Child Sexual Abuse among Vulnerable Children and Families in USA (Research Paper Sample)

SOCIAL POLICY ASSIGNMENT
SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS AND POLICIES
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE (CSA) AMONG VULNERABLE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IN USA
USE OF PARENTAL CARE POLICY PROGRAM
STUDENT NAME:
STUDENT ID:
DATE:
INTRODUCTION
As part of child protection, the US government has worked around and has implemented a child’s act. The act is aimed at protecting children as they are seen to be vulnerable as well as exposed to high risk of harassment. Their innocence can be betrayed by perpetrators whom they trust or even strangers (Baril and Tourigny, 2009). One of the major policy implemented has been the parental care policy. Research and human rights organisations have called for a state attention towards CSA as it is a widespread problem. A lot of children are exposed to the risk of rape before their 13th birthday (DeLisi, 2010). Government agencies have not been able to have proper statistics on the problem as most cases are not reported. With those reported having no legal course of action due to high rates of corruption.
Families in refugee camps as well as those under high poverty level are more vulnerable to abuse. Research has also shown that poor families especially those headed by females are at more risk (DeLisi, 2010). However, due to capitalism and development of US towards global image and integration, the topic has remained under studied. Therefore, resulting to scanty information on the topic. Most people have also not been able to understand the concept as it has been related to rape cases only from strangers. The truth be told, there are a lot of unreported cases of abuse from people the children trust (Dube et.al, 2005). A lot of favour exchanges with own body have been happening. According to WHO the exchanges of favours with child abuse is part of CSA which has not been covered much in literature. According to the centre of disease control, CSA includes “any completed or attempted (non-completed) sexual act, sexual contact with, or exploitation (i.e., noncontact sexual interaction) of a child by a caregiver”. Therefore, CSA is wider than anybody would think, since most literature and government reports have been on complete sexual abuse. In addition, most analysis has been on abuse to girl (Fergusson et.al, 2008). The reality is that girls, boys, people with disability, and women are exposed to CSA. This has led to initiation of the parental care policy which has home base, community, and family based intervention. The current analysis will thus look at CSA from a broader picture and assess policies like PCP that have been put n place to deal with the problem.
Development of parental care policy (PCP)
Sexual abuse has a long history especially among the African-American who have widely been discriminated on bases of race. Dating back from history to date, the issues has remained in the woods with those talking about it whispering to themselves. In some parts, it is completely not talked about as it brings shame to the family. Although most people do not want to speak about the topic, a lot of children are suffering with the pain, guilt, and denial. Some are betrayed by their own care givers. In most cases, it has been reported to lead to long-term defect of depression, and suicide (CDC, 2011). The PCP was thus introduced to deal with this defects. In US it traces backs to the 19th century.
Most research conducted, about 46% of the black women had encounters abuse while they were children. They were not able to deal with the issue until adulthood. It has been reported that 1 in 4 girls, and 1 in 6 boys are abused before they reach 18 years. In addition, black children are more vulnerable with 60% of the girls being abused before they reach 18 years. In the past, boy’s cases have not been reported as people thought they are not abused. However, the truth is that 22% of boys are abused before they are 18 years (Hébert, 2011). The figures have actually reduced from the colonial periods where almost 90% of black girls were exposed to abuse, 78% of disabled were exposed, and 70% of boys were abused.
In the 19th century to 20th, and 21st century, the figures have reduced by 50% due to government interventions mainly directed using the PCP. The developments have widely been favoured by exposure to education. This is because most people are becoming aware of the importance of protecting children against abuse (Polucci et.al, 2001). They are also becoming more aware of the importance of reporting abuse cases. The judicial system has also played a big role into the developments as people can receive justice in the current years which was not possible in the past. There has also been great developments with respect to racial discrimination, and support for people living with disability. In the past this groups were not recognised which made harassment high and unspoken. In the recent years, their voices have been heard which has helped trim the number of cases. In the recent, there has also been a lot of attention to neighbourhood development program under PCP. The programs are meant to solidify the groups, most especially the vulnerable groups to reduce the level of exposure (Putnam, 2003).
However, the issues is still a big problem though has reduce over the years. According to the US child protection act, no child should be exposed to harassment of any nature. This objective has not been achieved as the cases of CSA still remain relatively high. More vigilance need be employed with respect to the issue.
Assessment of PCP as a social welfare policy
Child sexual abuse has remained a social problem since the colonial period. It was exaggerated during the 1st and 2nd world war. During the great depression crises, the issue became widespread reaching all parts. CSA is a social problem since it affect groups of people, and more so the vulnerable groups including racial groups where African-American are more exposed. It also affects women, and people living with disability (Wolfe, 2007). The problem, well attended can be solved through reforms. One of the reform has been the PCP. Most vulnerable groups are used to the problem of exposure, and the low quality of life has become an everyday undertaking. Therefore, PCP has been defied as a policy that makes use of home, individual, community, and hospital based interventions to ensure child protection.
The problem has been caused by a wide range of factors. First due to vulnerability of the groups, their risk increases. For instance, the disabled are good targets for the perpetrators as they would not pass the information on the assault. The mentally disabled have been more exposed due to their condition. Another major cause of the abuse lies on the discriminative system of justice. Racial discrimination is real in US, with African-American being widely discriminated. This has led to high exposure of this group. Poverty is another factors that causes CSA (WHO, 2010). The poor groups in the society are more exposed as they use their bodies to gain favours of employment, to access food, and other basic needs. Research has shown that poverty limits exposure. In addition, this groups receive little or no education. Lack of education limits the knowhow of an individual who may be assaulted without knowledge of how they should progress with the issue. Human activists have also reported that cultural relations have been a great contributor of CSA. The vulnerable communities mainly the poor have failed to expose the CSA cases relating to close family members. Thus PCP cuts across this vulnerable groups focusing on reducing the causal factors.
The history of PCP dates back to the 19th century and there has been a lot of developments. CSA has affected a lot of groups and mainly the vulnerable groups. There has been a decline in the assault but little decline has occurred. There is therefore a need for more development in the future.
PCP has had great impacts, mainly positive impacts. The policy has short-term effects and long-term effects. The short-term effects to the policy include; clearing of confusion through counselling which improves sexual satisfaction among adolescent, reduces risk of re-victimisation, reduces feel of gilt, eliminate shock, fear, anxiety, denial, confusion, grief, and exclusion from people (Baril and Tourigny, 2009). People are helped to overcome later adverse effects of the harassment including; concentration issues, flashbacks, nightmares, and distress whenever they remember of the abuse. They are also helped to overcome adulthood issues including; poor health including; occupational disability, chronic diseases, and poor perception of physical health, psychological problems including; anxiety, low sexual satisfaction, dissociation, and mental health problems. In addition, they are helped to overcome extend problems like parental stress, relationship conflicts, and lack of trust (DeLisi, 2010).
Looking at the impacts, the history and the policy itself, we can be able to segment the groups that are heavily affected by the issues and thus in dire need of the policy intervention. The level of exposure is determined by the level of vulnerability. The vulnerable groups have received high level of discrimination and thus realisation and voicing of their issues becomes a problem. The vulnerable groups with respect to CSA include; racial groups where the African-American have been more vulnerable to abuse. The other group includes the social groups where girls and women have been more exposed. In addition, people living with disability have been assaulted. Also, older people whose mobility and fight against the perpetrators become a difficult task have been abused. The other group has been the dependent ...