CHILD DEFILEMENT ppt..pptx@##$$##$_&&&-+

Child defilement definition of child difilemenet and effects of child defilement

1. CHILD DEFILEMENT ALITILI B.M.

2. Defilement is having sexual intercourse with a person (this includes both boys and girls) under the age of 18 years. It doesn’t matter whether the person has given consent or not. The major determinant in defilement is age.

3. Factors that could contribute to defilement cases in the community. Indecent dressing and inappropriate behaviour. E.g. small girls patronizing clubs and taverns and drinking alcohol while implicitly dressed could be the main reasons why you find even big men are being tempted to have carnal knowledge with small girls. Sex boosters or Libido enhancers: Traditional medicines and concoctions sold by traditional healers to men, especially to have their private parts enlarged and libido enhancers.

4. Sexual perversity. This is a situation where those that are involved have no control over their sexual desires and therefore, take advantage of young children left in their care. Lack of adequate institutional day care centres for children and the prohibitive fees tend to create a situation where children, especially those with working mothers are left in the care of relatives or others who tend to abuse them.

5. Psychiatric disorders: Some perpetrators are known to be “ paedophiles ” which is sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual objects for reasons they may not even comprehend.

6. Beliefs that having sex with a minor can cure HIV/AIDS . Witchdoctors were wrongfully advising HIV and AIDS patients to sleep with minors in order to be cured, the prevalence of HIV and AIDS, there are superstitions and beliefs that sex with a child cures HIV and AIDS, boosts business potential, increases chances of promotions at places of work, or enhances other powers such as witchcraft. This is usually done on advice of witchdoctors and traditional healers.

7. Lack of parental care . It is argued that the inability of most parents to provide adequately for their children due to poverty forces girls into sexual relations with taxi-drivers, bus drivers and others so that they raise some money to afford them to eat something or go to school. Parental support is thus, lacking in many households today where it is found that parents spend less time with their families. Some parents leave home early, leaving their children asleep and come back very late when the children have already gone to bed. It is true that lack of parental care and poverty can actually motivate some children to engage into child prostitution in order to make ends meet and thereby escalate incidences of child defilement.

8. Inadequacy in housing could also cause a volatile situation that is likely to promote strange behavioral patterns among members of a particular household. (Those mainly of extended family setups) to live together in a house which does not have enough or adequate space. For example, a family of eight or so members could be housed in a one bed roomed house. The husband and wife who are the owners of the house could occupy the one bedroom, the rest of the family share different corners, and may be the boys in one corner and the girls in the other. This creates a vulnerable state. Sometimes, it has been taken for granted that a youngster of 3 years or so can sleep with the elderly believing that nothing would happen to the child since s/he is in the care of the elderly person.

9. Watching pornographic videos : Child defilement cases could also be escalated if watching of pornographic videos in the home is allowed. With the coming of the internet, pornography is more common than it used to be. These depict scenes of heterosexual, rape, oral, anal and group sex, incest, bestiality and other loathsome out pouring of perversions. Repeated use of pornography can interfere with the ability to enjoy and participate in normal marital intimacy, a specialist in treating sex addiction, states that what starts as casual viewing of pornography can eventually lead to deviant sexual acts.

10. Traditional and customary practices like initiation ceremonies and early marriages perpetuate defilement of the girl-child. The lessons given during initiation ceremonies include seductive scenes which the girl has to imitate and she can later put these lessons into practice by engaging in sexual relationships

11. Variation of culture to culture . In Zambia because of the popular belief that children are ‘safe’ HIV-free partners. Child sexual cleansing in a case where a widow or widower has sex with a child to obtain cleansing and wade off the ghost of the deceased spouse from causing trouble.

12. Quest for wealth : there is this belief that sex with children can bring about success in business, Girls are defiled and sexually exploited just because they are girls-selling produce on the streets, walking to school in rural areas and working as house servants. Customary marriages were the girls are married off at a tender age due to poverty or certain traditional belief or lack of education

13. SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS THAT YOU COULD OBSERVE IN A CHILD THAT HAS BEEN DEFILED . Though children may not speak about abuse, they may nevertheless communicate that something significant and disturbing has happened to them in a non-verbal manner.

14. Significant or sudden changes in mood or behavior may indicate a problem. Changes in mood may include signs of depression: sadness, tearfulness, lethargy, anger, or mood swings

15. Children may also begin isolating themselves, withdrawing from family or friends, spending all of their time outside the home, experimenting with alcohol or drugs when this was not the case in the past, or start acting out at home or at school. Conversely, promiscuity or sexually suggestive behavior when this was not characteristic of the child in the past.

16. Sometimes victims of sexual abuse or assault will change their appearance and try to become less attractive: wearing baggy, unattractive clothing, avoiding cosmetics, or failing to style their hair. Or, youth may adopt a more seductive and sexualized manner of dress.

17. Other behavioral changes which may indicate abuse include : significant changes in sleeping patterns and habits, significant or sudden changes in appetite and eating patterns, or significant weight gain or loss. A heightened sense of vigilance, vulnerability and fearfulness, possibly combined with a new sensitivity to startle, and a desire to withdraw socially may indicate the presence of  post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

18. When children have been sexually assaulted (raped) they may show medical signs of their attack including sexually transmitted infection, urinary tract infection and other hard-to-explain injuries.

19. Some abused youth will act out their inner pain by self-harming; often by cutting themselves with a blade in an effort to distract from emotional pain. Such as intentional cutting is easy to confuse with a suicide attempt though it is almost never that.  

20. Role of a community mental health nurse Consultative role – Giving advice to other professionals in the community about the type and level of nursing care required for given client groups who has been defiled or children who have suffered defilement. Clinical role – Providing direct nursing care to the patients in the community through home visits to the parents who have their child defiled.

21. Therapeutic role – Employing psychotherapeutic and behavioral methods for management of defiled patients. Assessor / Researcher – The nurse may assess the care given to clients and may also assess the outcome of ongoing care programs in prevention of defilement cases.

22. Educator – Creating awareness in the community about mental health and mental illness with special focus on vulnerable groups and how to prevent the vice of defilement in the community. Trainer / facilitator – Training of other professional community leaders, school teachers and other care giving professionals in the community in various prevention programs and awareness in the community and what to do in case of child defilement.

23. Manager/Administration – Manager of the resources, planning and co-ordination of programs to do with prevention of defilements in the communities Advocacy – Nurses speak out for the rights and interests of clients in the community by raising awareness of clients’ needs in places of employment, school and markets. This they do by sensitizing the public, NGOs, policy makers and service providers on the plight of clients who have suffered defilement.

24. Law Enforcer: A nurse may be the health-care professional who must document these activities as they are related to her by the patient or take photographs of injuries. In rape cases, the nurse may be a member of the Sexual Abuse Response Team, or SART, who is charged with collecting and preserving evidence. In many countries, nurses are mandated reporters for domestic violence, child abuse and elder abuse.

25. Maintenance of Ethics: Victims of abuse have been violated in physical, sexual or emotional ways; nurses are expected to deliver care no matter how difficult or ugly the situation may be. Nurses have an ethical expectation to be advocates for their patients, which includes acting to protect them or support them in situations of abuse.

26. Physical Care : sexually Abuse victims often require physical nursing care. In the emergency room, this may include cleaning wounds or applying a dressing. If injuries are severe, the patient may need surgery and nursing care during the convalescent period. The nurse might provide medications for pain or help the patient learn to walk with crutches. In addition, victims of abuse may need education for self-management if they have injuries that will take some time to heal, such as broken bones.

27. Emotional Support: The empathetic nurse can help provide emotional support by listening and allowing patients to express whatever they feel. Nurses offer an opportunity to talk about feelings and may also be able to suggest a referral to a counselor who is experienced in dealing with abuse victims. The nurse may also be the first person to recognize symptoms of depression or suicidal intent in an abuse victim.

28. Preventive roles : the uses primary, secondary and tertiary levels in identifying and prevention of defilement cases in the community.

29. MEASURES THAT GOVERNMENT COULD PUT TO PREVENT CHILD DEFILEMENT Establishment of stiffer punishments for the perpetuators of child defilement. Government will continue working to ensure that the message gets to all the people and that the law will continue to take its course in many issues of defilement. There is need to reinforce current legislative laws to curb such vices across the country by providing tougher punishments on culprits which would send a strong signal to would-be offenders.

30. Call upon all institutions, households and individuals to uphold the highest standards of There is need to ensure that funding for sensitization programs in communities is increased to intensify on the programs to do with child defilement.

31. The Department of Child Welfare and Protection must have adequate facilities to house and protect victims of this heinous form of violence against children. The police must investigate and act on all child sexual abuse with the urgency it deserves. The judiciary must expedite all sexual gender based violence cases involving children

32. If it’s to do with fast healing from certain diseases then there is need to sensitise traditional healers to start advising their clients to do away with the vice of child defilement adding that if it also has to do with release from prison, there is equally need for more sensitisation . A lot of parties are involved in dealing with cases of child abuse, from medical specialists to youth care workers and criminal justice authorities. The government wants them to work together in response to cases of (suspected) child abuse. This is referred to as a multidisciplinary approach.

33. Stopping child defilement and minimizing the harm to the child When it comes to child defilement, the main objective is to stop it from happening in the first place. When abuse does occur, it needs to be identified at an early stage, so that it can be stopped and the harm to the child can be minimised.

34. The ‘Signs of Safety’ method Professionals can use the Signs of Safety method for families in which child defilement occurs. Together, the social worker and the family draw up a safety plan for the child. The government is financing a research programme entitled Effective working methods in the youth sector to find out if this method works.

35. Child protection If a child’s development is in jeopardy and the parent or parents are not open to assistance, then child protection services may need to get involved. The court may impose child protection measures in order to stop child defilement. 

36. Child abuse is a criminal offence The court may impose treatment on the offender in order to prevent repeat of child defilement. Government agencies are working with the police, the Public Prosecution Service and other parties to improve the investigation and prosecution of offenders

37. Support for victims of child abuse The Youth Care Office provides support to victims of child abuse and their parents at their request. Different therapies and interventions are available. Legal Frameworks that Protect Children under the Zambian Statutes In Zambia, laws related to children are disseminated among different statutes.

38. Enforcing the children’s rights . Some children’s basic rights, like the right to citizenship, the protection from exploitation, the right to life of an unborn child, the right to personal liberty of a minor, the right of young person’s not to be exploited, etc. are entrenched in the Constitution (UN Human Rights Committee, 2007). In addition to constitutional and statutory legislation, customary law also exist to regulate matters concerning children.

39. The Victim Support Unit , the Child Justice Forum, the National Youth Policy and the National Child Policy, and ministries: mainly the Ministry of Gender and Child Development, the Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Ministry of Education “ The State shall protect the child from all forms of maltreatment by parents or others responsible for child care and establish appropriate social programs for the prevention of child abuse and treatment of victims,

40. The State shall protect children from sexual exploitation, prostitution and involvement in pornography and in particular take all appropriate national, bilateral and multilateral measures to prevent: a] The inducement or coercion of a child to engage in any unlawful sexual activity ; b] The exploitative use of children in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices; c] The exploitative use of children in pornographic performances and material. From the foregoing, one would assume that the Republic of Zambia has enough and adequate laws to protect its children.

41. Parents and Caregivers: Must ensure the environment in and around the home is safe for their children. Children : Must be given the confidence to report any form of abuse they experience to parents, caregivers, police, their teachers or even their neighbours. They must be able to report in the knowledge that they will be treated with dignity, sensitivity and confidence in all cases.

42. Community members and local leaders: Continue raising awareness at household and community level about the importance of protecting children from sexual abuse. There is need to emphasize that No child (below 18 years) can provide consent to sexual activities. Ensure that all child abuse cases are reported to appropriate authorities including any incidents where videos, photos or audio recordings of children being abused. Community Child Welfare Committees must review their child safeguarding and protection policies to ensure children are safe .

43. Thank you The End