Kristen's Written Ramblings: My Online Journal
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Child Abuse Cures
I can't help but be sickened by the abuse of a child. And I'm tired of listening to people mindlessly say things like "Somebody should do something to keep this from happening," and "Why would anyone do such a thing." Start coming up with solutions.
#1) We need to educate people better about child development, child raising, and non-violent methods of managing problems. We need to do this in schools as a mandatory part of education. We need to do it in churches, family focused organizations, and community centers. We need to do it in welfare programs. And we certainly need to do it when letting people become foster parents, even if those foster parents are relatives. If we spent more money training people to avoid abusive behavior, then we'll spend less money having to treat abused kids, prosecuting abusive adults, and housing convicted child abusers in prison. (Good education always ends up paying for itself.)
#2) We need to do a better job of training all government workers to identify signs of abuse. Whether you're a teacher, a police officer, a postal worker, or state representative, you should be trained in protecting our children, the future of our nation and world, and you should be a mandatory reporter. Sometimes, the only non-abusive adults abused children come into contact with are mail carriers or bus drivers, so they too need to be trained to help those kids.
#3) Any person who works directly with children should be better trained in identifying abuse. A DHS worker who doesn't know how to recognize child abuse or deception by abusive parents obviously needs better training.
#3) To protect vulnerable kids in foster care, kids in the foster system should be required to get a quick medical evaluation at least once per month. All it would take is 5 minutes by a trained health care worker (e.g. school nurse for kids in school, in-office nurse for most other kids, home visit nurse for kids with special needs, etc.)to check a child's body for signs of abuse. If your foster kid doesn't get their check up, then that child gets removed from the home.
#4) Become a foster parent if you can. We need more loving, trained, qualified adults to help these kids who are removed from abusive homes.
#1) We need to educate people better about child development, child raising, and non-violent methods of managing problems. We need to do this in schools as a mandatory part of education. We need to do it in churches, family focused organizations, and community centers. We need to do it in welfare programs. And we certainly need to do it when letting people become foster parents, even if those foster parents are relatives. If we spent more money training people to avoid abusive behavior, then we'll spend less money having to treat abused kids, prosecuting abusive adults, and housing convicted child abusers in prison. (Good education always ends up paying for itself.)
#2) We need to do a better job of training all government workers to identify signs of abuse. Whether you're a teacher, a police officer, a postal worker, or state representative, you should be trained in protecting our children, the future of our nation and world, and you should be a mandatory reporter. Sometimes, the only non-abusive adults abused children come into contact with are mail carriers or bus drivers, so they too need to be trained to help those kids.
#3) Any person who works directly with children should be better trained in identifying abuse. A DHS worker who doesn't know how to recognize child abuse or deception by abusive parents obviously needs better training.
#3) To protect vulnerable kids in foster care, kids in the foster system should be required to get a quick medical evaluation at least once per month. All it would take is 5 minutes by a trained health care worker (e.g. school nurse for kids in school, in-office nurse for most other kids, home visit nurse for kids with special needs, etc.)to check a child's body for signs of abuse. If your foster kid doesn't get their check up, then that child gets removed from the home.
#4) Become a foster parent if you can. We need more loving, trained, qualified adults to help these kids who are removed from abusive homes.
Labels: Activism
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