Child abuse study

Press, 23 September 1981, Page 21

Child abuse study

By

MARIANNE THORPE

of the Child and Family Guidance Centre

Child abuse has been alluded to in recent correstondence in "The Press” in regard to the connection between unwanted pregnancies and child abuse. Readers may be interested in some of the information that has emerged from a comprehensive study carried out by the “Bureau Of The Confidential Doctor." a co-ordinating agency in the service of abusing families in the Netherlands.lt also carries out research. In 1977, 12.500 abused children were reported to the 10 Confidential Doctors' agencies in Holland, a slightly greater number of boys than girls. The abuse had occurred among all age groups but especially amongst those under five. Over half of the reports came from the main cities.

Abuse to the child was usually repeated regularly, resulting in bruises, burns and bleeding and developmental disturbances. Death resulted in five cases, serious brain damage in 14. A surprisingly high number of children, over 85 per cent, had been abused by their own parents, only slightly more often by the mother ihan the father, in spite of the fart (hut in nearlv all

cases the mother did not work outside the home and thus spent a great deal more time with her children than the husband. Over a quarter of the children had been abused by both parents and in one third of cases more than one child in the family had been abused. The other 15 per cent had been abused by step-parents, foster-par-ents, siblings and other close relatives and care-givers. When we analyse the figures more closely, we find that nearly half of the children abused were living with both natural parents who were legally married; nearly one fifth were living with one dr other of the parents who had remarried. Unwed mothers, whether living alone or living in defacto relationships constituted 68 cases out of 775. The legally separated, either living alone or in a defacto relationship, formed a bigger number (108). It is interesting to note that where a solo parent was living alone (either not yet separated, or divorced, or widowed, or unmarried, a

greater number of cases of abuse were reported than where a parent was living with another adult.

From just these few figures (there are many more in the study), we can conclude, firstly, that it was the children's own parents, either one or both, who abused them in the great majority of cases, and secondly, that marital instability is an important factor in child abuse.

It cannot be concluded from this study that unwed mothers are in greater danger of abusing their children than married, re-married or solo parents. Only in 3 per cent of all cases was the abused child seen as unwanted.

Contributing factors to child abuse were seen more as poor relationship between the adults caring for the child, alcoholism, the emotional condition of the abusing parent, the feeling of helplessness of the parents, and the aggressive character of the abusing. parent. Other reasons, such as that the child was “difficult,” disobedient," or handicapped were seen to be contributing factors in only a minority of cases.