Child Abuse

In talking about child abuse and neglect, many people agree on many situations. But within those many agreed upon situations, arise other situations that are considered to be in a grey area. Some of these are among child obesity, threatened by possible death before being born, and being born addicted to some sort of drug. You should attempt to help the situation of the child if: "A child will be physically hurt, a child’s overall well-being is threatened, or if you are uncomfortable with a situation involving a child." (America Humane Association, 2011). Now the question is whether or not those grey area situations are child abuse or not. I believe that if a pregnant mother does some kind of drug such as cocaine as used in the post, and the child is born addicted to the drug, that is child abuse. Every person with common sense would know that it is harmful to do that to your own body let alone while you are pregnant. In doing that, you are affecting the child's well-being negatively.

Another grey area is letting your child get morbidly obese and suffer some possible medical conditions. It is said that "Severe childhood obesity has been shown to trigger diseases that haunt people throughout their lives, including liver dysfunction, respiratory problems and diabetes. In the most extreme cases, these diseases can prove fatal before the age of 18." (Ogilvie, 2011). This situation is among the most debated I feel. However, I do have a definite stance or view on this. I believe that it is not abuse for your child to become morbidly obese. You cannot control what they do at all times. You also cannot make them do things. Children and adults will eat what ever it is there body and mind wants. There is no stopping that really. Yes, I believe that parents should watch out for their children and their best interest, but people will eat what they want. Parents cannot be with them 24/7 watching them and telling them what they can and cannot eat. Also, someone else cannot control someone elses metabolism. Every body's body burns food off at different rates. Now if a parent was doing some sort of force feeding and making their child abuse, then yes, I would consider that child abuse.

There are many more different situations that could be brought up and discussed and they do in many court cases. But what I have shared are just some of my thoughts on these different grey area child abuse situations.

Works Cited:
America Humane Association. (2011). Step 1: evaluate situations for child abuse. Retrieved from http://www.americanhumane.org/children/stop-child-abuse/report-child-abuse/step-1-evaluate-situations.html

Ogilvie, J. (2011, August 29). Pro/con: Does obesity qualify as child abuse?. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/29/health/la-he-childhood-obesity-custody-20110829

Great post Hunter! I agree with you on alot of the things that you mentioned. I feel that anything that can put a child in harm is abuse. You make a great a point with your cociane argument because if doing drugs like cocicane is harmful to your body, then doing it while pregnant has to be even worse. A pregnant mother is the "life source" of their fetus or child. If the mother were to put harmful chemicals in their body, it would be deadly to the fetus, maybe even more deadly to the fetus then to them. Why would people expose their child to drugs? A big point that I would like to bring up ages. According to the Child Help (a foundation to help abused children) stated that "Approximently 80% of children that die from abuse are under the age of 4" (Child Help, 2010). That shows that most children that are extreamly young, and that goes well with your drug argument. Are these children babies? According to the Child Abuse and Prevention and Treatment Act "the term child is someone who has not reached the age of 18"(Tulare County Health and Human Services, 2011). That shows to me if babies and even high-schoolers get abused, it is child abuse. The last thing that I agree with you is, about what you mentioned about the gray area for childhood obesity. It all comes down to metabolism, some people have faster metabolisms then others. One person can eat one thing and gain a pound where as another person can eat a ton of food and gain nothing. It depends on the diet. When it comes to younger children, the diet is reflected on the parent, because children at the age of four don't have the mind to feed themselves. However a child at the age of 16 would. It is hard to determine wheter or not it is a bad diet or their metabolism, but parents should not get in trouble if a child has a slow metabolism, that's just biology! Would it be any different if a person was to skinny? No it would not. Parents who don't take care of their children's diet are neglecting their needs. In that case it could be considered child abuse. In the end a parent is the care taker of their child and if they harm them, it is considered child abuse. As sad as it is, children are not always put first, and sometimes are the output for a parent's frustration.

Resources:

Child Help. (2010). National Child Abuse Statistics. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from Child Help (Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse): http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics

Tulare County Health and Human Services. (2011). Child Abuse. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from Office of the Tulare County District Attorney: http://www.da-tulareco.org/child_abuse.htm

Hunter i agree, and you and i know better than most the effects of a slow metabolism, but we also know how to balance it and not let it become radically out of control. You are right that you can not really watch your kids and moniter everything they eat at every moment, it is impossible. But you do have good information on the subject. You say that it is not abuse for you child to become obese and i agree although the parents do play a major role in what their kids eat. I like your one point about if it becomes out of hand it can have fatal consiquences. I read that "Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure" ("Health effects of," 2012), which supports your statement to a T.



Center of Disease Control, (2012). Health effects of childhood obesity. Retrieved from website: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm

Good post Hunter. I think these grey areas should be better addressed in these posts. I like how you make your points in this, very straight forward. Your point saying we can't control everything our child I agree with completely. No parent can control what their kid does 100% of the time and sometimes there are other factors that come into child obesity but it shouldn't be considered abuse until it is clear that the parents are to blame and the obesity is at an extreme state.