BARRIERS TO RECOGNISE THE SUFFERING CHILD

Analyse the barriers to recognising and acting on concerns that a child may be suffering

Analyse the barriers to recognising and acting on concerns that a child may be suffering

Communities play an important role in safeguarding children through preventative action, empowerment, development of local resources and self-help measures. Brat, L (2009) says that social construction is society's views of childhood such as labelling and identifying a phase of life. Some views of the child are being dependent, a possession and many more which can be used even today. In the 19th century children were severely beaten this was seen as a form of discipline child labour was common and accepted. Children worked in factories under the age of eleven they were sometimes given difficult and hazardous jobs like cleaning the factories. This could be seen as child abuse in such a society that we live in now, the writer disagrees with children taking on such job roles at such a young age as the Human Rights Act (1998) was put in place to protect individuals in three areas of discrimination: race, sex and disability. Therefore it could be argued that these principles have already been reflected in Government legislation and policies and have been informing best practice in health and social care.

However Bart (2009) say's by the 20th century perceptions of the child were beginning to change between societies. The writer agrees with this because children began to be seen as innocent and in need of protection, children do not need to work because their parents do. Bart (2009) states that today's parents are more likely to look up to their children and see them as their pride and joy. The DOH (1999) say's parenting can be difficult and demanding, and there is no right or wrong way of bringing up a child. It can be argued by Bart (2009) that we live in a multicultural society and difficulties can arise when considering the influence of culture on parenting skills and styles, so what one person may see as abusive another person may not.

The DOH (1999) recognised five catogries of abuse such as physical, emotional, neglect and sexual abuse. The Hobbs (2001) says physical abuse is more easily recognised due to bruising, scalds or fractures to the body under the age of one. However Owen, H (1999) defines such physical abuse of children in a similar way as intentional use of physical force on a child such as to cause severe effects on the child's emotional development. It may involve telling the child that they are worthless or unloved, preventing the child from involving in activities, as well as exploitation and bullying. Munro, E (2002) say's emotional abuse is one of the most difficult forms of abuse to recognise as there may be no obvious signs of physical marks or injuries, this type of abuse may occur in isolation but may be linked to other forms of ...