Social Concern Analysis

For my last social concern article and soon to be my presentation. I decided to address a concern that has been one of my general life concerns and also one of the many reasons I decided to go into the human services field. One of the greater things that came from being an abused and neglected child. I was able to witness firsthand what it was like to show every possible symptom of abuse/neglect and simply be overlooked by everyone I come in contact with.

I hope through proper education and my own life experiences this may be something that will be easy for me to spot. However, for many children, myself included, our oddities and inconsistencies are considered just that. When in reality something a lot more sinister is at play.

As I child I was subject to many forms of

abuse/neglect. As an adult, I often wonder why some of my symptoms were overlooked. In order to prove my point, I will list some of the things I experienced and the resulting symptom that should have been noticed. One of my parent’s many forms of neglect was to make me sleep on a plywood board. This is where I slept for three years (give or take a few months) from ages six to nine. The bored after a while begin to break down and I gained a bedtime pest. Carpenter ants chose to sleep with me as well.
I would often try to sleep in a chair or even on the floor. However, if I was caught the punishment was far worse than sleeping with the ants. So I chose the plywood, naturally I was tired. I would often fall asleep in school. I was consistently tired for three years. I don’t understand how that very huge symptom was pushed under the rug. After three years I received a very large piece of sponge and then two years later I got a hand me down mattress from one of my siblings. I was never so grateful in my life.
I often smelled because no one washed my clothes. I figured out how to wash my own eventually. I was dirty because I hadn’t been taught otherwise. I was insanely quiet and shy. In my house, I never talked unless I was talked to first. Even then I had to be very careful about what I said for fear of getting hit. I always knew what I said would be ridiculed and I would be reminded how dumb I was I got used to that over time. I could write about the abuse/neglect forever as it carried on until age thirteen when someone finally did notice but the bottom line is this. Everyone missed every generic symptom of abuse/neglect. I am not angry they missed them, I simple do not understand how and why this sort of thing happens. I was fortunate enough to survive my parents and I turned out ok but many others are not.
One theory on why abuse cases are missed is over reporting of suspected cases. Leaving the child welfare system strapped and overworked. Making it harder to zone in on the children who are at risk. A study of children born between 2009 to 2010 suggests that once they reached pre-school age 150,000 of those children were reported in a year over fears of abuse or neglect, most unnecessarily (BBC News, 2016).
This is a terrifying number because that many cases were suspected and only in preschool age children it did not account for children of other ages. It is also discouraging to the child care workers. Essentially like finding a needle in a haystack. At the same time, you would not want to discourage people from making tips. When often their intentions are pure and they only want to help. Perhaps the answer to over- reporting is better education on the symptoms of abuse/neglect.
Another possible reason is because we as a society have drawn so much attention to physical and sexual abuse.

We overlook the symptoms of neglect. This is a mistake because children that are neglected are more at risk for being physically and sexually abused. What an astronomical problem we are facing. Either too much is reported or not enough. In 2005 an estimated 3.3 million cases of abuse were reported in the U.S. of those children 899,000 were confirmed to be victims of abuse or neglect. (Sharples, 2008)Those are not good numbers in either direction there should not be 899,000 cases of abuse and neglect but at the same time there should also not be 2.4 million cases reported that turned out to be nothing.

Another theory to consider is that the person who suspects abuse does not call to avoid splitting up the family and ultimately placing the children into care. The stigma around foster care is not always perceived in the best light. This is something I had not considered when it came to my own childhood. I grew up in a small town and often times I had a teacher my brothers and sisters had previously. Perhaps my teachers thought I was better off with my sibling then in foster

care.
Throughout this report, I am beginning to understand why cases of abuse may go unnoticed for short periods of time. There are so many factors at play when it comes to suspected cases of abuse and neglect. However, only so many excuses can be made once the symptoms are present for a long period of time. I would think eight school which is how long it took before someone reported my situation years would be considered too long.
Perhaps people who suspect abuse do not want to intervene with the family or they think the family will somehow find out who called. I suppose the options are endless as far as why people don’t report. I think our best plan of action is well educating of any person who spends time with and around children. Clearly not making enough calls is not the problem. It is making the right ones that is the problem. I’m hoping to use my abuse as an advantage and turn it into something positive. I’m sure wherever I end up after school I will be an asset. As I not only will have studied abuse and neglect but I will have lived it as well.