Child Maltreatment

Brandi Webb
10/7/16
Marci Flocken
The brutal murder of Victoria Martens, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is
only one of far too many cases of child abuse, in the United States, every
year. This child had unspeakable things happen to her, by her mother,
father, and another family member on the day she was supposed to be
celebrating her 10th birthday. Events like this should make us all take a step
back and look at the bigger picture of child abuse and neglect, here in our
own country, and in the world. 1,640 children died in the United States in
2012 from abuse and neglect. 686,000 children were found to be victims of
maltreatment by child protective services in 2012. (CDC article,1)
The CDC states Child maltreatment includes all types of abuse and
neglect of a child under the age of 18 by a parent, caregiver, or another
person in a custodial role (e.g., clergy, coach, teacher). (CDC article,1)
Based on the article Understanding Child Maltreatment, there are four
defined types of child maltreatment. Physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual
abuse, and neglect. Often children are abused in more than one way, or
abused and also neglected.

When analyzing child abuse we must ask ourselves what causes child
abuse in the first place. There are the obvious cases, like the one stated
above, where drugs or mental health issues clearly play a role in the abuse
the child suffered. The parents, in my opinion, cannot have had a clear mind,
and who are able to carry out such heinous acts on their own child. There is
no clear cut cause for every child abuse or neglect case, but there are
some populations of children who are more at risk for being abused and/or
neglected, such as children from low-income families, and those whose
parents were abused, or those whose parents suffer alcohol or drug
addiction. According to the chapter 5 powerpoint, some major contributing
factors to child abuse are: Unemployment, substance abuse, lack of safe
places for children to play, lack of good day care facilities, lack of education,
and teenage pregnancy.
The effects of abuse, on the child are vast, and there is no way to
cover all of them in written form. The damage can take on many forms,
physical and emotional. Some of the direct health consequences to the child,
as listed in the Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect
factsheet, are Physical head trauma, impaired brain development, poor
physical health, poor mental and emotional health, cognitive difficulties, and
social difficulties.(Long term consequences factsheet,4). Abused children
can suffer traumatic injury, or even trauma from sexual abuse, that may
result in death. A neglected child can have failure to thrive, or just be too
malnourished to survive childhood. The effects on a child are not always

seen on the outside, there are long term consequences psychologically and
emotionally as well.
The immediate emotional effects of abuse and neglectisolation,
fear, and an inability to trustcan translate into lifelong psychological
consequences, including low self-esteem, depression, and relationship
difficulties. (factsheet,4) These children often experience trauma related
conditions such as PTSD, Anxiety disorders, Depression, and attachment
problems, resulting in risky behaviors, and sometimes drug and alcohol
abuse. With many abused children, they grow to become the abuser of their
own children, or other children, creating a cycle of abuse, being passed down
from generation to generation.
The issue of child maltreatment does not only affect the child being
abused or neglected, but our society as a whole. The costs to the community
are staggering. The lifetime cost of child maltreatment and related fatalities
in 1 year totals $124 billion, according to a study funded by the CDC.
(factsheet,6) The costs of child abuse are more than the other two leading
health concerns combined. There are high price tags for treatment of child
abuse victims, programs to house abused and neglected children, and
programs attempting to prevent abuse. On the other hand, programs that
prevent maltreatment have shown to be cost effective. The U.S. Triple P
System Trial, funded by the CDC, has a benefit/cost ratio of $47 in benefits to
society for every $1 in program costs (Mercy, Saul, Turner, & McCarthy,
2011). (factsheet,6).

I believe that the programs in effect now are effective in educating

parents and caregivers to prevent abuse. Being a parent is difficult, and it
doesnt come with an instruction manual. If parents suffer from mental
health issues, or meet any of the factors listed earlier in this writing, they
may become a statistic of abusive parent. As a community we can bring the
child abuse numbers down. The data shows that fewer numbers of abuse are
being reported today than in previous times. People like their privacy, and
maybe we are too afraid to pry into the lives of others, but we need to be
more vigilant in reporting suspected abuse.
As a medical professional, I have a legal obligation to report abuse. In
past experiences of mine, sometimes abuse has been very obvious, and
other times it was suspected and was more difficult to prove. I always knew
it was not up to myself to prove the abuse, but I needed to report it. I had
cases where children were saved from their abuse, and others where I was
completely wrong, and the children were not abused. It was worth going
through the times where I was wrong, so save the precious lives of those
children who didnt have to go back to an abusive home. We can all do
something, whether it be speaking up about a childs unusual bruises, or
even teaching our own children to speak up if something feels off to them.
One major thing we can all do, is reach out to those parents who may be
struggling. Maybe with the proper resources, that parent may never abuse or
neglect their child in the first place.