CASE STUDY
The Arnolds is a family of 2 children, and both parents. Aged 7 and 9 respectively, their children are in fourth and sixth grade respectively. Mr. Arnold is a 46-year old retired teacher, while his wife is a 39-year old housewife. They live in the suburbs of Florida, in a quiet gated neighborhood with scattered households. Mr. Arnold’s family survives on his savings from his teaching career and support from Mrs. Arnold’s parents. Their two children go to a nearby government school and have to take a bus to and fro the school on daily basis except for holidays and weekends. This paper aims at highlighting the ills of abuse of children and domestic violence cases and providing legal advocacy strategy.
Arnold resigned about 7 years ago from his teaching career after several years of problems with the school administration on his drinking habits, and habitual violence meted on students. Actually, he was to face legal actions had he not resigned from his job. Ever since, he has been drinking, continually draining the family resources, forcing his wife to regularly solicit financial support for the family from her parents. Mr. Arnold has times and again come home and beat his wife and children, and each time they have tried contacting authorities, he usually threatens to lock them out at night or kill them.
Recently, Mrs. Arnold was severely beaten by her husband and suffered facial bruises while the children missed school due to injuries accrued from the fight between their parents. Fortunately, a neighbor who had overheard the whole fiasco came to their household the following morning and exhorted Mrs. Arnold to report the matter to Child Abuse worker and the police. She deliberated and made a visit to the two departments. The example of Arnold’s is not just a single practice. Studies have shown that annually, millions of kids and teenagers have been exposed to violence either at their respective households, school or communities either as the offended or as witnesses a number totaling millions. Studies show that domestic violence affects children both physically and emotionally, and psychologically either in direct assault or not (Appleton, 2013). Child abuse and domestic violence entail the physical assault intended to injure a child, and abuse, battering of intimate-partner; either physical, sexual, emotive or mental actions or threats that are meant to influence the spouse.
Statistics show that many of Intimate Partner Violence in the US occur at home, while many mothers who have reported these incidences have shown that 44% of their children were exposed to these ills. Research has further estimated that in 30-60% of homes experiencing domestic violence, recurrent child abuse is present, with 65% of parents abusing partners likely to abuse their children. 60% of American children experienced violence, crime, and abuse in their homes (“Domestic Violence,” n.d.). Additionally, these reports indicate that children who experienced this kind of violence, on them or their parent exhibit certain violent behaviors in life and their social behavior both in school and home is negatively impacted upon.
This nefarious behavior is widespread among many families, and victims may not be free to open up about it. The results are usually destroyed family settings, mental distress of the victims, children developing unusual behaviors and their grades deteriorating. For this behaviors to end, all stakeholders including; victims, families, community, and governments should join forces together to fight child abuse and domestic violence. The rights of every single individual should be protected to give everyone an ample and conducive environment to pursue personal goals and objectives (“Domestic Violence and Child Abuse,” 2014). The leniency of the available judicial systems and weak policies have provided a leeway for this heinous behavior. Its rampancy is on the rise.
In order to achieve a child, abuse, and domestic violence free society, legal measures must be taken. There is a need for legal advocacy to achieve that seeks to support the victim to end violence by making the perpetrators accountable for their misdeeds. Legal advocacy seeks justice in the criminal justice systems for the victims of physical abuse and domestic violence (“Office of Crime Victim Advocacy,” n.d.). The advocacy aims at ensuring that safety and rights of survivors of physical abuse are safeguarded. It provides a clear framework of the steps to take in an event of child abuse or domestic violence and equally the response level from relevant authorities in case of reported abuses. In extreme cases, the legal advocacy would aid victims access security and orders against harassment, divorce papers, custody of the children and visiting orders and solicit financial support for the victims and help them get access to social services.
This legal advocacy will aid the victims to attain self-determination or independence from their offenders by putting in place legal measures that must be adhered to. Apart from protecting the rights of these children, they will also keep them away from their abusers, giving them a piece of mind. They will also be able to access basic services like education with provision from their abusers as per the existing legal requirements (“Office of Crime Victim Advocacy,” n.d.). The partners of their abusers will have equal rights in the relationships, and in case they feel diffident of the relationship/ marriage, they are at will to stay independent.
The legal advocacy also aims at creating guidance and counseling centers for families who may not be in good terms. Various awareness campaigns targeting emancipation of the victims and the community, in general, will be provided at certain periods of time (“Office of Crime Victim Advocacy,” n.d.). The abusers also will be provided with a second chance to redeem their image by the establishment of rehabilitation centers to train them and make requisite follow up on reported suspected abusers. Essentially, this legal advocacy will work to ensure that the abusers are aware of the regulations and therefore be at will to decide to stop their practice or face the law.
As this could probably be noted, such a noble and big legal advocacy agenda may not be easy to consummate. Hence, to achieve it, the child advocacy whom Mrs. Arnold had reported to needs to adopt apt legal strategies. First, it is important to rally the community to make a professional report of evidence for these practices. Then partner with existing legal bodies to present the case to a court of law for determination having gotten witnesses for this case (“AP_Case-study,” n.d.). Having done that, it is imperative to start looking for probable partners of the legal advocacy including; activists, human rights defenders, legal profession practitioners, pro bono legal firms, relevant NGOs and sociopolitical movements including the entire community to achieve the goal (“How to build a legal advocacy strategy,” n.d.). This, apart from Mrs. Arnold and her children getting justice, many other families faced with such problems will be aided. It is also important to make a timing of the presentation in public say in public holidays and be able to get legislators pass a law on the same.
However, there could be various challenges the human service providers, in this case, could face in achieving the legal advocacy. They include; societal pressures, little or no help from relevant authorities, financial challenges of acquiring the law firms and for the whole process, delays in legal processes, dismissals from courts of law and fear from the victims. To counter this, they need to make a vivacious community campaign that will appeal to all the community members and make them comprehend the gravity of the matter, gather as many evidential facts as possible, choose willing partners for the cause, solicit enough funds before starting the process, and be able to convince the victims of their safety.