FORT JACKSON, S.C. (April 9, 2015) -- Social workers and law enforcement representatives from all over South Carolina gathered at Fort Jackson last week for a discussion about child abuse.
"When I talk to Soldiers on Fort Jackson, they know about hitting a child, they know about sexual abuse," said Greg Lewis, Family Advocacy Program specialist. "But there are some things they don't know about, like neglect and emotional abuse."
The Family Advocacy Program seminar was designed to highlight less explicit forms of child abuse, he said. Leading the discussion was Sharon Cooper, a consultant and board member for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"We now have new research that helps us understand that, when children have been victims, it profoundly affects their health long term," Cooper said. "This is new research that many people don't know about, and it helps us to recognize how important prevention is going to be."
The definition of abuse has evolved over the years to include forms of maltreatment that are not necessarily physical, she said.
"It's almost as if we have really diminished incidents of typical child maltreatment," Cooper said. "Now we see different kinds of things coming forward, such as Internet crimes against children."
"I signed up because I knew it was about child abuse awareness and wanted to support it," said Karen Owens Blanding, who works for Fort Jackson's Early Intervention Program. "What I got, though, was a wealth of information. Such as what social media has done to our families -- knowing that people spend so much time on social media that they forget to feed their children is more than my mind could digest."
Cooper said medical professionals now have a clearer definition of psychological maltreatment, which was once referred to as "emotional abuse."
"In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics submitted a policy statement so that health care providers -- and individuals who take care of children in families -- can recognize what constitutes psychological maltreatment," Cooper said.
This definition also includes online humiliation by guardians, which sometimes takes people by surprise, she said.
"Parents or caregivers are videotaping humiliating experiences of their children and putting them on YouTube," Cooper said. "Those things don't go away."
Social Sharing