Introduction
The role of children caretakers at day-care centres as well as that of parents has ethically changed and become one of the major concerns due to emerging child abuse and neglect cases. Care centres are turning to abuse hubs and cases have close link to the ethical roles of the caregivers. We often overlook the rights of children despite attempts to delineate prerogatives civil liberties clearly. Children rights are likely to find definition by virtue of what parents or caretakers do or fail do for them.
Thesis Statement
“Investigation of child abuse and negligence in day-care setting” This paper examines the real situational effects of child abuse and negligence by closely related personnel entrusted with ability to offer excellent care at the day-care centres. Advancement of care requirements forms an analysis of how the abuse can cause depression. The analysis also focuses on the intellectual behaviour of caregivers regarding effects and other neglect or abuse-related crimes.
Reasons for Seeking Chid-Care Centres
When consulting the day care centres, parents expect caregivers to provide necessities for the child. On or after birth of their children, parents have a duty to give proper care, custody and control of their children. For young children, parents are also the link with the outside environment. The high demands from the work schedules force parents to seek alternatives for the children. Children may therefore have a lost opportunity to have all needs met by the parents, except those that appear most important. According to Tulchinsky and Varavikova (p.240), the UN convention on the rights of the child formally and explicitly acknowledges basic children rights.
Their outline of expectations is reminiscent of international laws and this is an additional aspect to the care of children. By recognizing that children are subjects of rights theft, rather than recipients of adult protection, the rights demand that children themselves be entitled to personal choices. If this were possible, the rate of negligence and abuse would easily reduce and eventually disappear. Unfortunately, child abuse in day-care centre is a common phenomenon today. The newspapers and TV news are full of reports about child mistreatment that leave people wondering how safe the child really is at these meant-to-be learning amenities.
Historical Overview of Neglect and Abuse
Although it is a mistake to become over protective, it is important to recognize the actual risks involved in day-care centre and familiarize with the signs or signals of abuse and neglect. Research reports show that approximately three million cases of child abuse and neglect involving almost 5.5million children occur each year (Miller and Perrin, p.21). Majority of these cases reported to child protective services involve neglect, besides physical and sexual abuse.
There considerable common characteristics among children who are abused, since most child abuse occurs from family members or caregivers. Risk factors include caregivers’ depression or other mentally related health issues (Miller and Perrin, p.21). Potential history of childhood abuse relates to domestic violence, child neglect, mistreatment, and the cases are more common among families living in poverty and among parents who faced childhood abuse or abuse drug and alcohol. Although it is certainly true that child abuse occurs within the home setting, current cases are emerging from the caregivers or someone close to the child and not strangers (Miller and Perrin, p.19).
Sexual abuse is a worse form of abuse because the child cannot comprehend or consent to the act. According to Berns (p.86), “most common cases within the day-care settings include fondling, oral-genital contact, and genital or anal intercourse as well as exhibitionism, voyeurism and exposure to pornography.” Studies have suggested that up to 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 8 boys face sexually abuse (Berns, p.386). Physical abuse is harm done on a child’s body through inflicted burns, corporal punishment, pinching, slapping, hitting with fist or other kind of hurting forces. The study shows that about 1 in 20 children have face physically abuse in their lifetime (Berns, p.386).
Physical child neglect involves failure to provide basic need and supporting necessities. On the other hand emotional child neglect is failure to provide love, consolation and show fondness. Medical neglect (failing to provide needed medical care) psychological or emotional abuse results from the entire list above, but can also be associable to verbal abuse, which can harm a child’s self-worth or emotional wellbeing.
Child abuse is any poor interaction, lack of interaction between child and his/her parents, or caretakers and negligence that result in non-accidental harm to the child’s physical or psychological well being. Child abuse includes physical abuse such as beatings and burnings, verbal abuse such as insulting or forcing the child to unjustified acts. Child rights on the other hand are a fundamental entitlement that a child is supposed to get in order to survive well in the environment.
There are various policies and criterions defined as standards to look at the specific environments, which exposes children to harm such as the daycares centres. The United Nations Convention on the Rights (UNCRC) 1989, African chatters on the Rights and welfare of the 1991 among others some of these policies prepared and implemented to cater for human rights (Miller and Perrin, p.18).
“In the United States, the centres for diseases control and prevention (CDC) defines child maltreatment as any act or series of acts that causes commission or omission by a caregiver, which results to harming a child” (Miller and Perrin, p.21). Today, most abuse reports are within the day-care setting and homes and only few cases emanate from schools, organizations and the community. The caretaker negligence may results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm (Miller and Perrin, p.21).
Reasons for abuse
It is possible to group the reasons to economic, political, social and cultural causes. In analysis of various forms of abuses and child negligence, the first and most common and widespread form in child-care centres is emotional abuse. This form of maltreatment occurs due to paying no attention to the emotional requirements of the children. The caregivers fail to give emotional security, affection and love thus hampering psychological development. A child faces emotional strains and is not able to express feelings, thus end up facing emotional alienation. Caregivers in day-care centres ought to talk and understand the emotional need of a child and teach him/her how to express the feelings.
According to Tulchinsky and Varavikova (p.240), people who suffered from emotional distress during their young age are psychologically affected, and are likely to act in a similar manner when caring for children. Current work situations are denying parents time to interact with the child. Children therefore remain in care centres all day, and hardly enjoy, love, care and productive time with the parents.
Other forms of abuse and child negligence include physical abuse, where the child lacks necessary amenities for survival. In most case, care facilities neglect the nutritional need of children as a special group. This is mainly due to low literacy levels and poor care styles. Medical negligence is a lack of proper health-related care such as regular temperature check-ups, especially for symptomatic cases. Caretakers lack understanding or the ability to detect a child who is seeking attention.
They often ignore symptoms and lead to aggravation or complication of the problem. In line with Miller and Perrin (p.21), millions of children have no access to proper medical checks as well as care due to high and unaffordable costs, especially in developing countries. Lastly, education negligence is a common phenomenon in child-care centers, where children have poor access to reading, learning, and analytical studies.
Prevention
Parents are arguably the leading mediums of abuse and neglect of child-care centres. They live with children for long hours under the caregivers and emotionally deny the required affection parental care. There is a need for strict parent and government monitoring acts or supervisions in children’s orphanages and chid-care centres, to reduce child loneliness, emotional insecurity and other forms of abuse.
Ever since 1983, the U.S. government designates April as the month to for preventing child abuse. In 2009, the Incumbent president Barrack Obama approved the tradition and by affirming the April campaign. “One way the federal government of the United States provides funding for child abuse prevention is through community-based grants for preventing child abuse and neglect (CBCAP)” (Miller and Perrin, p.18). Community participation is essential to identify the victims and to prevent neglect or abuse. Governments ought to implement and conduct surveys in hazardous day care sectors; to work closely with local governments, NGO’s and other employer’s associations to discourage such acts (Miller and Perrin, p.18).
Conclusion
Prevention laws of child abuse and neglect are plethoric form of policies that mainly occurs or are common in the developed countries, the nonprofessional lacks basic information or knowledge regarding this essential child neglect and abuse prevention laws. Millions of children face acts of negligence in various forms. During the tender age, the child need and depends on the parent or caregiver critically. Negligence might be on purpose or through naively. The common forms of negligence in day-care centres are physical, emotional, educational and medical.
References
Berns, Roberta. “Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support.” Canada: Cengage Learning Publishers. Print. 2009.
Miller, Cindy., & Perrin, Robin. “Child Maltreatment.” California, CA: SAGE Publishers. Print.” 2007.
Tulchinsky, Theodore., & Varavikova, Elena. “The New Public Health.” (Second Ed). California, CA: Elsevier Academic Press Publishers. Print. 2009.