How child abuse affects society

How child abuse affects society

by Francis Harris

Of all the ways that child abuse impacts society - from dysfunctional individuals; to families falling apart - it goes without question that child abuse impacts our legislation. As primitive cultures evolve and recognize that the well-being of children is important, they come to create laws concerning children. Above and beyond all the harm that children endure, it is these laws that somehow impact us the most.

How does child abuse impact society?

1. Society creates legislation: As societies develop from primitive cultures to advanced ones concerned about children's welfare we see legislation enforced to protect children. Overtime we have seen Western laws change: they now prohibit children working under the minimum age; restrict the ages they may marry - or have sexual relations; control the hours they can work (and where); demand that they must receive education; prohibit them from voting and so on.

2. Legislation has its backlash on children: Where legislation is created there is always a backlash that impacts (negatively) those it is intended to help. The legislation concerning children has been abused in some places buy malicious individuals who falsely report child abuse and neglect. Often there are no repercussions for these individuals (since the state wants to investigate ANYTHING) although children and their lives can be devastated by unchecked malicious individuals who report falsely; repeatedly and on occasion end up having the child separated from parent, placed in foster care or otherwise permanently traumatized from people abusing the law and deceiving the authorities about the child's real well-being.

3. Legislation is controversial: As soon as we start to lay down the law we bring out the differences of opinion that exist. We often think that we have the "absolute" and ultimate answer to children's welfare - without realising that there are many other valid alternatives. For example, some nations legislate precisely how parents may discipline children. In those nations if a parent smacks a child in discipline the child can be placed in foster care and the parents given a criminal record and sent to prison.The same parent who "hi-5s" a child and impacts them with the same force receives no such criminal record - because apparently it is ok to hit a child with any forced desired in this cultural greeting, but not ok to smack a child in discipline and stop them killing themselves by running into a road.

4. Legislation is not implemented: While societies can have legislation about children's welfare actually implementing this is another matter. The continued existence of child sex abuse and trafficking in Western nations that have strict laws against this is evidence of the fact that laws do not change and eradicate the problems that children face.

5. Legislation does not capture the absolute "best" for children: As late as 1989 the United Nations drew up the Convention on the Rights of a Child. It is an internationally, legally binding document signed by hundreds of nations that outlines the things that children and the rights that they have - from spiritual and religious rights, to the most fundamental right - the right to life itself. This legally binding document is left to individual states to actually implement.



While this apparently leaves scope for different cultural, religious and social customs concerning children (like what age children can marry; and whether they can be aborted) it certainly does not capture some absolute answer to child-rearing.The laws merely reflect one nation's ideas about what might help children. We easily forget that there is no absolute best for children, and assume that the laws of one nation (maybe ours) are the "right" way to help children thrive within those parameters of the United Nations.

The US and some rogue African states have declined to sign this United Nations convention. The US declines since some states still issue the death penalty and technically this can include children. Since America is prepared to put a child on death row it does not feel it can sign up to the legislation that binds the rest of the world. So it honestly wont sign the declaration on the rights of the child as of 2010.

6. Legislation creates unhelpful labels: When society legislates to protect children it automatically creates a situation where some nations label something as abuse that other nations do not. Even a child growing up in one state may be termed "abused" and in another state not. We still have no universal definition of what is child abuse and this discrepancy between states and nations shows how equally healthy children in identical situations can in one place be labeled "abused" and not in another. The child's life is negatively impacted by this label. They are never the same after they have been told they are abused; while a child growing up elsewhere can lead a normal happy life and not have the psychological issues that follow from the state intervening and labeling a child.

7. We become complacent: The legislation about child abuse (that has come into being as society has evolved) often leads to a situation where societies become complacent to the socially accepted abuses that children are subjected to every day. We think we have everything covered, and blinded to our hypocrisy, we allow "abusive" - but accepted - practices to continue: from fast food diets, to advertising aimed at children; from childcare (with all its negative effects), to parents made from multi-paired homosexual liasons that just do not give children the stable nurture of the mother and father parent role model that they need; from abortion, to divorce. We fail to see the harm we still do to children in a myriad of ways.



8. Legislation dis-empowers children: While legislation often has clauses about "taking the child's wishes into consideration" the reality is that legislation is written by adults, for adults, giving adults the ultimate control over a child's life. Unlike any other citizen the child is actually totally powerless to change anything they do not like. The child is forced to remain a second-class citizen, an underdog,who cannot even have any say in the laws that govern them. We like it that way.

Children and young people account for over 40% of the world and would turn the world upside down overnight if we heard their voice. If children were asked whether they wanted mum and dad to stay together or divorce we would not like the answer. If children were asked whether they wanted a childcare centre or a home we would not like the answer. If children were asked whether there should be more recreation parks and child-friendly spaces we would not like the answer. If children were asked whether mummy should kill the babygrowing inside her because it was her right, or not, we would not like the answer.


CONCLUSION

In conclusion, child abuse certainly affects the legislation of societies. These laws are always limited; sometimes backlash against children; still need to be implemented to help children; can be controversial; are not universally accepted or agreed upon; do not capture the best practice in child-rearing; force the child to remain firmly under adult control and always give us a false sense of security that we are civilized and have found the best for children.


Learn more about this author, Francis Harris.

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