We all love our childhood. The sweet memories will be cherished by us for the entire lifetime and it would be one of the main factors that determines a person’s future direction with regard to the moral development.
A child will have his own world and he always needs to spend his time in his world of dreams. If a child experiences suffering in the hands of an adult, it is the collective responsibility of a society to take immediate action and report to relevant authorities so as to mitigate the harm and at least prevent such events in the future. But, many people who otherwise would have made the bold step to take action against such abuse, may not know what to do in such instances. This article hopes to provide a broader understanding about the social responsibility of the members in the society towards such an event.
First of all, you should believe in your right to report against any child abuse. If you are an eye witness for a child abuse, it is your responsibility to report immediately to the authorities who have the powers and rights to access the child.
There could be a situation in which the child is being abused by a child’s own family member, inside his own home. In such situations, it can be more difficult for you to attend to the problem and report the incident in detail. The best thing you could do is to get the assistance of other neighbors and as a unit make a complaint to the police or other authorities.
However, when you make a report about child abuse, you should necessarily take an action which is more secure for the child and also should select the fastest way that could help to minimize the harm.
If you notice a child being abused in his school, first of all, it is your duty to inform the officer in charge of the school and then the parents of the child. But to ensure the child’s safety, it is better to report to the relevant child protection authority in your country.
Thus, it is necessary to ensure that the authorities of the school are taking adequate steps to punish the suspect and prevent the child from further being abused in the school or else abuse other children in the school.
Some movie dealers who deal in materials such as DVDs and CDs could encourage children to watch porn. In such instances, it will be a effective measure to complain to the relevant divisions of the police who could quickly take action against the suspects.
In situations where there is a circumstance that, attending to protect the child or immediately reporting to the police would involve more harm to the child or bring a threat for your life, you should stay calm and try to store in your mind all the details of the suspect. The description you give about the suspect would be more useful for the police to trace the suspect in a later instance.
However, if you came to know a child is being abused by a person who is mentally retarded or suffering from a certain kind of mental illness, you should use your maximum effort to prevent the abuse rather than reporting it somewhere, because, it will be in the best interest of the innocent child as there is no room in the legal system of most countries to punish the offenders who are unsound of mind.
What was illustrated in this article are some of the ways in which a child could be abused and when and where you should report these to the relevant authorities. But, keep in mind that, being sensitive as it is, reporting child abuses is an important aspect in the moral development of the modern day society.