Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Paige and I live in the western USA. I'm currently in my third year of school studying social work.

Lately we have been talking about abuse and am confused about some of it. For example, understanding mental abuse is a little hard, I'm not really clear on how you identify it. Understanding where you draw the line between diciplin and abuse is also a little confusing. If anyone could help clear any of this up for me it would be greatly appreciated. What if you are talking to a client who is almost 18, and you think their parents are abusing them? Even though they are almost 18, would you still have to report it as child abuse?

Thanks to anyone who can help me, I hope to get to know all of you in here in the months to come!

Paige

Paige:

Welcome to the message board.

The SW (and other professional) literature is rich with information that addresses the subject of abuse in all of its various flavors. My experience with the message board has been that it does not typically answer students' questions such as yours directly. Part of being a student (and a SWer) is learning where to look, performing that search and experiencing/enjoying the fruits of that search in the form of new learning.

There are pretty clear criteria for abuse. As a result, it is fairly easy to differentiate abuse from discipline. The laws in most states are quite clear regarding the ages for youth that would trigger stautory reporting of suspected abuse, neglect and/or exploitation.

Good luck in your studies and we look forward to being with you on the message board.

May the dialogue continue.

Jaybee

Hello Paige: I wish you good luck with your studies. Physical abuse is usually easy to determine, by hand prints, belt marks, etc. However, many children are afraid to disclose the abuse...that is the hard part. But you are correct that Mental Abuse is harder to determine and harder to prove, as you are taking a child's word for it (or adult). Mental abuse is language that causes someone to question their self-worth. A parent that would call their child names or tell them they will never amount to anything, or that they are stupid, ugly, bad, or just about anything that is hurtful and could injure the child's self perception. It does not have to be a parent, it could be a teacher, or foster parent, etc. The other question of if the child was 17...it does not matter. If the person is 18, 25, 80 years old, and you feel they are being abused, you must report that abuse. Social workers are mandated reporters and if we do not report, we can lose our license. Adults can be abused as well, as we know. I am sure I did not cover the full explanations with this brief post, but as the previous person pointed out, there is a great deal of information that I am sure you will learn from. You sound as if you will make a wonderful social worker. Take care.