Child Abuse and Neglect
Child Abuse and Neglect
Social Worker’s Approach: Working with Survivors of Trauma and Sexual Abuse
The approach to healing persons and individuals who are sexually abused may require thorough consideration and evaluation. The effects of children who are sexually abused may be too painful to bear for the family and the victim. The situation may be unimaginably complicated, especially when the abuser is the victim’s father, as in Brandon’s case. A social worker’s role in such a situation is to report a parent with such conditions though the same can be more challenging than law enforcers. In most cases, the problem involves several things instead of dealing with issues associated with making the abuser take the entire responsibility for all the abuses done to restore the abused’s dignity. Studies have revealed that reporting parents of suspected child abuse instances ensure priority in offering protection to the child from any possible harm and dangers (Plummer, Makris & Brocksen, 2014). The roles of various social workers from the beginning in dealing with the child abuse concerns starts with looking after or dealing with the welfare of the abuser, the victim, the community, the family, and the non-abusive parents.
The ecological models offer an insightful platform that corresponds to valuable rationales for the safety standards of the abusers. Based on the person-environment perspective, the model will help understand the victim’s situation as it seeks to establish r re-establish unity with Brandon’s family, self, and the entire community. In most cases, the abused child may not be comfortable in his or her current environment. Thus, that should be the primary role a social worker must consider and handle. As a social worker tries to understand the situation and formulate a solution to it, getting a proper grasp of it could be boosted by asking how the incident took place. It may be that the incident took place without association with surrounding as other factors may contribute to it (Holt et al., 2011). As a result, the social worker may start exploring new environmental aspects to deduce a possible solution. This may include the nature of parental competence, family lifestyle, family relationship, culture and beliefs, family resources, and support and community.
Application of ecological model in addressing Brandon’s case will have to deal with mezzo, macro, micro-levels. The micro-level of the model will focus on all personal perspectives and concerns of the abused child. It will be the social worker’s role to know the child’s personal and biological history. The exploration and assessment should be based on the impacts and effects of the abused child and other associated conditions that might affect their wellbeing (Roose & DeBie, 2008). Categorically, all the cues and clues need to be carefully analyzed and addressed based on the child’s traumatic state. The micro-level assessment needs to explore the effect of trauma and sexual abuse on the child’s emotions and self-view, especially through looking at the signs of anxiety and depression disorders, cognitive aspects, and behavior.
The Mezzo level in the ecological model ensures that the victim’s family is put in the picture. They may include all immediate family members and other associated parties who can participate in the affected person’s informal and formal support networks. Because the abused child may experience other conditions after the incident, the parents must ensure that proper care is made available to address the situation (Zastrow, Kirst-Ashman & Hessenauer, 2019). Working with the affected person’s family explores pertinent issues associated with the affected child and other related conditions. These efforts will also help maintain a close rapport and support social workers in outlining proper interventions for the family and the victim, including all the treatment services associated with an abusive father.
Moreover, the macro-level in the ecological model expands onto society and the community, especially on the community strengths, resources, social and cultural influences, community attitude, and community norms to the related sexual abuse issues, leading to possible healing of the affected child. The social worker will ensure that all the necessary interventions improve the community’s treatment in supporting the abused child. As a norm, community involvement and participation in social actions, social developments, and policy formations need to keep all the sexually abused children and families.
To sum, regardless of the situation, the abused child must remain within an interactive system’s dynamics to their child’s environment. The related persons’ role is to ensure that the child is adequately supported and the atmosphere conducive to development. However, it also necessary for all victims to identify their strengths and address them to avoid harboring various repressed feelings and internal conflicts. Besides, in dealing with such cases as sex abuse, it is necessary to stop child abuse. All affected children need to receive adequate support to develop a positive interpersonal relationship with the community and family members. The rationale and approach are to ensure that she gets proper healing and recovery.
References
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocken S. M. (Eds.). (, 2014). Social work case studies: Foundation year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing.
Zastrow, C. H., Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hessenauer, S. L. (2019). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
