Creating screening methods that will be effective in preventing child abuse
Screening methods such as home visitations and qualified advice on the child’s health and diet that have recently been introduced into nursing practice have proved to be very effective in preventing child abuse. Professional nurses’ home visitations help alleviate stress and the feeling of not being able to cope experienced by many young parents (Todahl et al., 2021). The opportunity to discuss children’s problems with professional staff lifts the burden off parents’ minds about whether they do enough to give their children a happy childhood.
Training medical staff on being effective mandatory reporters
Seeing or suspecting cases of child abuse or molestation, nurses should have no qualms about reporting them. Mandatory reporting would result in better parental care for children and improve clinical standards by lifting the burden of doubt in the nurses’ minds. When the reporting is mandatory, it is easy to follow its guidelines which should be carefully elaborated not to be harsh on parents and at the same time offer protection to a child.
Creating financial programs that will reduce the burden of child care on parents starting from infancy if the family needs assistance
Families with children are often in need of support. Creating financial programs to help parents cope and afford a little more is an excellent factor for normalizing relations within a family. Many family problems stem from parents having to work long hours to provide for their kids. After a long working day, they may be too tired to take proper care of children, which results in misunderstanding and sometimes abuse (Jonson-Reid et al., 2020). Financial support and, in particular, educational programs for parents may allow them to find a better job with shorter hours to spend more time with their family.
Creating policies so that stakeholders will invest in the prevention of child abuse
So far, the best part of legislation in the child abuse sphere has been punitive. Society needs to find new incentives to make businesses invest in child abuse prevention by providing financial aid to companies active in this sphere. For example, in case the company speaks out against child abuse in its media campaigns, social networks, or advertising, the government could reduce its taxes or give credit on preferential terms (Williams et al., 2021). With the number of such companies growing, people would get the message that child abuse is unacceptable through social media and networks. Thus, they are more likely to change the practices they follow in the family.
References
Jonson-Reid, M., Drake, B., Cobetto, C., & Ocampo, M. G. (2020). Child abuse prevention month in the context of COVID-19. Center for Innovation in Child Maltreatment Policy, Research and Training. Web.
Todahl, J. L., Brown, T., Barkhurst, P., Maxey, V., & Simone, A. (2021). Pathways to child abuse prevention: Seeking and embedding public opinion. Journal of interpersonal violence, 36(17-18), 8538-8558.
Williams, L. C., Gama, V. D., Oliveira, R. P., & D’Affonseca, S. M. (2021). Some challenges in child abuse prevention in a middle-income country: the Brazilian perspective. Child Abuse & Neglect, 119–130.