PREVENTING  CHILD  ABUSE : shouldn’t  it  be  our first  priority  ?

We celebrate CHILD SAFETY DAY on 1st June every year. Today, let us see and understand the different forms and causes of child abuse so that we are better equipped to fight this growing evil. 

Child is the precious gift of mankind. Bright future of child is the bright future of family, society, nation and the human race on the whole. Family, society and, nation’s first priority should be to nourishing every child in a healthy atmosphere and they should get all possible and necessary opportunities to enhance their holistic development. They are the future of our country and will give direction to it in the future so the proper grooming and nourishing of children is all the more important. Scientific, moral and spiritual growth of a child all are equally relevant in shaping up a child’s life.

  The growing concern is that Child Abuse is rapidly growing throughout world  and India also does not lag behind. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) defines abuse as a recent act or failure to act that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual harm; involves a child; and is carried out by a parent or caregiver who is responsible for the child’s welfare. CAPTA also includes ‘neglection’ within the definition. No doubt, the centre has made laws restricting child abuse but their implementation is proving to be a Herculean task. This makes it all the more important for states to come forward and take proactive steps to make sure that India becomes devoid of the evil of child abuse which is not only hindering its progress but also maligning its impression worldwide.

Child abuse is a very broad term and encompasses within itself various common evils such as torture in any form – mental or physical as well as compromising with the basic needs of a child. It also includes some seemingly different aspects like foeticide and malnourishment which are as much prevalent in our society .

Risk factors for abuse can be categorised as caregiver, child, and family or environmental factors. There are four main types of child abuse: neglect and emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Medically each is approached differently, but all require that the physician reports suspicions to appropriate authorities and involve other members of the health care community.

 Neglect is the most common (60 percent of cases) form of reported abuse and is the most common cause of death in abused children. It is defined by the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect as failure to provide for a child’s basic physical, emotional, educational, cognitive or medical needs.

Physical neglect involves the failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, hygiene, protection, or supervision. Emotional neglect is the failure to provide love, security, affection, emotional support, or psychological care when needed. Educational or cognitive neglect involves the lack of proper enrolment in school attendance, or failure to meet essential educational needs. Medical neglect is the delay in our refusal to seek medical care, resulting in damage to the child’s well-being.  

 Multidisciplinary approach is required to curb child abuse visa-vis  social ,political and cultural management is necessary to evaluate the reason behind child abuse in the form of child labour, child

trafficking, sexual abuse , mental and emotional torture and by not giving adequate opportunities to grow. Each child abuse is blot on our country’s image. It should be given first priority otherwise it would be an apocalypse for the whole social system . On this child protection day let us take a pledge that everyone of us will do as much as we can for the cause of all children who are victims of child abuse.

REFERENCE:

Asian Journal of Paediatric Practice : volume18   number1