Monday, April 13, 2020

Child Abuse - Luke Henshaw

Child Abuse in Los Angeles County

DISCLAIMER: TRAUMATIC CONTENT IS MENTIONED THROUGH OUT THIS BLOG POST.
Introduction:
Children are the future and their childhood has a lasting effect on both their personalities and their mental situations when they grow up. It is an extreme crisis that children, in all of their innocence, have to be subjected to the traumatic horrors of abuse. The occurrence of child abuse comes in many different forms. Children can be subjected to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as general neglect, absence, and exploitation. In 2015, the United States had around 1,670 children who passed away from physical abuse or neglect. When I heard this disparaging statistic, I knew that information of this heinous act must be distributed to understand and prevent the legacy of abuse in Los Angeles.


Index of Abuses:

  • Neglect, by definition, means denying a child's basic needs. This includes food, clothing, attention, and leaving them unsupervised.
  • Emotional Abuse refers to a myriad of acts that include verbal assault, gaslighting, causing fear, self image degradation, and isolation. 
  • Physical Abuse is the act of punishing your child by the means of physical interaction such as hitting your child.
  • Sexual Abuse refers to taking advantage of a child through sexual acts. This generally includes exploitation. 

Statistics:
In Los Angeles, nearly 37.4% of children face general neglect and 16.2% have been physically abused in 2018 according to kidsdata.org. Emotional abuse occurred with 15.4% of children and 8.5% of children suffered from sexual abuse.


                                                                                                                     - kidsdata.org


According to a report compiled by UCLA, there was an average of 17 cases of child abuse of any kind each day in Los Angeles county.


How to Fight Back:
The Los Angeles Child Abuse Prevention Center (http://www.thecapcenter.org/county-resources.php?county=Los+Angeles) houses many contacts to combat and prevent suspected child abuse.

Children's Hospital Los Angeles has Project HEAL which provides assistance for family and psychiatric therapy for abused children. (https://www.chla.org/project-heal)

Please donate to all4kids, a service that provides additional help to victims of child abuse and helps them overcome the challenges the result from their traumas. https://www.all4kids.org/donate/


Importance to Me:
To me, child abuse is one of the most disgusting acts a person could do. Kids are so pure and un-problematic that to hurt a child seems so cruel and evil. The prospects of a better life start with our children's future and when that is jeopardized, it's entirely unfair. They cannot help or defend themselves.

As a survivor of emotional abuse for most of my childhood, this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to let people know this is a massive crisis that goes so unspoken. Punishment and reporting on the issue must improve and that first starts with awareness and that is what I hope I have started within my own community. Always remember, that we as adults and members of a beautiful community have the power to end this and give every child a magical childhood that they can look back at and smile.





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