The Role of Social Institutions in Protection of Children From Abuse and Neglect

Abstract

Child abuse is an age-old phenomenon, which is confirmed by the data from art, literature, and science from many parts of the world. There are reports on infanticide, mutilation, abandonment and other forms of violence found in many historical records of unkempt, weak, and malnourished children who were left by families to take care of themselves. Those records also make note of charity organisations and groups, as well as others that were involved in ensuring the welfare and providing protection for the children. Social institutions are institutions that ought to be the first link in the chain of providing help and care for children and minors, but at the same time, they are institutions that work on reducing the occurrences of abuse of minors in society in general. Today, there is clear evidence that child abuse is a global problem which comes in different forms and is, unfortunately, deeply-rooted in cultural, economic and social practices. Solving this global problem, however, requires a much better understanding of its occurrences in a range of environments, as well as its causes and effects in said environments. In this paper, by applying the method of quantitative and qualitative content analysis, we will review and analyse concepts of child abuse and neglect, the forms in which they come, as well as analyse the role of social institutions, with a special focus on Centres for Social Work. The creative aim of the paper is to recognise the problem of child neglect and abuse which demands an efficient response by the wider social community.