Child Abuse

Child abuse is the controlled acts that result in the physical or emotional damage of children. The term child abuse covers different ranges of behavior, from physical assault by parents or gaurdians to neglecting a child. Child abuse is wrong and God didn't create children for adults to abuse. (Kelly, Kaufman, 5) They are blessings, not burdens. There is child abuse in the world because of ignorant people who want to feel powerful, so they beat on little kids and these kids think that violence against children is okay because their parents did it to them. They learn the wrong ways to parent a child, and this has to stop. It's destroying our country.

There are four main types of abuse: physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect. Neglect is the most popular type of abuse. There are two types of neglect: pysical and emotional. With physical neglect, a parent fails to provide physical things, like food, medical care and shelter. Emotional neglect is when a parent fails to comfort the child or not pay attention to them. (Kelly, Kaufman, 5) This includes being unaffectionate to them or allowing them to use alcohol or drugs. Physical abuse is intentional acts of violence that can injure or even kill children. Signs of physical abuse may include unexplained bruises, burn marks or broken bones. Sexual abuse is when adults use children for sexual satisfaction or force them into sexual activities. It may begin with kissing and/or fondling and progress to more indulging acts, like oral sex or intercourse. Emotional abuse is when an adult destroys a child's self-esteem. You can do this by repeated verbal abuse in the forms of shouts, threats, humiliating or degrading criticism. Other types of emotional abuse are confinement, like shutting children in a dark closet or basement, and what is called social isolation. Social isolation is like when an adult denies the child to have friends. (Kelly, Kaufman, 5)

In 1997, 3 million children in the U.S. were reported as abused or neglected according to the National Center of Child Abuse and Neglect. There is another 1 million children whose cases go unreported. If convicted of child abuse, the abusers could spend up to one month in jail. Not prison, jail. If these people do not go to prison, they should at least spend more than one month in jail. These people are disturbed if they beat on innocent children. (Kelly, Kaufman, 5) Its a fact that 2,000 children under the age of 18 are killed by parents or their caregivers and more kids under the age of four die from abuse than falling down, drowning, fires, choking on food or car accidents. 18,000 abused children do not die from the abuse, they suffer permanent disibilites. When the public sees child abuse cases being reported in the news, they assume the abusers are mentally ill but fewer than ten percent of these people have mental disorders which is very sad. (Southall, Samuels, Bridson, 1-3) These people supposedly love their children, ...