DIABETES IN ADOLESCENTS

Diabetes in Adolescents

Diabetes in Adolescents

Introduction

The co-occurrence of woman and child abuse in the same family is only beginning to receive attention internationally, especially in severe cases of abuse. Although domestic violence is acknowledged as a public issue requiring urgent intervention by government, non-governmental organisations and society at large, the co-occurrence of woman and child abuse is under-recognised and poorly understood in South Africa.

One of the reasons that the phenomenon of woman and child abuse co-occurring remains undetected, is that women's organisations and child welfare practitioners approach domestic violence from different perspectives resulting in the bifurcation of the phenomenon. The consequence is that interventions focus on the needs of either one or the other party (Chamberlain 2001; Echlin and Osthoff 2000). It has been postulated that women's advocates approach their practice from a feminist perspective while child welfare workers approach their practice from a child-centred approach (Magen, Conroy, and Del Tufo 2000). Although both practices are focused on the safety of their respective clients, the different approaches lead to different and not always appropriate interventions with deleterious consequences for the safety of women and children.

International Woman and Child Abuse

Acknowledgement of the co-occurrence of woman and child abuse has been recorded both in the United States of America and in the United Kingdom (Beeman and Edleson 2000; Chamberlain 2001; Hampton 1999; Jones and Gross 2000; Rumm et al. 2000). Brown and Hamilton (cited in Walby and Myhill 2001) found that 46 per cent of the 256 families referred for child abuse to the West Midlands Police Station in the United Kingdom also experienced violence against women, making woman abuse the most common risk factor for child abuse. The severity of abuse to a woman is linked to the severity of abuse to children in the home. Therefore, the severity of the woman's abuse is predictive of the severity of the abuse of the child. In addition, men who have been reported to most frequently beat their wives are also most likely to be reported to be abusing the children in their home (Edleson 2001; Park and Khan 2000).

Woman abuse and child abuse have traditionally been examined as separate issues with the result that distinct and separate service delivery systems and social policies have developed to address these problems. Mullender (1996) is of the opinion that to date social work statutory services have often been seen as not knowing how to respond to domestic violence or as having other priorities — namely, the best interests of the children.

Internationally, some communities have started to develop strategies to address woman abuse and child abuse as they co-occur in same family systems. However, these efforts are often hindered by tensions and conflicts between child welfare/protection workers and domestic violence advocates. Domestic violence advocates generally concentrate on the needs of the abused woman, whereas child welfare/protection workers focus on the best interests of the child. These interests sometimes conflict or are perceived as a conflict between the two parties (Pearce cited in Brandwein 1999; ...