The Tragedy of Child Abuse

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The Tragedy of Child Abuse A Child Called "It" is a real life story about a boy brutally beaten and starved by his mentally disturbed and alcoholic mother. Dave Pelzer was the third-born of five children (Ronald, Stan, Russell, and Kevin). His father was a firefighter and, according to Dave, his mother was originally a loving, kind, and wonderful person. This all changed when his mother began drinking and eventually became an alcoholic. Even though advocates against child abuse work diligently every day to put an end to child abuse, it is tragic because child abuse can cause physical and emotional distress along with many other factors and child abuse can lead to developmental issues and detachment from others. In the book “A Child Called It”, Pelzer says he lived a normal and healthy life until his mother became an alcoholic, transformed into a monster, and began expressing her anger on her child at the age of four (Pelzer, 1995, Loc 1344). The physical injury or ill-treatment of a child under the age of eighteen by a person who is responsible for the child’s wellbeing under circumstances, which indicate that the child’s health or wellbeing is harmed or threatened thereby, is the definition of child physical abuse, defined by The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (Newton, 2001). Ethical theory is an idea that helps a person form personal standards to help them differentiate what is morally good or bad. Child abuse within any standard is morally wrong in the eyes of most people. The effects of child abuse on a child are unimaginable. There are many different effects of physical child abuse such as withdrawing from social situations, learning disabilities, and later in life can lead to substance abuse, eating disorders, and depression. The physical aspect of child abuse can be seen in direct injury to the skin, broken bones, bruises, and eventually scarring
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