Blog 5

While reading chapter 7 in the book, the section about Child maltreatment stood out to me most. Reading the first paragraph about the abuse to a 7 year old boy named Max made me sick to my stomach. How can anyone treat a child, let alone their flesh and blood that way? Unfortunately, child abuse and maltreatment happens everyday and seems to be increasing. I've always used or heard the terms child abuse and neglect, but never heard the term "Child Maltreatment" until reading this chapter. Child maltreatment comes in many forms: Physical Abuse, involving assault that leads to injuries including cuts, welts, bruises, and s broken bones. Sexual abuse, involving fondling, intercourse, or other sexual behaviors. Psychological abuse, involving ridicule, rejection, or humiliation. Neglect, in which children do not receive adequate food, clothing or medical care. The disturbing fact is that the frequency of child maltreatment is difficult to estimate because so many cases go unreported. According to the US Department of Health and Human Service (2008), approximately 1 million children annually suffer from maltreatment or neglect. About 60% are neglected, 15% are abused physically, 10% are abused sexually, and 10% are maltreated psychologically. Being a mother, these statistics are heart breaking to me. It's sad that the rate of child maltreatment is so high in the US especially since in many countries in Europe and Asia, have strong cultural prohibitions against physical punishment. In Sweden spanking is against the law. Therefore, countries that do not condone physical punishment tend to have lower rates of child maltreatment than the United States. (U.S. Department of State 2002) I found it interesting to learn that poverty is a social condition that seems to foster maltreatment. I feel like it's always been a stereotype that if you are poor you probably aren't that great of a parent or abuse your child but for different reasons than expected. When parents worry about whether they can buy groceries or pay rent, they are more likely to punish their children physically instead of making the extra effort to reason with them. Another particularly interesting thing I learned from reading this chapter was ego resilience. It denotes children's ability to respond adaptively and resourcefully to new situations and serves and as a protective factor. If I had unlimited funds and time, I would definitely put it towards Child Protective Services. I see too many stories on the news about CPS involved cases where the child ends up getting badly injured or dies. I feel like there should be more investigation and follow up with each case, and more consequences and treatment for the parents involved.