuse 56). One reason that this happens is because the children are not their own. They believe, therefore, that they can do whatever they want to the kids and wont feel any guilt for their actions. They also scare the kids into thinking that because they are step parents and not biological parents that if they speak out, things will just get worse. Or that theyll cause their parent unhappiness and make the other parent mad by encouraging them to leave their partner. We have established that a major cause of child abuse is having step parents, as once you re-marry a person with children you're automatically responsible for their children. This causes them to feel that the only way to get rid of them is by actually getting rid of them.

Another reason that child abuse occurs is because the parents of the abused child are substance abusers. In the United States 657,000 children under the age of 3 have

parents who are both drug and alcohol abusers, 953,000 children under the age of 3 have parents who are drug abusers and 4,499,000 children under the age of 3 have parents who abuse alcohol (Child Abuse 71). Parents who abuse drugs or alcohol are generally always drunk or high and therefor have no knowledge of what is happening around them. For these reasons when they abuse their children they don't feel any guilt afterwards, as they can't even recall the event. Children with parents who abuse alcohol and/ or drugs are also 2.7 times more likely to be abused and 4.2 percent more likely to be neglected than children whose parents don't (Child Abuse 69). This makes children whose parents abuse drugs 42% more likely to be neglected than those whose parents dont abuse these substances. T hey're also almost 30% more likely to be abused. Also according to Childhelp 1- 2/3 of all children who have been abused have parents who are substance abusers. The fact that the parents are substance abusers makes the likeliness of a child becoming abused a lot more likely as these figures are made without even considering any other problems the family may have or that may occur. What childrens parents that abuse substances dont realise is that the abuse isn't the only thing that has an effect of the children, as 2/3 of children who are abused customarily finish up being drug or alcohol addicts themselves. Also 80% of all adults who were abuse as kids most often finish up having at least one physiological disorder. (Childhelp) This is a major problem as it automatically repeats the cycle without a chance of being able to break it. This will consequently mean that the number of children abused will go up. Substance abusers are usually violent and have uncontrollable tempers, but once this temper amplifies and finds a target the target will bear the brunt of their anger. For these reasons, substance abuse is another of the main reasons why child abuse occurs and is so harsh for the child.

Although it may not sound like one, domestic child abuse in developed countries is actually a serious and ever increasing problem. As soon as any progress is made the figures always increase back to their original levels. It had also been proven that 22 in every 1000 children under one are abused and 63% of all children between 1 and 2 are physically punished (Child Abuse 13 & 113). All in all, 85% of all adolescents living in the US have been physically punished by their parents. I think child abuse may occur because parents often blame their problems on their children, because they feel that they need to be superior or in control and sometimes because they were abused when they were children and so they are

repeating the only behaviour that they know. These are only the roots of the problem though, as no matter how many changes are being made, the numbers still keep increasing. This is why child abuse needs your support by donating to charities that care, such as the NSPCC, UNICEF & Childhelp. Works Cited

Child abuse leads to 3,500 annual deaths in developed nations." Unicef. 8 Sept. 2003. Web. 29 Apr. 2013. <ww.unicef.org/media/media_14661.html>.

<http://www.Child Abuse. 2013. Web. 3 June 2013. <http://kyllerkyle.deviantart.com/art/Child-Abuse-350536978>.

"National Child Abuse Statistics." Childhelp. Childhelp, Web. 6 May 2013. <http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics>.

Langwith, Jacqueline, ed. Child Abuse. Christine Nasso, 2011. Print.