Lack of Community Ties Causes Child Abuse (From Child Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints, P 102-106, 1994, David Bender and Bruno Leone, eds. -- See NCJ-159823)

• NCJ Number: 159835
• Author(s): R Farson
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 5 pages
• Sale Source: Greenhaven Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Opposing Viewpoints Series

Annotation

Families have become isolated from the extended families of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that characterized society for generations, and fear of strangers has led parents to isolate themselves and their children still further.

Abstract

This isolation causes parents to feel alone and unable to parent effectively and increases the likelihood that overburdened parents will abuse their children. In other societies in the world, raising children is more of a community responsibility, with many adults helping as their time, talents, and roles permit. In the United States, however, newspaper and television stories about molestation in child care centers, missing children, and kidnaping have diverted attention away from the basic causes of child abuse and have led to the implementation of ineffective child protection measures. To encourage a community perspective on child abuse, the author offers four recommendations: (1) end corporal punishment; (2) connect overburdened parents with other people; (3) give parents education, not just training; and (4) teach and allow children to say no.