Pathway of Neglect in Early Childhood to Physical and Emotional Abuse in Adolescence Leading to Suicide in Young Adulthood

Case study

WORD COUNT: 2717
Background and aim
Child abuse and neglect is one of Australia's most significant social problems and is increasing at an
alarming rate, causing psychological and life threatening issues such as suicide (Joiner, 2005). The
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017) showed that physical child abuse is a major issue with children
aged zero to 12 being placed in the care of other families and protection programs. This has doubled
between 2000-2011 and rising from four to eight per 1,000 children in Australia. Furthermore, studies
have shown that children who are exposed to violence or physical child abuse are more likely to
experience a wide range of adverse psychosocial and behavioural outcomes. Such behavioural
outcomes result in 65,000 of the population attempting suicide and 600,000 of the population
contemplating suicide (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017).
The Department of Health and Human services for children and families (2006) showed that children
are affected by their family environment and almost 900,000 children are classified as maltreated by
parents and other care givers. This coincides with the statistics from the Australian Bureau of statistics
(2017) with the rate of suicide in Australia increasing dramatically over the decade from 2000-2011,
resulting in 2,292 males and 735 female suicide in 2015. Suicide is complex with many diverse
pathways leading to its development and these risk factors include psychosocial, neurobiological and
psycho-pathological factors (Gould, 1998). It is recognised that childhood trauma can lead to suicide
(Beitchman, 1992). potential mediators that influence this behavior include depression, anxiety and
neglect.
Life experiences along with family circumstances- positive or that of negative has an impact on the
vulnerability of the child. It has been found that in the absence of protective factors, risk pertaining to
serious outcome increases. The children who are socially disadvantaged and live within dangerous
neighbourhood have more chances of committing suicide in the young adulthood. Research has
brought out the fact that maltreatment type can be said to be inter-related. A large number of the
young people who have to face childhood abuse have to face more than one kind of abuse. Complex
trauma helps in the reflection of the interacting symptom and it often involves an interpersonal
element. The trauma that is caused owing to child abuse have serious repurcussions on that of the
developing brain. The formative mind of the children becomes badly affected by these experiences
and it can permanently damage their mind. The exposure to chronic trauma can lead to persistent
psychological problem for the children and the adolescent. Child abuse can have an effect on all
domains pertaining to development – physical, emotional along with social. Psychodynamic theory
helps in explaining personality in the lines of conscious along with unconscious forces.

Psychodynamic theories stress on the fact that the experiences pertaining to childhood can help in the
shaping of personality of an individual. The adverse experiences can have a severe impact on the
mind of the children and they become more prone to suicide at the stage of young adulthood.
Current approaches to policy and/or practice and/or interventions.
There are different child protection legislations within Australia and the authorities often intervene
owing to the harm that may be inflicted on the children. The state government of Australia is
responsible for the operation in relation to child protection services. There are different kinds of acts
in Australia like Children and Young People Act 2008, Children and Young Persons Act 1998 and
Child Protection Act 1999 that wants to offer protection to the young children in Australia so that they
do not have to suffer the brunt of child abuse and neglect that can irreparably damage their mental
setup. The children are protected with the help of these Acts so that they do not become prone to
suicide in their later life.
Australia acts as a signatory to that of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that
helps in providing guidance to the states. The legislative principles help in the reflection of the service
goals pertaining to the government. The legislation pertaining to Australian jurisdictions includes the
young people in the act of decision making that helps in offering protection to the children. The
legislations play a great role in maintaining the cultural identity of the children and protecting them
from all kinds of abuses in the society. The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children
was carried out by Council of Australian Government that places the interests of the children at the
centre of legislative development.
According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies (2017) reported that government as well as
non-government organisations have both taken action to fight the child abuse prevalent. They have
provided many policies and interventions for family and child abuse prevention in Australia. A
comprehensive and dedicated governmental efforts from the Australian Institute of Family Studies
(2017) and Commonwealth of Australia (2005) have formed three types of preventions and these
include primary, secondary and tertiary preventions.
The prevention of child abuses and neglect is a complex problem needing a whole set of strategies and
actions to be successful in stopping maltreatment from occurring. As a result, The National Child
Protection Week is promoted by the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
(2017): for example, the Pete and Penny program which is sponsored by the Medical Benefit Fund
and media campaigns are run by the state government (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2017).
The basic aim of this primary intervention is to provide awareness and stop abuse before it begins.

Furthermore, the secondary prevention are programs that target specific portion of the population that
are more at risk of abuse and that are in need of greater support. The programs include young parent
support services, isolated single parent services and respite services, including crisis care (National
Child Protection Council Secretariat).
However, as for Tertiary prevention this program/intervention is to help those who have already been
abused. The aim of the tertiary prevention is to prevent abuse from reoccurring and provide
counselling services for victims to overcome the trauma. Such tertiary preventions include Family
Services, help-lines with professionally trained counsellors, and community services that provide
counselling and education for those from abusive families.
Pathways analysis.
The theoretical pathway from neglect in infancy, child abuse in adolescence to suicide in young
adulthood is shown below:
Figure: The theoretical pathway
Source: Created by the Author
According to Erikson (1956) in each developmental stage people face new challenges, and the stage
outcome depends on how people handle the challenge. Erikson believed that during the first stage
infant’s basic needs are met by the parents and this interaction leads to trust or mistrust. To support
this according to the Child Development Institute (2005) it further explained that a child’s first trust is
with the parent or caregiver, and if the parent exposes the child to warmth, regularity and dependable
affection, the infants view of the world will be one of trust. However, if the parents fail to provide a
secure environment and meet the child’s basic needs a sense of mistrust will result. This leads to the
development of mistrust which are feelings of frustration, suspicion, withdrawal and lack of
confidence.
Furthermore, applying this theory to a child that is neglected. Now neglect has no universally
accepted definition (Rosenman & Rogers, 2004). However, neglect is often described as the failure of
the caregiver to provide adequate supervision, emotional nurturance, appropriate medical care, food,
clothing and shelter for a child (Scott, 2012)). As a result, neglect is due to the minimal services
Neglect Child abuse
Suicide in
adulthood