history of child abuse

Background:

Since the beginning of time, child abuse has been a societal issue and remains to be one to this day. Under English Common Law, men owned their wives and children; these women and children were viewed as property rather than people. Women and children had no rights to complain about their treatment because the father ruled the family. When colonists began immigrating to America, the practice of child abuse was brought with them and practice in the united States in the 16th and 17th century with little-to-no consequence, however, the history of humanity is founded on the abuse of children. When tough times occurred, abusing families was a method of bringing everyone together as it showed dominance to the father and solve emotional problems by setting order within the family. The abuse of children continues to occur daily all over the world. Child abuse occurs in a child’s home-life, throughout economic activities, and on social media.

Mary Ellen Wilson (1964-1880)

The facts of Mary Ellen Wilson’s case display the governmental-neglect towards the treatment of children ad supervision practices. This case opened doors to thousands of child abuse cases to become publicly addressed.

The Progressive Era (1890s-1920s)

With a period of widespread political and social activism, the Progressive Era consisted of movements that addressed problems such as industrialization, urbanization, immigration, political corruption, and other social concerns. The Progressive Era reforms were typically led by women as they fought to better society. In regards to women’s issue, child labor, women’s work, and child abuse were their main fights. With child saving efforts, women of the Progressive Era created the idea of a Federal bureau devoted to child-well being; the Children’s Federal Bureau was successfully formed in 1912. This bureau formed with the goal of investigating and reporting matters pertaining to the welfare of children. They were to also investigate the questions of infant mortality, the birthrate, orphanages, juvenile courts, desertion and abandonment, dangerous occupations, accidents and diseases of children, employment, and legislation affecting children in the several states and territories. This would be the first time the government would be held responsible for the welfare of children.

Post Progressive Era & The Depression (1920-1941)

Child abuse societies and organizations peaked around 1922 from the mass Progressive Era reforms. While interest in these reforms were high during the Progressive Era, the public began to lose interest in them, organizations became to have funding problems, and many assumed that because the government was now in charge, child abuse would be taken care of; this lead to a decline in cases and talk about the social issue.

Being that the Great depression hit America from 1929-1941, non-governmental organizations struggled to continue their fight against child abuse as they had previously been funded by private donations. The ,economy crash made this difficult and many organizations were never able to recover after the depression. This was a difficult time as many parents and guardians were now home with their children full time as they experienced unemployment. This placed a higher risk on the welfare of children and more government involvement was required.

ChildAbuse Hysteria: McMartin Preschool (1980s)

The case of the McMartin Preschool shook the nation as the preschool was accused of santanic sexual abuse. While no one was charged in trial, this case brought new attention to child abuse after child abuse had been a less discussed issue the prior years; child abuse was back to the front cover of every newspaper.

Terms of Child Abuse:

Throughout history different terms were used in place of child abuse. Some of these terms are:

• child maltreatment
• mistreatment of children
• the endangerment of a child / child endangerment
• child neglect
• child cruelty
• cruelty to children

The terms can often be rephrased and reworded when talking about child abuse.