Prevention, knowledge and community can be the three most important words to replace neglect, violence and assault in the life of an individual affected by abuse. The prevalence of reported cases of child abuse in Athens may surprise many people, but what may surprise more individuals is the number of unreported cases. Fortunately, there are ways to effectively combat child abuse. Organizations work with families who have a potential for abuse and families or individuals that have already been affected by abuse. Regardless of a person’s particular circumstance, help is readily available.
According to Sally Sheppard, executive director of The Cottage Sexual Assault Center and Children's Advocacy Center in Athens, one in four women at some point in their lives will be a victim of child or sexual abuse, whereas one in six men will be victims. “Abuse occurs across all socioeconomic classes, races and genders,” Sheppard said.
A correlation between female victims who do not seek help and those who become pregnant in the future is evident. Living with abuse and surviving an abusive period can tie into a potential future of alcoholism, drug abuse, prostitution or serious health problems. Drug use can occur as a result of never having learned how to cope, and health problems can be related to stress, causing cancer or cardiac issues in the future, Sheppard said.
Child abuse can be broken down into several categories. It is important to note that the word ‘child’ is used in this instance to refer to adolescents fewer than 18 years of age. Sheppard explains physical abuse as “hurting someone else’s body in a physical way.” The Cottage sees mostly adolescents who have experienced extreme physical abuse, including bruises, burns, cuts and broken bones that are usually caused by another person in the same household or someone with whom they are in a physical relationship. According to the Georgia Children’s Health Alliance (GCHA), in 80 percent of cases, the abuser is the victim’s biological parent, and 90 percent of abuse occurs in the victim’s home.
Extreme physical violence will often result after children of the house witness domestic violence between parents, partners or guardians, or when children witness extreme cases of violence, such as homicide or suicide. Another result of domestic violence can be dating violence, but most of the time these instances go unreported, Sheppard said.
Sexual abuse is “any unwanted sexual contact done to a person 15 years of age or younger,” Sheppard said. This can include physical touching or the showing of body parts, and is the most common form of abuse among adolescents ages 13-18. Sexual assault, also known as rape, occurs when there is penetration anywhere in another person’s body. The majority of abusers are family members, but in some cases they are complete strangers. Most cases of sexual abuse can be classified as statutory rape. According to Sheppard, these cases result when there is “consensual sex with someone 15 years old and younger with someone ages 16 years of age or older.”
Though physical markings such as bruises may make abuse evident, emotional abuse is harder to recognize. “The constant putting down of a child or adolescent can be hidden very well. Long-term emotional abuse can be as damaging as other types,” said Mary Hood, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Athens (PCAA).
Reported rates of emotional abuse are higher in Oconee County than Clarke, Madison and Oglethorpe, Hood said.
The reason cases of abuse oftentimes go unnoticed is because adolescents fear the blame will come back to them, Sheppard explained. The victim may feel guilty or shameful, or they may not want to be highlighted as a topic of discussion. Sheppard also added that just because one particular type of abuse is reported, others should not rule out everything else that may be going on with the victim.
PCAA also works in cooperation with the Clarke County School District. “As mandated reporters, the contact we have with child abuse and neglect victims is mostly around reporting. We of course have prevention efforts in the elementary school, such as Good Touch/Bad Touch, to teach children about child sexual abuse,” said Dawn Meyers, director of social work for the Clarke County School District.
Meyers also points out that the most common form of abuse is neglect. “Most of the child abuse that is reported through the schools is neglect — and most of that involves lack of supervision,” Meyers said.
The number of cases of reported neglect is higher in Georgia than nationally. In 2008, 78 percent of child abuse cases in Georgia were neglect compared to 60 percent of cases nationally, according to GCHA.
PCAA also offers a support program to parents or guardians that voluntarily accept help to better a child’s life. Hood and PCAA’s goal is to reach what they refer to as the “tipping point.” This means PCAA hopes to educate 4,000 people in the next three to five years. “If you can reach 5 percent and educate them, you can reduce the number of cases,” Hood adds.
With the help of local resources, preventative measures can be taken to continually reduce the number of child abuse cases — physical, sexual or emotional — both reported and unreported.
As Christian Orobello, executive director and CEO of Athens-Oconee CASA, points out, family and friends are able to be equally effective in providing support. “As a community, we need to be creating networks for people by being creative about what we’re doing in our community and creating informal resources,” Orobello said. “The informal ways of helping each other created by people in the community can be the difference we see in the child’s life.”
No comments:
Post a Comment