Child Molesters, Child Abuse Effects: Bulimia, Eating Disorders, Addictions

It is obvious that child neglect cases are incidents less reported. Social workers say the number does not mean that cases of child neglect are few. It means that cases are unreported because of the notion that child neglect is a normal domestic problem.

Philboneri B. Duran, Social Welfare Officer II of the city's DSWD, believes cases of child neglect in the country and in Dumaguete City are high, but to confirm them is difficult for lack of evidences.

"All they could bring are stories and attestations, unlike reporting physical or sexual abuses where they could show scratches, bruises, or medical documents," Ms Duran said.

Filipino children, she said, are prone to this abuse because the Philippines is a Third World Country.

"Poverty," the social worker said, is one big reason for this abuse.

Duran explained that when parents do not earn enough, they either double their jobs, work abroad, work as helpers, or use their vices as scapegoat and get trapped in it. Consequently, they would have lesser time to attend to their children, much less give them the basic emotional, physical, and psychological needs they need.

Their right to a wholesome family life to provide them love, care and understanding, guidance and counseling, and moral and material security, is violated, she said.

Furthermore, the social worker said, parents trapped in vices like illegal drugs and hard liquor, do not only neglect their children but turn them victims of physical and sexual abuse.

Duran said children have a right to protection against exploitation, bad influences, hazards, and other conditions prejudicial to their physical, mental, emotional, social, and moral development.

Domestic violence is another cause of child neglect. Chronic disputes between parents that lead to separation or divorce very much affect children, she said. Parents, Duran added tend to get trapped within their own shells of healing and recovery making them less sensitive or attentive to their children's psychological and emotional needs.

In some isolated cases, children are neglected because their parents are psychologically ill or mentally sick. Many street children, whose parents are usually street dwellers, turn into beggars, drug addicts, or thieves. (Earnest Hope Tinambacan/SU Mass Communication Intern)