Recent statistics show that in a single year, 702,000 children are a victim to child abuse and neglect and there 3.2 million of child abuse cases investigated every single year (CITE). Child abuse and neglect is a serious topic and there are many forms of it. Malnutrition is an obvious form of child abuse, but is a poor diet a form of child abuse? That is the question. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) defines child abuse as, “Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” (Cite). A poor diet is defined as, “An unhealthy diet …show more content…
One could say a poor diet is not child abuse because some parents may not be able to afford a healthy diet for their children. Parents who are struggling financially must rely on McDonalds or Burger King to feed their children. While this is a good point to consider, this is a not an acceptable argument in the debate on whether or not a poor diet is considered child abuse. It is sad and true that some parents may not be able to afford the healthy diet for their children, but it does not make it suddenly acceptable to constantly feed their children junk food. That argument is a Red Herring fallacy because it distracts people from the main question that is, Is a poor diet considered child abuse? And when you look at the definition of what child abuse is and what a poor diet does to a child, a poor diet is a form of child abuse. If low income parents can not afford to feed their children, there are many federal and state programs available to help them out. Just to name a few programs out there are: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program; the parents just have to make the effort to find these programs …show more content…
A poor diet can cause a child to develop medical problems that can put the child in harm. Some of the medical problems that can happen to a child is: high-blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and stroke, and type two diabetes. All these health problems just from a poor diet. One of the most illness is, type two diabetes, which is the most common type of diabetes that makes up more than 90% of the 24 million cases in the United States. (CITE). Type two diabetes is when your body produces too much insulin that will cause damage to the eyes, nerves, and kidneys. If that insulin amount is not controlled the body’s blood vessels will be effected that will eventually lead up to a heart attack, stroke, or peripheral vascular disease. This is considered child abuse because it puts the harm in physical harm. If a parent is feeding their children a poor diet while being aware that their child can develop these sicknesses then it is a physical abuse to the child, and if the parents are not aware that these sicknesses could happen to their child then it is neglect to their
When children are hurt physically, emotionally, or sexually it is known to be child abuse. Children are known to be neglected when they are not getting the proper attention needed for children. When children are neglected or abused in any way it is the responsibility of others to report such acts to the authorities as to what they have witnessed first-hand or signs of abuse or neglect seen after the fact, these people who reports such acts are known as third parties. The proper authorities to report child abuse or neglect is called Child Protected Services also known as Child Welfare. After the abuse or neglect is reported the proper authorities will then investigate to see if the abuse or neglect is legit or fraudulent (Sedlak, 2001).
The United States defines child maltreatment as “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious injury or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm” (McCoy & Keen, 2009, p. 63). This legal definition is better understood by the idea that a caregiver repeatedly fails to provide the most basic care necessary for a child. Although abandonment is often the first thing that comes to mind when one hears the word “neglect...
Child abuse is the intentional omission of care by a parent or guardian that can cause a
CAPTA focuses on the issue of child abuse and neglect within the U.S. CAPTA was one of the first major federal policies put into effect to address the issue of child abuse and neglect in the U.S. Prior to the development of this act, information is very limited on how child abuse really affected the children in the U.S. Within the first year of CAPTA 60,000 reports of child abuse and neglect were made and within a few years, these numbers had made a large jump to over a million reports in 1980. In 1990, 2 million reports were made, and in 2000, reports were somewhere around 3 million (CAPTA Reauthorization, 2016). In 2005 alone out of every 1000 children 12 children from birth to 18 had experienced some abuse and neglect. The 2005 report stated that 62.8 percent were cases of neglect, 16.6 percent were cases of physical abuse, 9.3 percent were cases of sexual abuse, 7.1 percent were cases of emotional, 2 percent were cases of medical neglect or abuse, and 14.3 percent were other situations of neglect or abuse. Overall that year 1,460 deaths were reported from child abuse and neglect (Goldman & Salus, 2003). But in 2010, 698,000 reports were confirmed of abuse and neglect, which is a dramatic decrease due to the policies
A child who eats too much fat, sugar, sodium or processed food and too few vitamins and minerals is likely to develop a higher risk of several chronic health problems. These might include diabetes, kidney stones, bone loss, cancer and heart disease. This is important
...r health problems. Diets can be helpful or hazardous to ones health, depending on how they are followed.
There are many consequences to having an unhealthy diet such as diabetes type two, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity. More severe conditions includes heart attacks, heart diseases. If
“Simply having children does not make mothers,” said john A. Shedd (“John”). When it comes to child maltreatment this is especially true, if a parent does not know how to take care of a child, they can abuse or neglect their child. The definition that the Centers for disease Control and Prevention uses is, “Any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or any other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.” Maltreatment can be split into two umbrella categories, acts of omission or acts of commission. Acts of omission are most commonly known as neglect, and can include not meeting the child’s physical, emotional, educational, or medical needs. An act of commission is most commonly physical abuse, but can also extend to the psychological or sexual abuse of a child (“Child Maltreatment”). Child maltreatment is a problem worldwide; the only way to stop it is to give parents a better understanding of the issue.
Conclusion Child abuse and neglect is a very serious issue that can not be taken lightly. We need to provide continuing public education and professional training. Few people fail to report because they want their children to suffer abuse and neglect. Likewise, few people make deliberately false reports. Most involve an honest desire to protect children, coupled with confusion about what conditions are reportable.
Child abuse is an issue within society that effects the lives of not only the victims but also the lives of many people in the social order. Child abuse is any mistreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental injury or harm and which cannot be logically explained. There are several forms of abuse and neglect and many state governments have developed their own legal description of what constitutes child maltreatment for the purposes of removing a child and prosecuting a criminal charge. Child abuse consists of different forms of harm including physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect.
Children understand that food is important in their life, however they do not know that nutrition also plays a significant role in health as well.
Child abuse is a social problem in America that has many contributed factors. Factors that contribute to child abuse and neglect includes poverty, divorce, substance use, lack of education, stress due to unemployment, mental health issues, teenage parent, and a history of child abuse in the family. It took decades for physicians to conclude that parents have been violently assaulting their children. Child abuse, child labor, juvenile delinquency, and similar social questions historically were ethical and moral problems, not strictly medical ones. (Helfer, Kempe, & Krugman, 1997). In 1962, the Journal of American Medical Association published “The Battered-Child Syndrome.” The article transformed society’s views and dates the rediscovery of child abuse as a social problem. Following this article, the U.S. Children’s Bureau adopted the first laws mandating physicians to report any suspicions of abuse and neglect to the police or child welfare. By 1974, some 60,000 cases were reported. In 1980, the number exceeded one million (Myers J. E., 2004).
This is no facts that support the case for child abuse, but there are so many facts that support the case against child abuse. Child abuse is mostly discouraged because most of its effects are negative which includes; Juvenile delinquency which is closely associated with child abuse. Research shows that many of the people who engage in crimes suffered child abuse when they were children. Not all street children are orphans most of them have parents, but they chose to run away from their homes and live in the streets due to child abuse and harassment in their homes and families. Most of those youths who spend their lives in juvenile and prisons are those who suffered child abuse in their homes and as a result of frustration, they engage in criminal
In the article, “Unhealthy Diet Problems,” Holly Case states that unhealthy diets are starting to go up and this will cause many health problems in the future. A healthy diet includes fruit, Vegetables and whole grain, but in the time we live in now most people choose to eat anything they want even if it is not healthy. Unhealthy diets can make you have more fat and higher sugar levels. If you eat unhealthy the most common consequences is obesity. There are two ways to find out if you’re obese, They are BMI and Body Mass Index.
Child abuse is a very serious problem that continues to happen all over the world. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, defines child abuse as a failure to act as a parent or caregiver which results in physical/emotional harm, sexual abuse, and in some cases death. There are many different types of child abuse such as emotional, physical, neglect, and sexual. With each type of abuse there are warning signs you can spot before it is too late. When a child is abused there is a huge possibility that it can cause them to have many long term effects.