The social issue that I will be researching about includes ‘Child abuse within Aotearoa, New Zealand’. The reason in which I chose this topic is because it is a subject I am interested in learning more about. As an occupation my mother looks after children from home, approximately one year ago she had two young children in her care who were taken from their family living in the South Island to live with their grandparents here in Hawkes Bay. This was because of drugs the mother became addicted to which caused her to become abusive toward them and not care for them in a sufficient way. This situation has really got me thinking about how many children are effected by abuse within New Zealand.
Within the context of my blogs information regarding applicable policies and legislation will be discussed. I will talk about abuse management and possible pedagogical implications. Links will also be made to the effects on early childhood education settings and their teachers. I also wish to investigate statistics within Aotearoa, New Zealand and compare these with other countries around the world. I am also interested in learning about the history of this topic and about the impact that child abuse can have on children’s learning and development.
Finding a definition for the term ‘child abuse’ is difficult as it is an extremely wide issue, meaning there are a variety of sub-headings that funnel beneath it such as physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Therefore I am going to focus my blog specifically on ‘child neglection’ as "child neglect is the most common type of child maltreatment" (DePanfilis, 2006).
Corby (2000) defines neglect as "the persistent failure to meet a child’s physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development" (p. 75).
Similarly another definition of child neglect includes the "failure of a parent, guardian or other caretaker to sufficiently provide for the care of the child’s basic needs" (Croft, 2012). Basic needs include air, food, shelter, water and love and care.
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