Family background
It is seen that nowadays children’s exposure to the domestic violence is becoming a significant policy issue. Over the last couple of decades, it is seen that the evidence regarding the extent to which the children of Australia are getting exposed to domestic violence and how those incidents affects their lives and becomes obstacles in the path of their overall development (Nathanson, Woolfenden and Zwi 2016). The rights of children as explained in the convention of United Nations, rightly recognizes that the children have the right to stay away from all types of violence at home conditions and Article 91 demonstrates how the individuals should refrain from any sort of violence against children by the social, legislative, educational and judicial measures (Lang and Hartill 2014). This particular report explores a case study where a little girl gets abused sexually and emotionally and remains confined in a small apartment in Australia. The report sheds light on various aspects of these issues trying to find out the effects of these malevolent practices which has become a social ill in the land of Australia.
As per the short film Polly and Me, it can be seen that a little girl who is 7 years old is being raised by a single mother who is nearing 23 or 24 years. It is seen that there is no steady source of income of the family of two and the mother has to take up odd jobs like even prostitution in order to support the family (Daniel et al. 2015). They are currently living in a small shabby apartment and there is no hope of the improvement of their conditions. The main issues that can be raised in such environment are prostitution, drug abuse, neglecting a child, child abuse and domestic violence (Buckley et al. 2014). Looking at the condition of the child, individuals might become sympathetic towards the child, but in most cases the minds would get distracted by fits of anger and loathing towards the mother of the little girl child. The only thing the girl child wants from the world is peace of mind and a joyful life. Her dream of going to a picnic gets shattered by the dark world of her mother (Lang and Hartill 2014). It is seen that the child is utterly neglected by her mom and leads a secluded life within the boundary of a small apartment. A doll is her only friend and sometimes she peeps from a window and sees a small park outside of that window. That is the only connection of the child with the outer world.
Assessment of care and present protection factors
There are some strong arguments regarding the terms used to explain violence experienced by the children. Australia’s National Plan to Reduce Violence against Children clearly states that any types of violence against the children are legally punishable offence and individuals should refrain from such practices. Violence against women (especially children) is becoming a huge issue of Australia and a burning issue day by day. In Australia, children are mostly the victims of domestic violence and it is seen that the children of the broken family gets affected more and gets exposed to these kinds of issues more frequently (Dawe, Taplin, and Mattick 2017). Various authors opined that the effects of the exposure of the children in front of violence might be burdened with methodological problems and urge caution in drawing cause and effect assumptions relating to the exposure. Children’s exposure to domestic violence takes place within constellation of risk and disadvantage (Daniel et al. 2015). The domestic violence brings in other factors of risks too, like family dysfunction, parental substance abuse, poverty and negligence in raising the child. These are the factors which were bluntly seen in the movie Polly and Me.
Understanding the risks and the protective factors of child abuse is important while developing an effective prevention and interventional strategies (Jud, Finkelhor and Fegert 2016). The authorities of Child Protection use various risk assessment instruments to detect whether a child is at any risk of violence or not. The knowledge regarding risks and protective factors those contribute to child abuse and negligence in raising them enables the specialists to attain a holistic view of the family experience and to get engaged with various other services in a multi-service system response (Lang and Hartill 2014).
It is important to keep in mind that when the risk factors might exist in the families where the child abuse and negligence in raising them takes place, it would not be necessary that these factors would lead to child abuse and negligence in raising them (Dawe, Taplin, and Mattick 2017). It should be a clear concept that the risk factors are not the causes of child abuse and the presence of one, or more risk factors not necessarily bring in child abuse in domestic conditions (Nathanson, Woolfenden and Zwi 2016). The protective factors are the conditions that can occur at family, individuals, community or societal level. These protective factors regulate the adversities and in a way promote positive developments of the children (Lang and Hartill 2014). These factors serve as safeguards which can help the guardians to locate the supports and encourage coping tactics that will allow them to do parenting effectively in the oddest situations.
Summary of the situation
Child abuse and negligence involves various acts of commission or omission by the parents or the person who are in charge of parenting (Nathanson, Woolfenden and Zwi 2016). Child abuse can have any form, like sexual abuse, physical abuse or emotional abuse. In this particular context of the case study, it is seen that the little girl is the victim of both emotional and sexual abuse.
Cultural beliefs and values, neighborhood conditions, environment of the family and the core characteristics of the adults of the family are the potential risk factors (Buckley et al. 2014). Various research works have established the fact that there are numerous risk factors and it would be beyond the capability of a single research work to point out and provide detailed explanations of each factor (Jud, Finkelhor and Fegert 2016). However the most common risk factors are family environment and the characteristics of the parents.
To summarize, it can be said that in most cases the literatures regarding child abuse are quantitative and the research works assesses the views of those children in the Australian context (Dawe, Taplin, and Mattick 2017). In most cases the children who are the victims of various types of child abuse in the domestic environment gets deeply affected by the memory of that horrible incidents (Nathanson, Woolfenden and Zwi 2016). If the children are getting victimized by the members of the family, the pains they have to bear are excruciating and on the other hand in most cases the children do not get the justice. If the children receives negligence in parenting, that would definitely affect the development of them and leave them unfit for the outer world (Daniel et al. 2015). It is seen that getting victimized by these factors in a frequent manner can lead a child to lose their mental balance and might restrain him or her from living a regular social life.
In this particular case, in the short film, it is seen that the little girl has no friend apart from the doll she has and her mother does not spend adequate time with her. The life of the little girl thus can be seen as the epitome of the negligence in raising a kid along with the perfect example of a victim of child abuse in Australian context (Hebert et al. 2014). The mother of the little girl is a single mom and she does odd jobs and even takes up prostitution to support the family of the two. The little girl faces various situations at home which are not at all something that a child should witness. The girl sees various friends of her mom who are alcohol and drug abusers (Dawe, Taplin, and Mattick 2017). She witnessed her mother to get beaten up by those strangers and the little girl cries in absolute fear. There is one window in the apartment of the family and that window is the only link between the child and the outer world. The little girls look down the window and sees how other parents spend time with their kids in the park, they play with their children, and on the other hand she has nothing in her life. She has to spend the day alone by playing with her doll (Jud, Finkelhor and Fegert 2016). As the girl does not receive a good parenting from her mother, a motherly instinct is present in her and she treats her doll like her own daughter. There was a horrible day when one of her mother’s clients visited their house and her mother was not home, the man abused the kid sexually in a drunken fit and the world of the child just became topsy-turvy for her (Dawe, Taplin, and Mattick 2017). That can be said as the final blow to the life of the little girl. This incident shook the pillars of the foundation of her life (Nathanson, Woolfenden and Zwi 2016). The child got victimized of this brutal act when she was only 8 years old and the memory of the incident would ruin the coming years of her life. Had it been happened a few years earlier, the memory of that incident would have erased from her mind (Daniel et al. 2015). But as she is eight years old, the horrible experience would haunt her in future.
Thus, to summarize, it can be said that in the national violence survey in Australia it was seen that the children o the age group between 9 to 13 years old were majorly victimized in various sorts of child abuse. Twenty seven percent of these children sin a survey stated that they have experienced various types of abuse in their life, be it from the members of their family or in the hands of strangers in the house (Buckley et al. 2014). This has become a social ill in Australia and these practices needs to be stopped immediately. In this context, the social awareness regarding this issue should be enhanced among the citizens of Australia and they should consider the children as the future of their nation (Dawe, Taplin, and Mattick 2017). It is the duty of the responsible citizens to make the land appropriate so that the future generations can thrive it that condition.
Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be said that, in recent years the issues of child abuse has become a burning issue in Australia and due to this social ill, the future generation of Australia are in danger. For the benefit of the country, the kids should thrive as they are the future of the country and thus all the citizens should ensure that the children are safe. This is quite shameful that in Australia, children in their own houses are not safe and this is something very concerning. The government of Australia already has implemented various rules and regulations regarding this issue and the federal government are doing their best to eradicate these sorts of malpractices. In this context, it can be said that the parents should increase their awareness regarding these issues and they should not trust someone blindly as that can bring in harms to their children. Thus, in short it can be said that along with implementing various laws regarding child abuse, it would be better if the federal government takes up initiatives to raise the social awareness regarding this malicious act.
References
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