Chicago children’s advocacy center Shedding light on child abuse and molestation

Jesse’s story

This story has centered on a powerful account of Jesse Hall, who was being molested by his father at a tender age of 10. This led to the child suffering in silence for almost five years before he could finally seek help. Jesse is considered to be among many children that have led their way through the child advocacy center to seek help. He shared his intimate story and his ongoing journey to end his emotional wounds from his past. The story has raised some questions related to child abuse and parental care. How could the children’s advocacy center treat or solve the child sexual abuse? How can the children’s advocacy center prevent child sexual abuse for children in silence and enhance their well-being?

Statement of the problem

In this case, Jesse has reported the case to the children’s advocacy center and told his intimate story.  He has walked through the doors of the center to be helped solve his emotional wounds of his past. He has already undergone molestation for five years in silence due to fear and lack of freedom to speak out his problem to anyone. Therefore, the children’s advocacy center has the mandate to help him end his emotions and feelings that he has suffered for five years. This means that he has come to seek help because he wants to live a happy life. They have to ensure that the feelings are fully eliminated and the child gains self-esteem and is going to live happily ever.

 

Possible areas of concern

The main areas of concern, in this case, include child abuse and neglect as an important societal concern that has had great ramifications for children that are affected. Child abuse can lead to the emotional, cognitive and social development of the child. Achieving clarity in the area of neglect and child abuse has been an ongoing challenge. Child molestation could lead to serious emotional and physical harm, an act or failure to act and an act of failure by the parent.  Physical abuse of a child may lead to the infant brain dysfunction and at times death.

Cognitive and language deficits occur in children that have been abused. For instance, in the case of Jesse, you may find that the child has a delayed intellectual development mostly in the area of verbal intelligence. This may also lead to problems in school performance such as poor standardized scores, low grades and frequent retention in grade. Severe neglect may have led to psychological consequences such as attention deficits, developmental analysis, low social skills and emotional instability. A physically abused child has low self-esteem and views themselves negatively when they compare themselves to the non-molested children (Tavkar, et al., 2011). There, child abuse/ molestation affects the growth of a child physically, mentally and psychologically. These are areas of concern that might occur and cause a difference between a molested child and a non-molested child.

Theoretical framework

Erikson’s Theory of psychosocial development has described change and growth throughout the life of an individual. It has focused on the conflicts and social interactions that have risen from the different development stages. During each stage of life, people are faced with a different developmental conflict that has impacted further growth and later functioning (Syed et al., 2017). This theory has looked into each age and its developmental crisis. Through the management of each of the challenges faced, one can achieve lifelong psychological virtue.

Behavioral child development theories have revealed that behaviorism has become a dominant force in psychology. According to the behaviorists, all human beings are described on their environmental influence (Horowitz,2014). Behavioral theories show how child development focus on how the child interacts with the surrounding environment and their feelings, thoughts, and reactions towards reinforcement, rewards, stimuli, and punishments.

Possible solutions

Rigorously strengthening and evaluating the existing programs on child abuse. This will be helping the children who are victims of ongoing and past child abuse through urging them to disclose such incidents, responsible adults (Carter,et al .,2013). For instance, when Jesse discusses the issue to another person, he will feel relieved and that the person will be able to counsel the child as a way of lowering their feelings Evaluating, exploring and strengthening the new approaches in the prevention of child abuse through the child protective system and the criminal justice system (Wiley,2009). This will make the child feel that justice has been done to him and will feel satisfied as a way of reducing his emotions. In this case, the father may be imprisoned as a way of trying to build the future of the child regarding self-esteem and confidence.

To prevent an occurrence of such incident, there are other ways of solving child abuse. The wide spreading of accurate information to the public is a form of raising awareness of the unacceptable acts of child abuse and promoting the notion that stopping child neglect and abuse is the duty of everyone (Walsh et al., 2008). Educating the public mostly the policymakers on the issues and facts of the true nature of child abuse. Shifting the child abuse prevention from the children to the adults to ensure that the adults carry out an affirmative obligation to secure the children from child abuse.

Conclusion

Possible resources

Other Human service organizations that offer help to children include Child welfare league of America, Children’s defense fund, National Association for family child care. They offer services such as promoting the quality of childcare, providing a strong and effective voice for the children who cannot raise their voices and are also devoted to the well-being of children, dependent and neglected children.

 

 

References

Carter, B. S., Levetown, M., & Friebert, S. E. (Eds.). (2013). Palliative care for infants, children, and adolescents: a practical handbook. JHU Press.

Tavkar, P., & Hansen, D. J. (2011). Interventions for families victimized by child sexual abuse: Clinical issues and approaches for child advocacy center-based services. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16(3), 188-199.

Walsh, W. A., Lippert, T., Cross, T. P., Maurice, D. M., & Davison, K. S. (2008). How long to prosecute child sexual abuse for a community using a children’s advocacy center and two comparison communities?. Child Maltreatment, 13(1), 3-13.

Wiley, T. R. (2009). Legal and social service responses to child sexual abuse: A primer and discussion of relevant research. Journal of child sexual abuse, 18(3), 267-289.

Syed, M., & McLean, K. C. (2017). Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development.

Horowitz, F. D. (2014). Exploring developmental theories: Toward a structural/behavioral model of development. Psychology Press.