Sexual abuse of children and minors

Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which a child is abused for the sexual gratification of an adult or older adolescent. In addition to direct sexual contact, child sexual abuse also occurs when an adult indecently exposes their genitalia to a child, asks or pressures a child to engage in sexual activities, displays pornography to a child, or uses a child to produce child pornography.
Effects of child sexual abuse include guilt and self-blame, flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia, fear of things associated with the abuse (including objects, smells, places, doctor's visits, etc.), self-esteem issues, sexual dysfunction, chronic pain, addiction, self-injury, suicidal ideation, somatic complaints, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, other mental illnesses (including borderline personality disorder and dissociative identity disorder[citation needed]), propensity to re-victimization in adulthood,and physical injury to the child, among other problems. Sexual abuse by a family member is a form of incest, and can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma, especially in the case of parental incest.
Approximately 15% to 25% of women and 5% to 15% of men were sexually abused when they were children.Most sexual abuse offenders are acquainted with their victims; approximately 30% are relatives of the child, most often fathers, uncles or cousins; around 60% are other acquaintances such as friends of the family, babysitters, or neighbors; strangers are the offenders in approximately 10% of child sexual abuse cases. Most child sexual abuse is committed by men; women commit approximately 14% of offenses reported against boys and 6% of offenses reported against girls.Most offenders who abuse pre-pubescent children are pedophiles,however a small percentage do not meet the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia

Sexual abuse of people with developmental disabilities

People with developmental disabilities are often victims of sexual abuse. According to research people with disabilities are at a greater risk for victimization of sexual assault or sexual abuse because of lack of understanding (Sobsey & Varnhagen, 1989). The rate of sexual abuse happening to people with disabilities is shocking, yet most of these cases will go unnoticed. About 20% of females and 10% of males are sexually abused in the US every year. The percentage is even higher among people with disabilities. According to research, more than 90% of people with developmental disabilities will experience some form of sexual abuse at some time in their lives. 49% will experience 10 or more abusive incidents (Valenti-Hein & Schwartz, 1995). Other studies suggest 68% of girls with developmental disabilities and 30% of boys with developmental disabilities will be sexually abused before their eighteenth birthday. According to research 15,000 to 19,000 of people with developmental disabilities are raped each year in the United States (Sobsey, 1994).
Sexual abuse is common among people with disabilities because the person being abused may not realize that sexual abuse can harm them and some individuals with disabilities may not be able to tell anyone that they were sexually abused. Typically people with disabilities learn not to question caregivers or others in authority. Sadly, it is the authority figures that are often committing the abuse. Research suggests that 97% to 99% of abusers are known and trusted by the victim who has the developmental disability (Baladerian, 1991).
Usually people with disabilities who have experienced sexual abuse are not provided with a way to “work through” their traumatic experience. Some of these victims severely lack communication skills that prevent them from even talking. Generally, the more severe the disability, the greater the difficulty in accessing services. The benefit of Psychotherapy or “talk therapy” among people with developmental disabilities is uncertain as well as whether or not sexual abuse impacts people with developmental disabilities as strongly as others without disabilities. However, everyone who experiences sexual abuse people with disabilities or people without disabilities are affected some way, and should be able to access treatment for sexual abuse. Human service workers must understand that people with developmental disabilities can benefit from counseling even if they are non verbal (Leigh Ann Reynolds).

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another, when that force falls short of being a sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a molester or molestor or abuser or sexual abuser. The term also covers any behavior by any adult towards a child to stimulate either the adult or child sexually. When the victim is younger than the age of consent, it is referred to as child sexual abuse.

Child Abuse

Child sexual abuse - Child pornography - Child Online Privacy Protection Act - Child abuse - Child abandonment - Child murder - Internet child pornography - Child slavery - Child molestation - Cases of child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church - Abandonment - Infanticide - Military use of children - Fratricide - Filicide - List of books portraying paedophilia or sexual abuse of minors - List of books portraying paedophilia or sexual abuse of minors - Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in films - Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in the theatre - Stolen Generation

Benefits of Early Childhood Education

Chicago’s publicly-funded Child-Parent Centers have served almost 100,000 3- and 4-year-olds since 1967. Researchers tracked 989 of those children and 550 similar children not in the program for 14 years. The children who did not participate were 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by age 18. This program also cut child abuse and neglect. In Ypsilanti, Michigan, 3- and 4-year-olds from low-income families who were randomly assigned to a group that did not receive preschool who were five times more likely to have become chronic lawbreakers by age 27 than those who were assigned to the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation’s Perry Preschool program.

Early Childhood Education

Other terms that are often used interchangeably with "early childhood education" are "early childhood learning," "early care," and "early education."
Early childhood education often focuses on children learning through play. The term, "early childhood education," is often used to describe preschool or baby / child care programs.
Early childhood education is also referred to as "babysitting" and the importance of educating young children is sometimes underestimated.[who?]
Researchers in the field and early childhood educators both view the parents as an integral part of the early childhood education process.[who?] Early childhood education takes many forms depending on the beliefs of the educator or parent.
Much of the first two years of life are spent in the creation of a child's first "sense of self" or the building of a first identity.[citation needed] This is a crucial part of children's makeup--how they first see themselves, how they think they should function, how they expect others to function in relation to them.[citation needed] For this reason, early care must ensure that in addition to employing carefully selected and trained caretakers, program policy must emphasize links with family, home culture, and home language. Care should support families rather than be a substitute for them.[citation needed]
If a young child doesn't receive sufficient nurturing, nutrition, parental/caregiver interaction, and stimulus during this crucial period, the child may be left with a developmental deficit that hampers his or her success in preschool, kindergarten, and beyond.
Worst-case scenarios such as those found in Russian and Romanian orphanages demonstrate how the lack of proper social interaction and development of attachment affect the developing child.Children must receive attention and affection from their caregivers to develop in a healthy manner.

Age of responsibility

The age at which children are considered responsible for their own actions has also changed over time, and this is reflected in the way they are treated in courts of law. In Roman times, children were regarded as not culpable for crimes, a position later adopted by the Church. In the nineteenth century, children younger than seven years old were believed incapable of crime. Children from the age of seven were considered responsible for their actions. Therefore, they could face criminal charges, be sent to adult prison, and be punished like adults by whipping, branding or hanging

In at least 25 countries of the world there is no specified age for compulsory education; at least 33 States have no minimum age of employment and in 44 girls can be married earlier than boys. In at least 125 countries children may be taken to court and risk imprisonment for criminal acts at an age between 7 and 15, often the age range for compulsory education. Moreover, in the same country, it is not rare to find that children are legally obliged to go to school until they are 14 or 15 years old but a different law allows them to work at an earlier age or to be married at the age of 12 or to be criminally responsible from the age of 7. Being aware of the legal situation of children around the world is necessary for designing effective measures to improve it. Based on States Parties' reports under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and therefore reflecting States' representations of their own practice, At what age? brings to light problems that are not - but should be - effectively addressed: at what age do children become adults and lose their protection under the Convention on the Rights of the Child? Children's right to education is currently under threat from early marriage, child labour and imprisonment; States have not adapted their legislation in favour of the right to education, and they do not have agreed standards for the transition from childhood to adulthood either internationally or nationally.Often taken as the guarantor of childhood until 18, the Convention on the Rights of the Child in fact states in article 1 that: "a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier". The latter element, a limitation, substantially weakens the operative part of the article and provides justification for differing interpretations and practice. It is an acknowledgment that not even the age of majority is the same in all countries

Attitudes toward children

Social attitudes toward children differ around the world and have also changed over time. A 1988 study on European attitudes toward the centrality of children found Italy was more child-centric and the Netherlands less child-centric, with other countries (Austria, Great Britain, Ireland, and West Germany) falling in between.

Definitions

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as "every human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.Biologically, a child is anyone in the developmental stage of childhood, between infancy and adulthood.