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Child Abuse and Neglect
Juvenile Courts vs. Criminal Courts: Tackling Child Abuse Cases In criminal proceedings, the accused abuser is on the stand, and the focus is on whether he/she is guilty or not. Advantages of these proceedings include the authority to compel a witness to take the stand in the courtroom and provide testimony, which is helpful in cases where the witness is not testifying.
The Juvenile Court is a sub-division of the Superior court, which handles cases of child abuse and neglect under its Child Dependency department. The Juvenile Court often intervenes to protect children where there have allegations made of abuse and neglect upon the family. It can not only remove children from their homes and place them in foster care but also can terminate parental rights and create new ones. Government agencies and social services are usually involved if a child is removed from his/her home, which are then responsible for the child until he/she is placed in the care of suitable relatives or with foster family, which are by law required to be monitored regularly as per The Federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of (Public Law, 96-272).
The rulings of the Juvenile Courts may seem pretty extreme in their ruling, as it may result in the separation of the family, which in itself can have a strong effect on the child. The effect can be doubled in the scenario if the Foster family is not a reliable one, which can provide a good home for the child. In a criminal court proceeding, while the effect of the court proceedings can be quite hard for…
Victims turn to then blame themselves for their situation as well as for breaking up their families. They tend to develop a sense of unwanted-ness if they are transferred from foster home to foster home over the years. There is an element of helplessness in the personality of such a child as he/she doesn't have a say in where they will go next and are unsure whether to build relations with the new family or not, as they don't know how long they would remain with them. Children are often taught that home is a safe place. If a child is abused and neglected at home, they do not have a sense of security anywhere they go. This can create problems for the child not in adapting in a foster home but also with the rest of the adult world.
These cases then can even result in these victims resorting to alcohol, sleeping a lot and trying not thinking about their problems. According to a government funded study, victims of childhood abuse are more likely to grow up into committing sex crimes such as prostitution or becoming juvenile runaways (Widsom, 1995).
Megan's Law
The second includes verbal and emotional assaults including persistent patterns of belittling, denigrating, scapegoating, and other nonphysical, but clearly hostile or rejecting behaviors, such as repeated threats of beatings, sexual assault, and abandonment. The third, residual, category includes other forms of emotional abuse such as attempted sexual or physical assaults; throwing something at a child but missing; withholding shelter, sleep, or other necessities as punishment, and economic exploitation (p.11). According
The victim is often put into situations where they are physically deprived of the things they need to make appropriate decisions. For instance they may be deprived of sleep or food so that they can be more easily manipulated. Mental abuse may also involve teasing or name calling. In many cases the perpetrator is very aware of the victim's weaknesses and uses them to humiliate or subjugate the victim. Sexual
Child Abuse in Literature Child Maltreatment Child maltreatment entails all types of neglect and abuse of a child below eighteen years by caregivers, parents or any other person (Crosson-Tower, 2006). Child abuse encompasses all forms of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect or child exploitation that causes potential or actual harm to a child's well-being, dignity and development (Smith & Fong, 2004). According to Scannapieco & Connell-Carrick (2005), child maltreatment is
Child Abuse "Although it is extremely important when interviewing children about alleged abuse to determine whether the abuse was single or repeated… we have little information about how children judge the frequency of events… [and] overall children were very accurate at judging the frequency of a single event, but much less so for repeated events." (Sharman, et al., 2011). Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) reports that in the year 2010
Child abuse can be referred to as a physical, sexual or an emotional state of harm that is inflicted upon the child. There are various types and forms that can be undertaken by the abuser which may involve hitting, shaking, beating, burning or even biting the child in the physical form, Sexual forms of child abuse may involve incest, molestation, touching and exposing the child to sexual acts that may
Child and Elder Abuse Child Abuse The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) publishes a website called healthychildren.org. -- and the section called "What do I need to know about child abuse?" provides excellent information on the particulars of child abuse. The Healthy Children site points out that child abuse "…is common," and hence, with all the reports on television and in the newspapers about children being mistreated, it should cause parents, guardians,