https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5UU6bLw5k8

Saksham Arora

CAS 137H 001

Lori Bedell

24 September 2017

Child Abuse and Neglect

Child abuse isn’t just about bruises, black eyes, or broken bones, it is more than that. The topic of abuse against children has really been in discussion for a pretty long time. One such example is of Mary Ellen Wilson, whose case of child abuse (1874) led to the creation of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). As an eight-year old, she was severely abused by her foster parents, Francis and Mary Connolly. Since, at that time, laws preventing cruelty to children were not made, she was removed from her home using the laws preventing cruelty to animals. It is also said that it was Mary, who finally put a human face on child abuse. While the videos ‘I can’t wait until I grow up’ and ‘NuresryCrimes: Itsy Bitsy Fingers’ addressing the issue of child abuse, demonstrate the use of means of persuasion along with the stylistic choices of involving intrinsic and extrinsic proofs, they also share the common belief of emphasizing the exigence of child abuse and create a call to action for the society to stop Child Abuse.

Childhood is the purest stage of the seven stages of human life. It is the golden period primarily free from fears, worries, anxiety and all work-related stress. How true is it? Is today’s child actually free from all worries? Is the child of today a victim in his own familiar premises by his own elders who are supposed to be the protectors of his childhood? Is he an easy prey to his own so-called saviors? In today’s society, there are many problems mushrooming up in the society and Child Abuse is the most prevalent amongst those. Child Abuse can take place in many ways: It can be a form of neglect, where the child is ignored by the parents during childhood or is deprived of basic necessities or adequate health care, clothing supervision etc.

Child Abuse is majorly taking place in the form of violence. Violence these days has many faces: Physical Abuse, where the child is beaten, thrashed by parents, elders or caregivers, Sexual Abuse, by an elder person using a child for sexual stimulation and pleasure, Psychological Abuse, when the kid is in an unsafe environment, where the home environment does not favour the child’s natural growth or maybe, the presence of alcoholic and drug addict parents, and Emotional Abuse, where the child is verbally abused or threatened.

In 1997, 3 million children in the USA were reported as abused or neglected according to National Centre of Child Abuse and Neglect. In 2007, the number went up. An average of five children die due to child abuse and neglect. More than three of four of the maltreated children are under the age of four. The ISPCC has released the 2011 Childline statistics highlighting the issue of emotional abuse. In 2011, more than 54000 contacts were made to the service by children experiencing some level of emotional abuse which probably, highlighted the importance of child helplines and increasing crimes against children.

 

Child helplines systematically used along with intrinsic proofs to present their claims. The organizations all over the world like NSPCC (established 1884), ISPCC (established 1956), Nursery Crimes (established 1996) have been actively working to protect the rights of children, and to prevent further crimes against children by bringing awareness amongst the children and members of society. These organizations of high repute provide us with a quintessential amount of ethos. Their credibility is trusted by the people and that is what enables them to make the desired claims and appeal the audience. While watching the video, ‘I can’t wait until I grow up’, the kid is portrayed as being beaten up time and again by none other than his father, dragged from one corner to the other like a piece of furniture, and then shoved into walls intrigues the audience. Also, the bruises all over the kid’s face make the audience numb for a moment and make them realize of the crimes taking place against children. His eyes drenched with tears and yet, filled with motivation and a motive in his mind to fight for the rights of children, inspires the audience to a great extent to make them believe that they can stop Child Abuse if they decide to do so.

Through the innocence of the little girl and her clueless eyes, unaware of what’s happening to her or what is about to happen in the other video, ‘Itsy Bitsy Fingers’, the organizations try to bring into the notice of people the subject of sexual abuse. At this young age, she is so gullible and ignorant about what is happening with her that she doesn’t even realize that the one who is supposed to be keeping her safe turns out to be responsible for her misfortune. Parents repose their trust in teachers and caregivers in regard to their children, but this trust is breached by a handful of antisocial or psychologically ill people.

 

Since these children are in the most vulnerable age of their life and are the future torchbearers, the society needs to be more sensitive towards them. Similarly, the issue of child abuse is of major concern to all. The supporting videos in their respective order have aptly used pathos to reaffirm the claim that the children are harassed in their home or school, by targeting the emotions of the audience. The videos could have probably used an elder child too. But the fact, that the teenage children are able to differentiate between the right and the wrong thing, and are also able to retaliate or defend themselves, if, in a similar situation whereas the small children, are most of the times, unaware of the situation and its consequences, and are also not able to differentiate between right and wrong. So, both the videos try to associate with the audience and gain more emotional support. Regardless of the type of child abuse, the result is serious emotional harm because children take quite a long time to analyse their surrounding and every single detail they notice or every moment they experience adds into their bag of values.

We see that, in the given videos, home and school have been identified as commonplaces in the first, ‘I can’t wait until I grow up’ and second ‘Itsy Bitsy Fingers’ video respectively, laying down emphasis on the fact that most of the crimes against children are committed by someone known and at places which are actually meant to protect these kids and grow them up with love and care.

The claim made by the video, ‘Itsy Bitsy fingers’, at the end that if we don’t teach our kids about sexual abuse, someone else will, strikes the audience hard and forces them to think about it that if we don’t teach our kids to differentiate between right and wrong, who else will. Both the videos emphasize on the exigence of child abuse and neglect. Also, the videos are filmed in a quite background, the only difference being that the first video, ‘I can’t wait until I grow up’ involves violence against the child, his father venting out his frustration on him whereas, in the other video, ‘Itsy Bitsy Fingers’, the girl is being made comfortable in a way, so that she does not scream, cry and ask for help. The viewer is immediately taken into a mindset where they realize that what they are about to watch is a serious matter.

In 2012, The American Academy of Paediatrics strongly opposed the use of physical punishment to discipline children and recommends that parents develop methods other than corporal punishment in response to undesired behaviour. The NSPCC’s helpline responded to over 11,000 contacts about physical abuse in 2016/17. Over 6,000 children were identified as needing protection from physical abuse last year. 19% of contacts to the NSPCC’s helpline last year were concerns about physical abuse. There were over 8,000 Childline counselling sessions with children and young people about physical abuse in 2016/17. 22% of the concerns that the NSPCC’s helpline referred to police or children’s services related to physical abuse.

Child abuse affects the children for their whole life. They are traumatized and have low self-esteem even when they grow up. Even the one who sees or witnesses the abuse suffers considerable harm. Just for the reason that the small children cannot answer back or do not have guts or skills to retaliate, they must not be considered as the objects to be clouted upon or to be vented upon with the stress.

To sum up, Child Abuse is a worldwide problem affecting children of almost all ages. As a society, we need to do more to protect children from the harm, abuse that has been echoing deep inside into their adulthood. We need to become the voice for thousands of children who do not have the courage to speak and share their plight. Preventing Child Abuse is obviously of vital importance. Though the task is not easy, still it is not that cannot be accomplished. We need to devise common strategies. It is paradoxical and an aversion to humanity that the small children are susceptible to such grave crimes. The groups of parents, medical practitioners, social workers and some non-governmental and governmental organizations are required to join hands to make the future of our children better in a safe environment where they can lead the golden period of their life with a motto of ‘eat, drink, play and be merry’.

 

Reference Page(s): https://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/health/15abus.html

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/physical-abuse/physical-abuse-facts-statistics/