Abuse Against Children

Abstract 

     According to www.wvcan.org, “more than 800,000 children are confirmed as victims of abuse or neglect each year in the U.S.” Perpetrators of child abuse are generally family members, friends, or acquaintances such as family teachers. Many children do not speak of their abuse until adulthood if at all for many reasons including fear, the belief that it is normal, and shame. Sexual as well as physical abuse can destroy a child’s life more than anyone can really understand. The abuse generally leads to fear, self-blame, poor self-esteem, anger, and mental health issues. In some cases, the abuse can lead to the children growing up to become abusers. Many children are sexually abused each day and of those children only one in ten will report their abuse. 

Homework #3

     While the rate of sexual abuse against children should be nonexistent, many children are in fact sexually abused almost each day. The abuse can devastate their lives by causing them anger, self-hatred, loneliness, depression, and low self-esteem. In some cases, victims of abuse may even become abusers as a result of their abuse. Many victims of child abuse do not report their abuse until they become adults, if they report it at all. Even though there are many people working together to assist children who have been sexually abused as well as people trying to prevent it, there may never be enough to prevent the horrific crime or from helping its victims overcome it.

My Reaction to the Statistics 

     Each year, over 800,000 children are abused in the United States. Of those 800,000, one in four West Virginia girls and one in six West Virginia boys are sexually abused by the age of 18, but only one in ten will report their abuse. After watching the “One with Courage” video I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. I knew that a large portion of children were taken advantage of, but I never realized how many there truly were. I believe sexual abuse against a child is one of, if not the most, horrendous crimes possible. It sickened me to hear that so many children are sexually abused and that because they do not report their abuse, so little get the help that they need.

Why Not Report It?

 Most children do not report their abuse for many reasons including fear, shame and their belief that the abuse is normal. Abusers typically instill in their victim’s mind that if they report the sexual abuse terrible things will happen to them which leads to fear. The abusers may also tell their victims that what is happening to them is normal so that they begin to think that what’s happening is acceptable. When children are sexually abused they may try to understand why the abuse happening to them, if they deserve it, or why no one is stopping the abuse, among other things. The sexual abuse can lead to shame, because children believe there is something wrong with them for having to go through this act, they believe they’re dirty, or that the abuse is their fault. As a result of each of these things, or even all, children typically do not report their abuse.

Assistance and Prevention

In regards to assistance and prevention I believe that there aren't an adequate amount of people helping, because if there were, every child would report their abuse and there would be close to no abuse occurring. I know that it is practically impossible to prevent the abuse, but I do believe that there are ways to enhance the assistance and prevention programs. There should be centers in each county of each state to assist children that have been abused. Also, there should be counselors or speakers that visit each school in order to educate the children about the facts or to let them know that there are people that they can confide in.

Conclusion

I deem that sexual abuse against children to be the worst crime committable. Though this is my belief, the number of sexually abused children each year is overwhelming. Many children who are abused do not report their abuse because of fear, shame, and the being told that the abuse is normal. In order to assist children who have been sexually abused and to prevent the crime from happening there are steps we can take and the first is educating the world about this.

  References

Humphrey, J. A., & Schmalleger, F. (2011). Deviant behavior. (2nd ed. ed.). Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning. 
West Virginia Child Advocacy Network. (2009) About child abuse. WVCAN. June 7, 2013, from http://www.wvcan.org/abuseinfo