AN APPRAISAL OF CHILD ABUSES AND NEGLECT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study is on an appraisal of child abuse and rights of the Nigerian child to education. Simply put, a child is any person who is not yet an adult and has not attained the age of fourteen years. The child is the group of person referred to as vulnerable because, he cannot fight for himself legally or otherwise. He is therefore abused, maltreated, or misused by a stronger group; family members, caretakers, peers, teachers, school administrators, neighbours, even parents. A look at cases of child abuse in Nigeria, reveal that several abuses take place at home, on our streets and in the school. The noticeable ones include; trespass on the child’s right to privacy, child neglect, right to association, right to human dignity, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, teenage pregnancy, early marriages, assault, including assault; occasioning harm, social, economic and psychological deprivation, street hawking, child labour, child/human trafficking, child prostitution, among others. These have great effects on children generally and the Nigeria child in particular. He is isolated, deprived, injured and bastardized leading to school truancy, attrition, absenteeism, failure, social and religious stigma and outright school dropout. It is therefore, recommended that public enlightenment lectures, campaigns and messages should be carried out to educate the public, children, teachers and parents on the rights of the child and the consequences of child abuse

Chapter one

Introduction

1.1Background of the study

Child abuse and neglect is a social and public health problem in Nigeria, as well as a children’s rights issue. Abuse and neglect can lead to a wide range of adverse consequences for children and young people. There is generally not a single factor that results in the abuse or neglect of a child; it is usually a combination of various factors. In addition, the duration (such as the duration of an illness) or intensity (such as the level of drug or alcohol abuse) can make it more or less likely that a child will be at risk for abuse (Aber and Cicchetti, 2014).

Child abuse is a term used for maltreatment and neglect of children. Child maltreatment may be formally described as: all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power (Woodhouse, 2011).

Child neglect on the other hand is generally seen as a different phenomenon from maltreatment. Child neglect may be defined as: “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caregiver, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm” (Culp, 2011). Neglect is in many ways the more insidious harm against a child, with long-term effects at least as damaging as physical abuse (if not more so) but often going unnoticed (Bloom, 2011).

The term ‘child abuse and neglect’ refers to the harm experienced by children or young people under the age of 18 years as a result of the actions, inactions or inability of people with a parental responsibility for them (Sylvestre and Mérette, 2010). Parental responsibility in relation to a child means all the duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which, by law, parents have in relation to children (Greenfield, 2010). The harm experienced by the child or young person may arise from a significant event or may arise from the cumulative effect of abuse and neglect. Most parents love their children, but when stress, tiredness, lack of skills, information and support combine it can be overwhelming (Drotar, 2012).

It is certain that no child is ever to blame for abuse inflicted on him or her by an adult. There may be no ‘child’ factors present at all when a child is abused. However the risk of abuse of a child may be increased if the child has attributes that make parenting more difficult or has high needs. Relevant factors might include being a premature baby, persistently crying, being one of a multiple birth, and/or having behavioural or mental health problems (Rosenbaum, 2011).

Some children may be vulnerable because of emotional difficulties they have that both reflect and exacerbate social isolation. The resulting cognitive and emotional deficits serve as signals of vulnerability and/or interfere with their self-protective skills outside the home (Vissing, 2012). Thus, some children are victimised again and again. Cognitive and emotional deficits resulting from sustained abuse (including family violence) or neglect at home may increase the risk of a vicious circle of victimization outside the home as well. Thus, for example, experiences such as loss, conflict, deprivation or turmoil within the home may undermine a child’s ability to protect themselves, making them a potential target for bullies or sexual predators (Abram, 2010).

Low educational attainment of caregivers has been identified as a risk factor for child maltreatment and neglect (Berger, 2010) and is also associated with poverty. Hence poverty (especially when compounded with other risks such as sole parenthood), low educational attainment and maltreatment can set up a cycle whereby one perpetuates the other (Jacobson, 2010). As with other risk factors, the strength of the relationship between low educational attainment and neglect and maltreatment is unclear, as are the causal pathways. Low educational attainment can both reflect and contribute to disadvantage including precarious employment and low income. Lack of education may also mean a parent has less understanding of issues associated with parenting, or has limited ability to learn themselves (Twardosz and Lutzker, 2010).

A further widely recognised stressor is sole parenthood (Alessandri, 2011). Two factors appear to contribute to sole parenthood as a stressor and risk factor for children: the first is the strong link between sole parent households and poverty, especially reliance on benefit income (Chaffin, 2011) although, due to the loss of the absent parent’s wage-earning power, “the majority of single-parent, female-headed families [are driven] into poverty, regardless of whether the mother works.” [emphasis added] (Bloom, 2011); the other is that sole parenthood may be associated with lack of family or community-based support networks. And a sole parent is doing the work of two people. While support provided to mothers is significantly associated with them being able to provide support for their children, there is no evidence that lack of support and/or wider family dysfunction necessarily leads to maltreatment (Aber and Cicchetti, 2014).

Child abuse occurs in every country in the world, and despite considerable efforts and resources, rates of maltreatment and neglect in developed countries have not markedly diminished, nor are researchers much closer to being able to assess which children are at risk, and what programmes effectively change long-term behaviour so as to prevent maltreatment (Berger, 2010).

Child abuse and neglect have immediate and long-term consequences. In addition to negatively impacting on the child, child abuse and neglect impacts on the family, the school community, and even future generations. The ability to survive and thrive in the face of child abuse and neglect depends on a variety of factors, including the extent and type of abuse or neglect, whether it was continual or infrequent, the age of the child when abuse was initiated, the child’s relationship to the abuser, and how the abuse or neglect was responded to if discovered or disclosed. Outcomes are also dependent on the child’s personality traits, inner strength, and the support the child receives from those around them (Berger, 2015).

Neglected children are also at considerable risk. These children are more likely than other children to suffer from a serious physical injury due to an accident such as falling, drowning, fire, or ingesting poison. They are also at a greater risk than other children of being physically and sexually abused from an unrelated caretaker, often times a significant other or friend of their parent(s) (Berger, 2010).

It is important to note that some children will not develop behavioral problems, so it cannot be assumed that a lack of behavioral problems is evidence against child abuse or neglect. When there are behavioral problems as a result of child abuse and neglect, they will most likely be related to difficulty following rules, being respectful, staying in their seats and keeping on-task, temper tantrums, and difficult peer relationships. As children become older they are more likely to engage in self (Woodhouse, 2011).

It has been the general assumption that children with reasonable physical care would grow into normal happy adulthood. But scientific investigations of psychologists, sociologist and psychiatrists regarding personality development has uncovered the greater importance of the growing up and its lasting effects on the total personality of a person. Adult personality has its root in childhood. What we can do as adult is largely determined by ways in which we were allowed into experience inevitable events of childhood. A child is neglected when he lacks continues physical and emotional contact with his mother. Children under this category are those may be due to lose of mother or both parents or the separation of both parents, thus child may be sent to nursery school or orphanages with many children which makes it difficult for special individual attention to be rendered to each child. Those children are therefore brought up by stranger which could be changed at different times due to the shift of their study. Child abuse on the other hand can be defined as the portion of harm to children that result from human action or in action that is prescribed, proximate and preventable. The definition recognizes that such harm is no accident but something perpetrated on children by others, usually intestinally and that the actors inflicting this harm do not enjoy society approval. It is also point out that abuse generally come from the child immediate environment and that it is preventable child neglect is a passive form of maltreatment or abuse UNICEF (1986).

There is reason to be concerned about child abuse (mistreatment and neglect) in Nigeria: children’s mortality rates from intentional injury almost doubled over the 1980s, and have improved little since then (Craig & et al, 2011, p. 59; 2012, p. 56). In 2003 UNICEF reported that New Nigeria ranked third highest amongst rich nations for its child maltreatment death rates (UNICEF, 2003). The public is understandably anxious following a number of highly publicized cases of intentional child maltreatment and death. Official reports including the Green Paper for Vulnerable Children (Nigerian Government, 2011), the ensuing White Paper (Nigerian Government, 2012b) and the final report of the Welfare Working Group (WWG) (Welfare Working Group, 2011), which highlight the plight of ‘vulnerable’ Nigerian children, have also fed the public’s concern.

Child abuse and neglect is one of the Nation’s most serious concerns. The Children’s in Delta strives to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of all children by working with state, tribal, and local agencies to develop programs to prevent child abuse and neglect. The Children’s Bureau awards funds to states and tribes on a formula basis and to individual organizations that successfully apply for discretionary funds. Child Maltreatment 2015 presents national data about child abuse and neglect known to child protective services (CPS) agencies in the United States during federal fiscal year (FFY) 2015. The data were collected and analyzed through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), which is an initiative of the Children’s Bureau. Because NCANDS contains all screened-in referrals to CPS agencies that received a disposition, including those that received an alternative response, these data represent the universe of known child maltreatment cases for FFY 2015 CAPTA was amended in 1988 to direct the Secretary of HHS to establish a national data collection and analysis program, which would make available state child abuse and neglect reporting information.1 HHS responded by establishing NCANDS as a voluntary national reporting system. During 1992, HHS produced its first NCANDS report based on data from 1990. The Child Maltreatment report series evolved from that initial report and is now in its 26th edition. During 1996, CAPTA was amended to require all states that receive funds from the Basic State Grant program to work with the Secretary of HHS to provide specific data, to the extent practicable, about children who had been maltreated. NCANDS is subject to the Office of Management and Budget approval process to renew existing data elements and to add new ones. This process occurs every 3 years. The most recent renewal in which new elements were added occurred during September 2012 when six fields were added to NCANDS four to the Child File and two to the Agency File. The six new fields were implemented to comply with CAPTA and improve data quality two fields added time stamps related to the receipt of a referral and the start of an investigation or assessment, two fields added dates for a discharge from foster care and child fatality, and two fields asked for counts of children eligible and referred to early intervention services.

Statement of the problem

One of the basic principles of the International Convention on the Right of the Child is that every child must be protected against all forms of exploitation, indecent or degrading treatment, including child labour, abduction and sale (UNICEF 2000). According to UNICEF, exploiting the labour of a child means employing a person below the age of 15 years and paying him/her less than the minimum standard wage. Halting the maltreatment and neglect of children matters because abuse causes harm to the victim both at the time of the abuse and in the long term: that harm may be “substantial and long-lasting”; many victims “follow a path to crime and violence” and may never become “productive” members of society (Child Youth and Family, 2010, pp. 2-3). Physical, mental and emotional development may be affected. It is against this backdrop that the researcher intends to assess an appraisal of child abuse and neglect in Nigeria

Objective of the study

The main objective of the study is to find out the appraisal of child abuse and neglect in Nigeria. The specific objectives are;

1. To examine child neglect and effect on the teenagers in Nigeria
2. To assess child labour and effect on the teenagers in Nigeria
3. To look at child battering and effect on the teenagers in Nigeria

Research question

The study formulated the following research question;

1. What is the relationship between child neglect and effect on the teenagers in Nigeria?
2. What is the relationship between child labour and effect on the teenagers in Nigeria?
3. What is relationship between child battering and effect on the teenagers in Nigeria?

Significance of the study

The findings of this study will be of benefit to the following group of people: parents/care givers, policy makers/government and the society at large. The findings of this study may enable the parents to understand the effect a positive change of behavior. Finding of the study may also assist the policy makers/government to enact and enforce laws that promote and protect the right and wellbeing of every child to know their right in the families and community.

Findings of the study may be used to create awareness and equip parents, caregivers and guidance. It will also help them to see the needs for proper child care in order to avoid outlive disasters. Findings of this study may also help the society to have knowledge about the effect and consequences of child abuse on child development and adolescent’s health.

Scope and limitation of the study

The scope of the study covers an appraisal of child abuse and neglect in Nigeria.

Limitations/constraints are inevitable in carrying out a research work of this nature. However, in the course of this research, the following constraints were encountered thus:

1. Non-availability of enough resources (finance): A work of this nature is very tasking financially, money had to be spent at various stages of the research such resources which may aid proper carrying out of the study were not adequately available.
2. Time factor: The time used in carrying out the research work is relatively not enough to bring the best information out of it. However, I hope that the little that is contained in this study will go a long way in solving many greater problems.

Methodology

This research requires the use, mainly, of the doctrinal method to achieve the set objective. Therefore this research applies this method whereby information, facts and law are collected and analysed, having due regard to the constitutional provisions governing the topic of this research.

Literature review

After analyzing this chapter, it has been shown that child abuse in Nigeria negatively affects the future of children and destroys the image of the country. Children suffer from various forms of abuse such as child marriages, molestation, child labour, kidnapping, and neglect, among other forms. Many laws and policies were put into place with the purpose of protecting children from abuse. However, they have not been effective for many reasons including poor enforcement mechanisms, poverty, corruption, lack of rehabilitation of sexual offenders, negative attitude of parents, and inefficient judicial processes.

After going through the whole chapter it has brought to light with the realization that the menace of child abuse and its resultant effects on children in Nigeria can only be resolved through a combination of efforts by the government and other relevant stakeholders in order to revamp Nigeria’s educational system, national economy, law enforcement agencies, and judicial institutions.

The structure of the study

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows

Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), statement of problem, objectives of the study, research question, significance or the study, research methodology, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlight the theoretical framework on which the study its based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.  Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the stud

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