Story: Child abuse
Page 5 – Understanding child abuse
Causes of abuse
How people explain the causes of child abuse has changed over time.
Heredity (genetics), the effects of alcohol and ‘feeble mindedness’ were all suggested as causes of abuse in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Psychological causes for social problems were first identified around the 1920s and attention turned to the place of the child in the family. Traumatic family relationships or a lack of family affection could all lead to child abuse or neglect.
Research into battered children from the 1960s identified social causes, such as social and economic inequalities and overcrowded living conditions. Single parenthood, seen as a social problem in itself, was sometimes given as another cause, especially when 1960s research indicated that women were the majority of abusers.
The high level of abuse of Māori children was noted but largely unexplained in the 1960s. The Māori ‘renaissance’ of the 1980s led to culturally-based explanations for abuse, including racism and the effects of colonisation.
Contemporary explanations
In the 2000s child abuse is firmly set in the context of family violence, partly as a result of links made between women’s and children’s rights and domestic violence. The home or the family situation is recognised as the main place abuse occurs and family members as the major perpetrators of violence towards children. In common with other forms of family violence, child abuse can be a learned – and tolerated – behaviour that is passed from one generation to the next.
Cycle of violence
One woman described the maltreatment meted out to her as a child and her abuse of her own child. She was ill-equipped to deal with the demands parenthood brings: ‘[the baby] wouldn’t have her bottle when she was supposed to – she just wanted everything her own way and would scream if she couldn’t have it. So I started belting the baby, and Mum started getting worried. I told her I’d kill the baby one day if something wasn’t done because I just couldn’t keep on top.’1
Links between family violence and child abuse were made more explicit in government policy from the 2000s through the implementation of family violence prevention strategies and the introduction of pan-agency family safety teams. These links have enabled welfare agencies, police and health professionals to work together more closely. Preventive programmes emphasise working with families to end cycles of violence and abuse.
The cost
Abuse is widely recognised as having long-term and immeasurable social, health, emotional and behavioural effects on children and their families. The financial costs are huge. In 2010, the cost of all family violence, including child abuse, was put at $1.2 billion annually, spent on education campaigns, investigations, trials, prison terms and assistance to victims.
Speaking out
Those at the heart of child abuse — the children themselves — have often been silent. Children have found it hard to report their abuse, and not only because people may not believe their claims; they may risk their family being separated.
Backlash
Growing awareness of child abuse led some people to speak of a ‘child abuse industry’, where parents were unjustly accused of abusing their children. There were claims of false allegations of abuse, and an independent inquiry into one case in 1989 found that social workers had acted in ways not justified by the evidence before them. A local version of the English group Parents Against Injustice (PAIN) was formed in the 1980s. It claimed to have 130 members by the end of 1989 and unsuccessfully called for a ministerial inquiry into New Zealand’s so-called ‘sexual abuse industry.’
From the 1970s phone help lines gave victims one way of asking for help. Teachers, doctors and others alert to the signs of abuse could act on behalf of children, calling their situation to the attention of police or social workers. Since the 1990s, more survivors of abuse have spoken out. Some have recounted their experiences when in private and state residential institutions, and have filed cases against the Crown or other agencies. Others have talked about their experiences at the hands of foster parents or others charged with their care.
Overcoming abuse
Since the 1980s, more resources have been put into helping children cope with abuse. This has extended also to adult survivors of abuse, especially sexual abuse. Some government compensation has been available for sexual abuse survivors, such as funding for therapy or lump-sum payments.
