Social Work Practice With Sexually Abused Children

How Effective Is Current Social Work Practice With Children Who Have Been Sexually Abused



How Effective Is Current Social Work Practice With Children Who Have Been Sexually Abused

Chapter 1: Introduction

According to a recent UNICEF report on child well-being the United States and the United Kingdom ranked highest among first world nations with respect to the well being of their children. This study also found that child neglect and child abuse are far more common in single-parent families than in families where both parents are present. Recently a study conducted by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1 in 50 infants in the United States are victims of nonfatal neglect or abuse. In the US neglect is defined as the failure to meet the basic needs of children including housing, clothing, food and access to medical care. Researchers found over 91,000 cases of neglect over the course of one year (from October 2005- September 30, 2006) with their information coming from a database of cases verified by protective services agencies.

Maternal incest and pederasty by men are quite common in pre-literate groups and were common in earlier historical times. Boys in UK today, for instance, are so traumatized by the early erotic experiences, neglect and assaults on their bodies that they need to prove their masculinity when they grow up and become fierce warriors and cannibals, with a third of them dying in raids and wars. In fact, it is found that rather than the incest taboo being universal--as anthropologists claim--it is incest itself that has been universal for most children in most cultures in most times. A childhood more or less free from adult sexual use is in fact a very late historical achievement, limited to a few fortunate children in a few modern nations. To give some idea of the extensive evidence have been gathered for such an unlikely conclusion, and would like to begin by summarizing the evidence which exists for the sexual abuse of children around the world today.

Chapter 2: Review of Literature

The prosecution of child sexual abuse cases continues to be an area in which there is a strain between the judicial system and the social work profession; the former is predominately interested in the conviction of the accused and the later is primarily interested in the protection of the child's emotional well-being. In an effort to assist the sexually abused child throughout the court process, the authors propose the concept of a child-cantered social worker committed to minimizing the potential for system-induced trauma by assisting the sexually abused child through the judicial process and providing clinical treatment as well.

Despite recent studies suggesting that rates of child sexual abuse have decreased markedly (Jones & Finkelhor, 2001:12), the number of children estimated to be victims of child sexual abuse is formidable. A national estimate suggested that 3.2 children per 1,000 are victimized annually (Sedlak & Broadhurst, 2006:52). Although every victimized child is not reported to child protection services, the ...