Deciding When Discipline Becomes Abuse
Years ago my aunt had DSS called on her for spanking her child. The teacher who reported her believed that any physical force exerted on a child was considered abuse. The child had a faded red handprint on the back of his hand from being popped. My aunt felt she had reason to pop the child as he was trying to open the car door while she was driving. She spanked his hand to keep him from putting himself in more danger. My aunt didn't harm her child in any way, it was just a spanking for misbehaving. Figuring out where the line is drawn between discipline and abuse has always been controversial. As a Child Protective Service (CPS) agent, you're faced with the problem of deciding if the treatment of a child is, in fact, crossing a line.
When it comes to child abuse the lines are vague, it isn't a black and white situation as there are a lot of gray areas. There isn't a set definition for what constitutes as abuse, some refer to abuse as "failure to act on the part of a parent or caregiver, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm...", while others regard it as "acts or circumstances that threaten the child with harm or create a substantial risk of harm" (Recognizing Child Abuse: Physical Abuse). With so much space unaccounted for, it's difficult to recognize an exact point as to which discipline becomes abuse. According to the documentary from 2015, abuse doesn't include disciplining a minor as long as it's reasonable and the punishments fit the 'crime' (Recognizing Child Abuse: Physical Abuse). This brings about the debate as to who decides what constitutes as reasonable. Depending on the person making the decision, the degree of excessiveness will vary. As explained by the Hamilton County: Jobs and Family Services, discipline is considered too much if the child has resulting injuries that require medical attention, including but not limited to; bruising, bleeding, or swelling (The Difference Between Discipline and Abuse). The idea is that if the child does not have any type of injury, then it is not abuse. However, not all excessive force would cause a noticeable injury, but then again the smallest amount of force could cause a bruise on a child. When it comes to the discipline of a child, it is the parents choice on how they punish them, but there should be a definite line that represents abuse.
This blurred line between discipline and abuse is a pretty big problem for a CPS agent, if they stand on the wrong side of that line it can ruin lives. If a child is, in fact, being abused and the agent decides that the parents were in the right when it came to their punishment, that child will be raised in an abusive home and suffer at the hands of their parents. On the other hand, if a parent was actually disciplining their child, and happened to leave a mark it could ruin a good parents reputation. I have two solutions to help solve this problem for CPS workers. Solution number one would be to educate parents on how to properly discipline and care for their children through programs "including services to new parents, general parenting education classes, parent support groups, family resource centers, and crisis intervention services such as hotlines and crisis nurseries" (Juntunen). According to The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, it is important to distinguish what behaviors actually need repercussions, as opposed to behavior that they find annoying (...Abuse vs. Discipline). This is because kids need to learn when they're in the wrong, but at the same time, you can't punish a child for acting like a child. Another point parents should be educated on is how they should handle the disciplinary situation. For example in the letter, they say that it's best to wait until you have a clear head to punish your child. If you decide to spank your child in the heat of the moment, while you're angry, you risk injuring your child (...Abuse vs. Discipline). There's a story about a father who was working on his car with his son. He noticed his son was scratching off the paint on his car with a nail. The father hit his son's hand and in his fury, he didn't realize he was holding a wrench. His son's hand had to be amputated. When he got back he learned that the son scratched 'I love you, Daddy' into the paint. The story is awful and sad, but it raises a good point. When you're blinded by rage an action as innocent as spanking your child can turn into an abuse situation so quickly. There was a case of this type of situation in the news in Nebraska last year. A man was trying to punish his four-year-old for misbehaving, he felt he had the right to spank her as he was her father. However, he spanked her six or seven times with a sandal leaving her with bruises covering her body. While he felt he was just disciplining his child, he was actually abusing her. He is now facing two years of probation. (Associated Press). Solution number two would be to better define abuse. If you take out some of the gray areas it would be easier to know what kids need help. There should be strict laws that differentiate what abuse is and how it's different from disciplining a child. Child abuse should include any exertion of force on a child on any part of their body other than their bottom. You should only be allowed to spank with your hand, no other objects should be permitted. Also, if the spanking was used to scare the child as opposed to it just being a consequence of bad behavior, it should be considered abuse.
There are more problems in this career and obviously, it's going to be a hard job to handle. With the abuse cases stacking up more social workers will be needed (Crosby). When it comes to child abuse, there's only so much you can do to help the parents because the child is your main priority. Parents should be educated on what abuse is and avoid crossing the line. And to avoid accidentally crossing that line, the line between abuse and discipline needs to be made clearer.
Works Cited
"...Abuse vs. Discipline." The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter,
vol. 17, no. 2, Feb. 2001. Academic Search Complete. Print.
Associated Press. "York Man Who Used Sandal to Spank 4-Year-Old Gets Probation."
York News-Times, 16 Mar. 2016.
Crosby, Olivia, and Roger Moncarz."The 2004-14 job outlook for college graduates".
Occupational Outlook Quarterly. Vol. 50 Issue 3.Fall 2006. p42-57. Print.
Juntunen, Valarie R. Child Abuse Sourcebook: Basic Consumer Health Information
about Child Neglect and the Physical, Sexual, and Emotional Abuse of Children
3rd ed., Omnigraphics, 2013.
"Recognizing Child Abuse: Physical Abuse." Films Media Group, 2015,
fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=96757&xtid=47463. Accessed 8 Oct.
2017.
"The Difference Between Discipline and Abuse." Hamilton County: Job and Family
Services, www.hcjfs.org/services/child-protection/know-the-difference-between-discipline-a
nd-abuse/.
