Chris Perrault
Persuasive Writing
10/29/08
Rough Draft of Final Paper

The topic that I am going to be writing about is child abuse. Last semester, I took a class on this topic, and I learned how much abuse occurs in this world. We learned that children of all ages are being abused every single day. Many of them are abused because the abuser is either drunk, or has a history of abuse, or is mentally unstable. Many of the abusers come from their own family. There are many organizations that are formed to try and stop abuse from happening or trying to help people who have already suffered from abuse. However, I believe that more can be done. Granted, there are a lot of places that help these victims, but you still hear on the news how children are still getting abused, neglected, or even murdered because of the amount of abuse that they are given. With a lot more effort, the percentage of children being abused can be lowered dramatically.
Child Abuse can be defined as “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical to emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” Many children are abused, because the abuser is either drunk, has a history of abuse, or is mentally unstable. Most abusers come from the child’s own family. Effects of child abuse can last a lifetime. There are many survivors of child abuse who wind up inflicting the same type of abuse that they have received onto others. Child abuse can leave children mentally and physically damaged for a lifetime. There are four types of child abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and child neglect. The main reason for defining abuse into four categories is for proper treatment and research.
There have been a series of articles that I have used in my reaction paper to make my point across, but none have been as effective as this one. The first article that I found was from the New York Times. The title of the article is called Girl’s Parents and Agency Face Charges in Starvation by Jon Hurdle. This article is about a girl named Danieal Kelly, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and was murdered by neglect and malnourishment. The article says that her mother, Andrea Kelly, was the one responsible for Danieal’s death, because she was embarrassed to have been seen with her disabled daughter. Danieal was fourteen years old and towards the end of her life, she weighed about 42 pounds, which as the article says is the normal weight of a five year old child. Danieal was bed-ridden and she developed bed sores so severe, that they went down to the bone. Another part of this article has to do with the Department of Human Services. The article states that some of the employees who have been charged with the protection of Danieal, failed to do anything to save her. The article further states that the DHS received four complaints about Danieal’s maltreatment. A grand jury convicted Andrea Kelly of murder and involuntary manslaughter. They also convicted Daniel Kelly of endangering the welfare of a child. The grand jury also convicted two social workers who were assigned to the care of Danieal Kelly.[1] I chose this article, because it is the reason I have this issue in the first place. There is not enough that is done to protect children like Danieal from maltreatment and neglect. If social workers in the Department of Human Services were more properly trained, then incidents such as this one would not happen as frequently.
There are however many programs that are dedicated to helping children who have been abused or are in danger of being abused. Such programs include CAPS, which is Child Abuse Prevention Services. There is also CAP4KIDS, which is The Children’s Advocacy Project of Philadelphia. This program gives information about child abuse and domestic violence and also gives information about what hotline to call if your child is being abused or if you know anyone who is getting abused. There is also the Department of Human Services, Philadelphia Society for Services to Children, and Philadelphia Community Services for Children and Adolescents.
Every source of information I have used to discover the meaning of child abuse and what the boundaries are between discipline and abuse lead me to believe that there is more that can be done to prevent it. On the news every day, people are being charged with physical abuse of one child or molestation of another. Then, you read an article that states people in the DHS aren’t trained well enough to prevent a 14 year old girl with cerebral palsy from being ignored and starved to death. It all comes to one conclusion: There must be more that can be done to prevent children from having to suffer such terrible fates.
[1] Chris Perrault-Reaction Paper #2