The alarming rise in the report of child maltreatment has pervaded spaces,
discourses and climes where concerns about public health, legislative, judicial,
human rights, political, media, economic, social capital, cultural and religious
systems appear frequently. While the clamour against child maltreatment seems
nascent, the subject of child maltreatment is evidently not a new phenomenon.
Child maltreatment is historical and presumably linked to culture and religion with
occurrences such as corporal punishment, female genital mutilation and child
marriage.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in its 2006 publication titled “Preventing
child maltreatment: A guide to taking action and generating evidence” reveals that
child maltreatment is linked with inter-personal violence which may be physical,
emotional, sexual or negligent in nature and which can be perpetrated by anyone
with whom a child has some relationship or contact with. The obvious or subtle
presence of violence in any relationship with a child will often result in that child’s
maltreatment.
Physical maltreatment involves using physical force against children
with or without an object. Emotional maltreatment revolves around activities that
denigrate children. Sexual maltreatment objectifies children for sexual pleasure
while child neglect are activities whose omission or commission deprives children
of needed care. Maltreated children will show signs of injuries, low self-esteem,
openness to and acceptance of abusive treatments from self and others, becoming
abusive in behaviour towards people, poor hygiene, malnourishment, illnesses and
fear, among others. In extreme cases, child maltreatment will result in death.
Child maltreatment can be triggered and aggravated by reasons such high levels of
societal tolerance for abuse towards children, the low class ascribed to children in
communities, under-reporting and poor reporting of child maltreatment cases and
the absence of accessible, sufficient and effective child welfare services, just to
name a few. The World Health Organisation further states that the severity of child
maltreatment that may result from reasons as these is dependent on three specially
identified risk factors. These are children’s level of dependence on caregivers, their
vulnerability which can be characterized by their weakness in ensuring their
wellbeing and their social invisibility in the society.
Societal tolerance for the maltreatment of children will exhibit itself through
normalizing the exposure of children to violence including its interpersonal forms,
caregivers who abuse drugs, caregivers with mental health problems, the access
and use of drugs by children, questionable cultural and religious practices like
child marriage and the neglect of restrictions that can curb children from engaging
in risky behaviours, among others. The 2023 article “Tackling the normalization of
neglect” reveals that the normalization trend pervades neighbourhoods of poor
social and economic status including communities with high numbers of children
who commonly experience abuse with limited interventions. Unfortunately, with
various forms of socio-economic constraints worsening globally, the societal
tolerance for the maltreatment of children may continue, unabated.
The maltreatment of children is equally linked with the low class which is ascribed
to them. Typically, this can be a function of their parents’ low socio-economic
standing identified by educational levels, income levels and type of occupation.
Children of these parents can be identified by their poor health condition, low
school enrolment, low school attendance, high live-in arrangements with extended
families and high participation in the child labour market. In other situations,
culture and religion sometimes present children as individuals with little
significance in the community as they are viewed mostly as being in need of
discipline and direction and other times, as individuals meant to be seen but not
necessarily heard.
Under-reporting and low-reporting have on their parts worsened the incidences of
child maltreatment. Under-reporting can be viewed as the willful refusal to
disclose all the information that pertains to a child maltreatment case and may
involve the influence of bias in how child maltreatment is reported. Low reporting
on its part, has to do with the reduced frequency of reporting child maltreatment.
Disturbingly, the under-reporting and low-reporting of child maltreatment have
been postulated to be caused by limited knowledge of what child maltreatment
entails; allegiance to the family where the child maltreatment occurred; reluctance
or aversion to initiating investigation of child maltreatment cases by law
enforcement agents; absence of legislation that mandates the reporting of child
maltreatment; fear of litigation; lack of journalistic expertise in reporting child
maltreatment and complicity in child maltreatment. For instance, research reveals
that journalistic reporting on child maltreatment is usually low in quality, full of
sensationalism, tends to silence victims and experts on child maltreatment matters,
focuses mainly on victims and less on perpetrators, may incite more criticisms
towards the victim than the perpetrator and lacks information on preventive and
responsive interventions. This highlights the urgent need for change in how child
maltreatment cases are reported.
Startlingly, the reporting of child maltreatment cases becomes irrelevant when
child welfare services are inaccessible, insufficient or ineffective. In fact, no child
maltreatment case can be adequately addressed if there are limited resources for
investigation, litigation, communication, education and recuperation. Thus,
commitment to the delivery of accessible, sufficient and effective child welfare
service in terms of qualified and trained staff, funding and opportunities to
collaborate with relevant stakeholders, remain crucial.
Exposing child maltreatment can reduce healthcare, economic and social costs to
individuals and communities. Additionally, they can improve family and societal
functioning as it relates to child care, engender safer learning spaces for children,
advocate for more commitment and professionalism in reporting child
maltreatment and provide needed platforms for progressive child welfare service.
Bidemi Nelson
Shield of Innocence Initiative,
Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
