Title it “Micro-Activity #14: Continue Drafting the Annotations”

Ap. “Study Finds Severe Effects From Childhood Abuse.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Feb. 1991, www.nytimes.com/1991/02/18/us/study-finds-severe-effects-from-childhood-abuse.html. 

A New York Times article, “Study Finds Severe Effects From Childhood Abuse.” discusses a study of how child abuse effects the child development. Researchers has stated that children who have experienced any kind of abuse face many complications. Some of the complications  may include lack of concentrations, inability to continue a sequential story, depressed and lower intelligence. Many children who were neglected by their parents or weren’t given attention they needed later on lacked interest in exploring their environment, became suicidal, or became depressed. There were also correlations between abuse during childhood and drug addictions later on in their life. Many children who were abused by their caregiver also showed lower IQ scores and lower mental abilities as well. 

This article was very interesting and at the same time very emotionally difficult to read. The author grabs the reader’s attention and shows credibility by stating researchers and studies as well. The article clearly reveals that child abuse during the dvelopmental stages of the children has negative effects on their adulthood. Many children who were abused face depression, has high suicidal rates, have drug problems and have other mental illnesses as well. It is crucial that children receive love and attention from their parents in order for them to be healthy as adults. Many parents don’t realize that how children are raised during their developmental stages plays a big role as who they would be as adults in the future. 

“Abused children who were asked to relate an incident or tell a story could not proceed from beginning to end, often became distracted and jumped to other stories, and did not seem to understand the reasons for the actions they described”

“These were kids who, because of the emotional unresponsiveness of their parents, lost interest in exploring their environment.”

“Children who are abused or severely neglected have lower intelligence and an increased risk of depression, suicide and drug problems, a study has found.”

“Preliminary findings from interviews with some 500 people led to the conclusions that those who were abused as children show drops in I.Q., reading ability and other mental abilities, and are more likely to suffer from drug and alcohol problems and mental illness, Ms. Widom said.”

Meysen, Thomas. “Information, Intervention, and Assessment – Frameworks of Child Physical Abuse and Neglect Interventions in Four Countries.” Interventions against Child Abuse and Violence against Women: Ethics and Culture in Practice and Policy, edited by Thomas Meysen et al., 1st ed., Verlag Barbara Budrich, Opladen; Berlin; Toronto, 2019, pp. 77–86. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvr7fcsw.7. Accessed 22 Oct. 2020.

The chapter “Information, Intervention, and Assessment – Frameworks of Child Physical Abuse and Neglect Interventions in Four Countries.” specifically concentrates on child abuse and neglect preventions in four countries. The chapter specifically discusses Enghland, Germany, Portugal, and Slovenia in order to be precise of each protection policy. There are many aspects that identify what is considered as child abuse and what should be done as consequence and what could be done in order to prevent it. If there is any cases of child abuse or neglect, it is considered averyone’s duty to report to the states. States then intervenes in investigating and getting involved in child’s life in order to identify existence of child abuse. There has been some controversies that many cases may include psychological abuse or neglect that was not taken into consideration by the states in order to consider intervening in a child’s life. Once the state is involved and goes through a full investigation then there would be a decision made by the judge. The decision depends on the current situation of the child, the parent’s present and past actions, and as well as the parent’s capability of taking care of the child. Some of the decisions may include supervision by the state, separation of children and parents, or legal action towards the parents.

This book was very specific on the types of policies each state has and it gives deep comparison between the states policies. I agree with the fact that children should be protected by the government and states must intervene if there are any hints of child abuse or neglect. I also agree that parents should face consequences if they are abusing their child even if it’s just psychological or emotional abuse. I would say that there has top be a better system to protect children and prevent child abuse. There could be mandatory educational courses about affect of child abuse on children for future parents before the child is born. Educating parents on what is considered abuse, stages of child development and how abuse eefect child development could be a one way of preventing future child abuse. 

Throughout the chapter, I didn’t like the author’s style of writing. The chapter was very informative and there were no emotions, not any persuasion. Author did not try to persuade the readers that the child abuse is unethical, instead author just wrote a informative chapter on four different countries and their policies on child abuse preventions. Author gave detailed information on the policies however the author didn’t try to give detailed information on why the policies are important. I thought the chapter was really dry and it didn’t grab the reader’s attention.

“The focus can be on the child development, the child’s current situation, the development of the parenting ability, the current parental behaviour, and/or past parental actions” (80)

“All four countries have clear duties to react to indications that a child is at risk of suffering harm” (83)