Movie Child Abuse

Introduction During the early 90s film producers begin to shed more light on the harsh reality of child abuse and neglect. Old movies such as Radio Flyer, and In a Child’s, Name depicted the horrible reality of children being abused while in their care of their parents. Yes, parents, the individuals responsible for protecting their children from such harm; but instead have been found to be the chief perpetrators. In fact, according to Barnett, Perrin & Perrin (2011), 90% of perpetrators to the abused child is Biological Parents, 4.4% are Stepparents, and 0.7% are Adoptive parents. As witnessed in the Movie Radio Flyer, Bobby experienced psychical and emotional abuse while in the care of his stepfather. Two forms of abuse in which Barnett,

Shortly after that, their mother Lorraine met and married a man who Bobby referred to as the King. The King was a raging alcoholic, who often physical and emotional abused Bobby. The King blamed Little Bobby for everything, and often severely beat him for reasons such as not going to bed early, bothering his tools and for chores left unfinished. However, the King never abused Mikey, who often worried and cried because he could not defend Bobby. Bobby walked on eggs shells and feared that there was little he could do to avoid the king’s wrath; but, he did try. In fact, Mikey would take Bobby out into the woods for long hours. They would play and plan ways in which Bobby could one day escape the King. But, it never failed, upon arriving home, the King would always find something that Bobby did

To be specific, child physical abuse and emotional neglect. As noted above child physical abuse focuses on acts of violence that cause some form of observable harm. In contrast, emotional neglect is the failure to provide encouragement, security, and emotional support to a child (Barnett, Perrin & Perrin, 2011, Pg. 91). Thus, seen in the film, Little Bobby experienced both forms of abuse. The abuse was not inflicted by Bobby’s biological father, but instead his stepfather. In fact, the text points out that 74% of male children are abused by Nonbiolgical parent’s/partner. The text further emphasized that the highest rates of child abuse occurred among single parents who had a cohabiting partner. Children living in these households had a rate of abuse 10 times higher than children living with married biological parent (Barnett, Perrin & Perrin, 2011, Pg. 169) Although, the text did not present reasons for such findings, it could be assumed that nonbiological parent often abuse their stepchildren because there is no emotional connection. However, the King abusive ways could have also been a direct result of his substance use. In accordance with the text “Government statisticians report that alcohol and other drug abuse is highly linked with family violence at all levels. In fact, AOD by parents is one of the many risk factors for child abuse” (Barnett, Perrin & Perrin, 2011, Pg. 55). As observed, the King would return from