CHILD ABUSE

Child abuse is the deliberate and willful injury of a child. It is the intentional use of physical force or intentional omission of care by a parent or  caretaker that causes a child to be hurt, maimed, or  killed. It involves active, hostile, aggressive treatment and  is  a life-threatening violence. Abuse of children is more common than most people realize. Most people  are not aware of the fact that   deliberately hitting a child is considered a felony.   Children have been beaten and abandoned for centuries, based primarily on the belief that they are the property of their parents. Types of  abuse include physical, emotional, and sexual. It is caused mainly by parents  who were maltreated as children themselves. Causes  also include stress, poverty, and unemployment.  In some cases children are   mistreated when parents or caretakers have maladaptive  responses to stressful situations or feel powerless.  Other times it is the result of family problems over  which the abuser has no control. A high percentage of abusing parents feel that they  are legitimately exercising their   parental right.  They take the  idea of   discipline to a brutal degree. There is a higher percentage rate of mistreatment in families with mixed  religion marriages.  The kind of abuse varies depending on the age of the  victim. Infant and pre-school children are more  likely to suffer fractures, burns and bruises. School aged or teen females are  suffering from sexual molestation. Hence, child abuse includes unreasonable  physical violence, verbal abuse, failure to provide  proper shelter, foodstuffs, medical treatment,  emotional support or sexual molestation.  It is our sincere duty to stop child abuse.