Pastor Claude Thomas, International Social Work

Author: alexis
In the Philippines, there are more than 36 million people under 19 years old who are living in utterly inhuman conditions. About a million and a half children are estimated to live on the streets. They survive by begging for food and through petty theft. In spite of laws against child labor, more than three and a half million children from 5 to 17 years old work under grueling conditions. The data regarding child abuse and neglect in the Philippines are considered to be below the actual figures since the current statistics only reflect reported cases of abuse.

Recently, a survey by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reflected a sudden increase in the number of children that resulted from increased awareness and reporting in the community. Most of these children in this survey were victims of child abuse and neglect, also known as “child maltreatment.” Child maltreatment is a behavior toward a child that is outside the norms of conduct and entails substantial risk of causing physical or emotional harm. Child maltreatment can be a single incident, but it is usually a pattern of behavior that takes place over time. There are four types of recognized maltreatment. These are physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse (psychological abuse), and neglect.

The causes of child maltreatment are varied and not well understood. Abuse and neglect are often associated with physical injuries, delayed growth and development, and mental problems. They are more common in poor and extremely poor families than in families with higher incomes. Child maltreatment is also associated with psychological and emotional problems such as aggression, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In extreme cases, child abuse and neglect can lead to death.

Child abuse is also linked to an increase risk of substance abuse, eating disorders, obesity, depression, suicide, and sexual promiscuity later on in their lives. Women who were victims of physical assault during their childhood are twice as likely to be victims of physical assault as adults. There are also evidences which suggest that victims of child maltreatment are more likely to engage themselves in criminal behavior as juveniles and adults than others.

Although it is said that the most important relationship for all beings is that with their parents or with their families, child maltreatment often starts at home. Unfortunately, an alarming number of parents do not understand the importance of the parent-child relationship. They are often too young or unprepared for such responsibility. Their inability to commit to good parenting techniques causes serious detriment to the lives and well being of their children.

Children who have been maltreated are usually unwilling or unable to reveal their situation to someone because of parental threats, or a feeling of loyalty to the family. For children who are in school, while carefully asking a child may help to unearth details of maltreatment, teachers need to be aware of non-verbal ways in which the message of abuse may be communicated. The presence of one indicator alone does not necessarily mean that maltreatment has occurred. If there are a number of indicators, then immediate counseling is needed for the child. It is the process by which a professional helps a person cope with mental or emotional distress, and understand and solve personal problems is called counseling.

Individual and group counseling sessions usually take two years or even longer. The goal of undoing life-long damage can be very difficult because the damage pervades every aspect of a child. There may also be physiological changes that cannot just be “counseled” away. Medication can be useful for the symptoms of depression, anxiety and other symptoms, but should never be dispensed in the absence of counseling for the root of the problem. For children, play therapy and family therapy can be helpful.

It is important to help a child deal with the abuse as well as the psychological problems they report. Research indicates that without some form of intervention against child maltreatment, the long-term consequences for children can be nightmares, feeling of insecurity, feeling unsafe, poor school performance and low self-esteem. They are also more likely to be abusive or become victims of abuse themselves.

Author: Sanjeev Jha
Every generation of student by the time they are in high school or college starts identifying with this song so well as they feel the system is leading them to become just another brick in the wall. No this writer is not suggesting that Pink Floyd spoke nonsense or that what we as students feel is absurd and wrong. This writer has also felt the same as any other student and hummed the song many times. However, at the same time I also feel for those who never get the opportunity to go to school, those who never get the opportunity to receive as much education to identify with the song. Instead of feeling that they are turning into another brick into the wall, they have to carry bricks at an early age. How cruel is life isn’t it?

Living in a developing country like India we don’t have to depend on television and magazine photographs to get the right information regarding the true situation in which the poor children of the poverty stricken people are living in. A stop at the traffic light, construction sites, roadside stalls, a visit to the temple or other religious place or the places the foreign tourist love to stay and visit, one can see poor children running about begging, peddling stuffs , or engaged in child labor. Child labor and begging, peddling things are common sites to be found in India, though it is banned by the government. Probably we are missing it out in the implementation of the child welfare the programs.

A well planned program needs to be charted out to help the poor and the needy people so that they do not send their children to work at an early age instead of sending to schools to complete their education. Whatever be our experiences with education system we could not have grown that capacity to understand the meaning of the song, neither could have hummed that song if we haven’t got the proper education.

Poverty is so cruel that it makes people do things against their wishes. Every parent in the world wants to give their kid the proper education and all the facilities that will ensure a bright future for them. Our parents too have slaved for us, so that we can lead a comfortable life. But fate does not favor everyone alike. There are people who even after hard work are not able to provide a good life for their children. Poverty compels them to withdraw their children from school, not allow their children to go to school. Whatever little their contribution would be to the earning of the family is first thought of. How to make a living takes priority than education. We cannot pass judgment on them for making the choice of ignoring the development of brain to quenching the fire of hunger. It’s a realistic decision.

However this should not be an excuse to ignore the welfare programs needed for helping the poor children. We need to design certain child development and child welfare programs exclusively to help poor children. Educating them should be prioritized as that will enable to call the shots for their life. Education societies need to be set up with the help of charitable organizations.