Child Abuse

Introduction

Child abuse is any maltreatment or neglect of a child that results in non-accidental damage or injury which is uncalled for. It transcended through generations and across race, class and ethnicity. Historical evidence tells that children were perceived as nothing more than property and were subjected to various forms of mistreatment. They are beaten, enslaved, prostituted and even killed at the hands of parents and guardians upon whom they are dependant. According to Gelles and Straus (1979a), "the family is perhaps the most violent social group and the home the most violent social setting, in our society" (p. 15). Every year, tens of thousands of children are distressed by physical, sexual, and emotional abuse or by caregivers who disregard them, making child abuse as recurrent as it is revolting. A child has a considerably higher chance of being killed or brutally injured by their parents than by any one else around them. Collins and Coltrane (1995) highlight this point by saying that "for children, the home is often the most dangerous place to be" (p. 476 -477). Since the coining of the term The Battered-child Syndrome by Dr. C. Henry Kempe and Colleagues in 1962, child abuse and neglect has received remarkable publicity. The development of a variety of legislation and programs geared towards public education and the protection of children has in recent times drawn both regional and international attention to child abuse and neglect as a social problem.

A large number of child abuse cases are reported in African and Asian countries because in these countries there is low rate of literacy, people are less educated, have less opportunity, and are less financially developed. Most of the villages have no big schools and also have the lack of resources and teachers with high standard of quality education,