Child Abuse Case Study

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Child abuse is any act committed that puts a child in physical danger, emotional harm, or sexual exploitation while in the care of his parents or caregiver. Africans Unite against Child Abuse (AFRUCA, ND) defines child abuse as forms of cruelty done to a child that causes long term pain and suffering to the child. Child abuse is known to be committed by people known to the child, children are mostly abused by parents, family friends, or care givers, Haggai and Mang (N.D) affirmed that child abuse is often committed by relations of the extended family than the biological parents. Child abuse is a global issue that needs adapt attention because the consequences are undeniably negative, Uzodimma, Ogundeyi, Dedeke, and Owolabi (2013) stated that
According to National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) inform (2009) there are four basic types of child abuse; neglect, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. These forms of child abuse are growing every year. The major form of child abuse committed is neglect, according to Child Protective Services (2011) neglect comes in various forms that distort the developmental process of a child, it could be emotional neglect, physical neglect in terms of abandonment, medical neglect in terms of denying the child of adequate medical treatment. Children are abused on various reasons provided by (AFRUCA, ND) such as cultural practices; using excuses like “spare the rod, spoil the child”, poverty; some families use their children to acquire money by involvement in child labor or sexual exploitation, and sometimes children are abused out of wickedness; the abusers derive joy and satisfaction. Children involved in child abuse rarely speak up because some are unaware that they are being abused, they may feel no body will believe them or they are to be blamed for the
A child can be sexually assaulted by a family member, friends of family or neighbors, Ernest-Onuiri, Bolaji and Jegede (2017) stated that most child abuse offenders are known to the child. Day, Hibbert, and Cadman (2008) averred that it is hard to identify sexual abuse because of the effect it has on the victims’ willingness to disclose the crime. Children develop fear to talk to a trusted person when they have experienced sexual abuse because they fear they will not be believed especially when the abuser is a known person. The inability of these children to speak up when sexually violated has allowed a lot of abusers walk free from justice. Child sexual abuse is an underreported crime, Child Sexual Abuse abbreviated to CSA is a sensitive crime that is done secretly and quietly, children involved in this crime do not report it because of the fear the perpetrator instills in them, the perpetrator blaming the child for what has happened and the fear of what people will think of them. Child sexual abuse is an issue that no one likes to talk about but still thrives, it includes sexual acts between an adult and a minor, two minors, exposure to pornography, forcing a child to engage in sexual acts, and any form of sexual exploitation or molestation. Statistics from World Health Organization