Children In Need Of Protection
~Report On Child Abuse~
Our Society has promoted the doctrine that parents have a right to raise their children according to their own values and beliefs and that all people should have the right to minimal government intervention in their lives. Only recently have social values and concerns changed to recognize that some parents' methods or faising children may be unaceptable. What is "unacceptable" is not easy to decide. Punishment acceptable to one parent, such as spanking, is considered physical abuse by another. The values of individuals within society vary widely, and the methods of child raising vary with these values. Sometimes the result is that some children do not receive what society deems as proper care and supervision. The legal system must then step in to protect the child from his or her family.
Child Abuse is any form of physical harm, emotional deprivation, neglect(leaving your children without proper supervision) or sexual maltreatment that might result in injury or psychological harm to a child. Abuse is not cinfined to any one group of people; it occurs in families from all educational, economic, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. Although statistics indicate that child abuse is mainly a male offense, there is an increasing number of cases involving mothers who are single parents and who are receiving little or no help from their former partners.
Legislation requires every person who has information about the actual or suspected abandonment, desertion, or need for protection of a child or infliction of emotional or physical abuse on a child, to report that information. Persons working closerly with children have a special awareness of those who may be in an abusive situation. Such persons as doctors, nurses, teachers,social workers, child care workers, clergy, daycare employees and peace officers must immediately report any actual or suspected abuse to the authorities. Failure to do so may result in a fine of up to $1000, depending on the province.
To encourage people to report suspected cases of neglect and abuse, most provincial legislation treats any information reported as confidential. Furthermore, the person supplying the information is protected from legal action, unless the report was made without reasonable grounds or malicious intent.
It states in the "Child Welfare Act"
Division 1 Section(4)Subsection(1)
"(1) Any person who has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that a child is in need of intervention shall forthwith report the matter to a director."
Division 1 Section(4)subsection(6)
"(6) Any person who fails to comply with subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not more than $2000 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term of not more than 6 months."
It is stated that abusing a child is wrong! Our Children are our future generation, treat them with the respect and Luv that they deserve. There are to many children who grow up knowing abuse as the only way of discipline, lets stop that cycle and teach them that there are different ways to deal with anger, because a child who is hit will learn to hit, a child who is neglected will learn to neglect, a child who is emotionally abused will learn to emotionally abuse. Let's raise our future generation to embrace life and luv each other--not to continue in the ways we were once taught--Let it stop here! Help us make a difference!
--Barb Hall
Biography
"All About Law-Exploring the Canadian Legal System-Fourth Edition" Dwight L. Gibson, Terry G. Murphy,
"Child Welfare Act"-Alberta