Child Abuse as a Social Problem
1. Child abuse has emerged as one of the major social or societal problems that the world is facing currently and it is seen that this is adversely affecting the emotional, mental as well as the physical growth of the children (Diaz & Petersen, 2014). As per the Childhelp (2018), every year more than 3 million children are being subjected to various kinds of physical as well as mental abuse which inadvertently scar them for life. In addition to this, as per the report of National Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) (2018), more than 60% of the children of Singapore are the victims of one form or abuse or the other with 873 cases of death related to the evil of child abuse. Kinniburgh et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint that the evil of child abuse has various facets and can arise because of the abuse that the children face at their home or at school or from their friends. As opined by Cook et al. (2017), this can have serious repercussions for the children and often ends up stunting their mental, emotional as well as physical growth. In addition to this, in some of the serious cases it is seen that these children often become withdrawn and develop a phobia wherein they feel uncomfortable interacting with people (Albert, 2017). More importantly, it is seen that the problem of child abuse also affects the academic performance of the children as well (Landsverk, 2017).
The National Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) of Singapore in order to mitigate the adverse effects of the problem of child abuse has formulated various policies and at the same time regulations have been made stringent for dealing with such instances (Lai, 2018). Furthermore, special committees have been formed by the national government for addressing the cases related to child abuse (Tan, 2018). As opined by Pecora et al. (2017) one of the most important policies adopted by the national government of Singapore is to promote the concept of foster parenting to not only ensure the safety of the children who are the victims of child abuse but also to safeguard them from similar future instances. As per the statistics of MSF, presently there are more than 370 individuals who have registered themselves with this scheme of the MSF (Tan, 2018). More importantly, by the next year, the MSF intends to increase the number of foster parents to more than 500 so as to offer the required kind of help to the children suffering from child abuse (Goy, 2018). More importantly, before offering a child to a particular foster parent the MSF conducts a thorough background into the past history of the candidate (Pecora et al., 2017). Furthermore, in the majority of the cases, the compatibility of the child with the intended foster parent is also checked. In addition to this, the MSF normally allocates a child to the kind of families wherein there are already other kids or children so as to offer a congenial home environment to the children where they bond with the foster family in a much effective manner (Crandall, Deater-Deckard & Riley, 2015).
Policies and Regulations for Addressing Child Abuse in Singapore
A study conducted by Centre for Promoting Alternatives to Violence (Pave) (2018) revealed the fact that the victims of child abuse despite not undergoing the process of actual physical abuse showed signs of trauma (Tan, 2018). In this regard, Ms Monica Zhang, one of the social workers related to the organisation had to say that “A car accident is a one-off event but violence at home could be chronic and children could experience even higher traumatic stress symptoms” (Lai, 2018). As opined by Berrick et al. (2015), the primary motive of the foster parenting policy adopted by the MSF is to offer the kind of home and family environment to the victims of these cases of abuse which will enable the child to overcome these symptoms of abuse. In addition to this, in the majority of the cases it is seen that a congenial family environment wherein a child feels loved as well as cared for can actually facilitate the emotional, mental, physical, academic and other kinds of growth of the concerned child (McCann & Pearlman, 2015). This is one of the primary reasons for the MSF and the social service organisations related to it like the Big Love, Fei Yue Family Service Centre and others try to allocate the victims of child abuse to the kind of families wherein a congenial family environment exists (Goy, 2018).
A study conducted by the MSF on the victims of 1,750 child abuse cases revealed the fact that the majority of the children who were the victims of incidents of child abuse had various things in common (Lai, 2018). For example, in the majority of these cases, it was seen that there were “unemployed mothers or a low household income” (Tan, 2018). An interesting point in this regard was made by Dr Chu, a member of the MSF who said that “These could be the points at which to intervene more effectively” (Lai, 2018). The net result of this is the fact that currently the MSF is focusing not only on the fostering parenting issue but also on the resolution or the mitigation of these factors of unemployment and others which are a common denominator in the majority of the child abuse cases (Kisiel et al., 2014). More importantly, on the basis of the findings of these reports, the national government in collaboration with the MSF has came up with various kinds of employment schemes for women with child, social services and others so as to equip them with the necessary kind of tools with which they can look after their children in a much more effective manner (Ehrensaft et al., 2015).
Promotion of Foster Parenting to Mitigate Child Abuse
The policy under discussion here formulated by the MSF in close association with the national government of Singapore also offers various kinds of help as well as counseling services to the parents and also the children (Berrick et al., 2015). For example, as per the association one of the major causes of trauma that the children face can be attributed to the factor of neglect on the part of the parents (McCann & Pearlman, 2015). In this regard, an analysis of the majority of the cases of child abuse reveals the fact that in the majority of the cases of child abuse the basic needs or the requirements of the child, be it emotional, social, physical or other kinds of needs, were not fulfilled in an adequate manner. The various social service organizations of Singapore like Big Love, Fei Yue Family Service Centre and others thus offer the necessary kind of advice as well as counselling to these parents wherein they educate the parents about the importance of the fulfilment of these needs (Lai, 2018). More importantly, they suggest the parents of the children regarding the manner in which they can attend to these basic psychosocial needs of their children in an effective manner. The common of Ms Wee, a member of MSF is important to note in this regard, “Most of the parents we see stop the abuse when we intervene, as many have no intention to hurt their child” (Goy, 2018). Thus, it can be said that the cumulative effort of the national government of Singapore, MSF and the other social service organisations of the nation has contributed in a substantial manner to address the evil of child abuse in a substantial manner.
2. Cook et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint that the various emerging within the cannon of the interventions given for the resolution of the cases related to child abuse has contributed in a substantial manner to improve the quality of solution offered to the victims of child abuse. As opined by Pecora et al. (2017), one of the most important emerging trends which is being utilised by the MSF for offering better quality of relief services to the victims of child abuse is the advancements in the fields of counselling and psychology. It is pertinent to note that because of the advancements in these two fields better quality counselling sessions as well as psychiatric treatments are being offered to the children which help them to overcome the trauma of the abuse (Diaz & Petersen, 2014). Furthermore, these facilities at the same time help the children to physical, emotional and other kinds of problems caused by these instances of abuse and focus in an effective manner on their academic and other kinds of growth.
Factors Commonly Associated with Child Abuse
The improvement of the system of foster parenting has also helped the victims of child abuse in a substantial manner. For example, in the earlier times, it was seen that the children were allocated to the families on the basis of the social as well as the economic standing of the concerned family. However, currently it is seen that the MSF and the other social service organisations also try to check the compatibility as well as the family environment of the foster family which is willing to adopt the child (Kinniburgh et al., 2017). This measure is being adopted to ensure the fact that the child would be able to cope up with the foster in an effective manner and also the basic psychosocial needs of the child would be fulfilled in the best possible. For this the child is allowed to stay for a month or two with the foster and after that on the basis of the feedback or the suggestion provided by the child the decision to whether to allocate the foster family the child or not is untaken by the authorities (Landsverk, 2017). Albert (2017) is of the opinion that the use of this system has improved the kind of families that the children are getting in an effective manner.
As opined by Crandall, Deater-Deckard and Riley (2015), one of the most important emerging trends within the framework of the actions undertaken by the governmental authorities and also by the private service providers is their initiative to find the root cause of the problem of child abuse and thereby address it. In this regard, the initiatives of the governmental authorities to offer employment opportunities to the families with inadequate economic means, offering counselling and help services to the families and others are important ones to note (McCann & Pearlman, 2015). The help offered by these authorities not only help the families to stop the evil of child abuse in its initial stages itself but at the same time help them to save the child from undergoing the subsequent trauma and suffering.
Another important emerging which is seen within the cannon of the actions undertaken by the authorities is the fact that the perspectives of the children are also taken into effective consideration in the recent times (Cook et al., 2017). For example, in the earlier times, it was seen that the authorities in the reported instances used to simply separate the child from their family without analysing the factors which lead to such instances (Kinniburgh et al., 2017). However, presently it is seen that the different cases of abuse like physical abuse, emotional abuse and others are dealt in different manner (McCann & Pearlman, 2015). This, as a matter of fact, has enabled the children to overcome the separation anxiety that most of them inadvertently used to face after each of the instances of separation from their own family or the foster families (Crandall, Deater-Deckard & Riley, 2015). Thus, it can be said that the net result of these emerging trends is the fact that they have not only improved the quality of relief services that are being offered to the children but at the same time they have helped the authorities to address the issue of child abuse in a much effective manner as well.
References
Albert, V. (2017). From child abuse to permanency planning: Child welfare services pathways and placements. Routledge.
Berrick, J. D., Peckover, S., Pösö, T., & Skivenes, M. (2015). The formalized framework for decision-making in child protection care orders: A cross-country analysis. Journal of European Social Policy, 25(4), 366-378.
Childhelp.org (2018). Child Abuse Statistics. [online]. Retrieved from https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse-statistics/
Cook, A., Spinazzola, J., Ford, J., Lanktree, C., Blaustein, M., Cloitre, M., … & Mallah, K. (2017). Complex trauma in children and adolescents. Psychiatric annals, 35(5), 390-398.
Crandall, A., Deater-Deckard, K., & Riley, A. W. (2015). Maternal emotion and cognitive control capacities and parenting: A conceptual framework. Developmental review, 36, 105-126.
Diaz, A., & Petersen, A. C. (2014). Institute of Medicine report: new directions in child abuse and neglect research. JAMA pediatrics, 168(2), 101-102.
Ehrensaft, M. K., Knous-Westfall, H. M., Cohen, P., & Chen, H. (2015). How does child abuse history influence parenting of the next generation?. Psychology of Violence, 5(1), 16.
Goy, P. (2018). Nearly 40% of children in abuse cases under age seven [online]. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/nearly-40-of-children-in-abuse-cases-under-age-seven
Kinniburgh, K. J., Blaustein, M., Spinazzola, J., & Van der Kolk, B. A. (2017). Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency: A comprehensive intervention framework for children with complex trauma. Psychiatric annals, 35(5), 424-430.
Kisiel, C. L., Fehrenbach, T., Torgersen, E., Stolbach, B., McClelland, G., Griffin, G., & Burkman, K. (2014). Constellations of interpersonal trauma and symptoms in child welfare: Implications for a developmental trauma framework. Journal of Family Violence, 29(1), 1-14.
Lai, L. (2018). Trauma of seeing abuse at home [online]. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/trauma-of-seeing-abuse-at-home
Landsverk, J. (2017). Beyond common sense: Child welfare, child well-being, and the evidence for policy reform. Routledge.
McCann, L., & Pearlman, L. A. (2015). Psychological trauma and adult survivor theory: Therapy and transformation. Routledge.
Nationalchildrensalliance.org (2018). National Statistics On Child Abuse. [online]. Retrieved from https://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/media-room/nca-digital-media-kit/national-statistics-on-child-abuse/
Pecora, P., Whittaker, J., Barth, R., Maluccio, A. N., DePanfilis, D., & Plotnick, R. D. (2017). The child welfare challenge: Policy, practice, and research. Routledge.
Tan, T. (2018). Spike in child abuse [online]. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/spike-in-child-abuse
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