Beth Allen (Edison) child abuse/neglect

Children are our future. We must work together to protect them and make sure they grow up to be stable, mature & functioning adults.

When children are abused and/or neglected, they are denied of their childhood. They’re forced to deal with situations they shouldn’t have to be thinking about at such a young age. They can develop life long issues due to abuse and/or their parent’s failure to provide them with the appropriate care. These children grow up to lead destructive, unhealthy and dangerous lifestyles. According to <childhelp.org> “Children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime.” Also, “Eighty percent of young adults who had been abused met the diagnostic criteria for at least 1 psychiatric disorder at the age of 21 (including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, & post-traumatic stress disorder).”

Parents that neglect or abuse their children make a conscience decision to ignore their child’s needs. They simply allow their child to suffer and sometimes even go out of their way to hurt the child. It is very sad when there is any case of abuse or neglect because the child is innocent and did not ask for it. Their parents chose to have a child, as well as chose to not take care of them in a proper way. These parents are selfish and do not realize that it does not only affect them, but the child, the state, and the foster family the state finds for the child.

Child abuse and neglect are senseless crimes and are 100% preventable. I believe people that neglect or abuse their children should be punished to the full extent of the law (longer sentences and higher bails). I also think that it should be harder for them to get their child back. The law should do more to make sure that the parents have changed, and are without a doubt fit to be a good parent. There should also be more money put into public health so that no child will ever get turned away. As well as there needs to be more shelters open to struggling families. Also, all school employees, coaches and child care workers should be trained more thoroughly to look for signs of neglect and abuse. People need to come together to look out for the children that live in their community, and make sure that they have a normal, healthy childhood.

This entry was posted on 3. March 2010 at 23:29 and is filed under Social Problems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.