A Child Called It Essay

Dave Pelzer’s book, “A Child Called It” (1995), tells the story of a young boy’s struggle to survive. This paper will focus on the events that took place in the book, along with my personal feelings and the effect that this story had on me. “A Child Called It” is a story that impacted me both emotionally and cognitively. There were many points that caught my attention and had me wondering how nobody intervened. For example, the methods of abuse that Dave’s mother used on him were beyond unthinkable. She thought of different methods often and used her new ones when she was bored of doing the same routine. According to Pelzer (1995), Dave was forced to clean the bathroom with the door closed, while inhaling a combination of ammonia and Clorox, …show more content…
I feel that children need to know that there are bad people out there and that bad things can happen to them because children think they are untouchable. I think it may be their youth and being naïve, but I believe that children think nothing can happen to them. Children do not think like adults, where adults look at the bad part of a situation. This is why I think children need to learn about the kind of people that are in this world, what can happen to them, as well as what they can do about it. In most cases, I feel that those who are abused, including victims of domestic violence, do not know where to turn to. In their minds, they are alone, have nowhere to turn to, and have nobody on their side. Children need to be taught that there are many people out there who do help. If children are aware of this, especially if they are a victim of abuse, they may start asking questions and end up getting themselves out of a bad situation. This can also make the professionals more aware of at-risk children by attending or advocating for child abuse. They will be able to see if there are any signs of abuse with the children whom they are speaking …show more content…
One of them is called “Risk and Protective Factors for Child Abuse and Neglect”, from the Child Welfare Information Gateway (2009), while the other is called “A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice”, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2003). The article from the Child Welfare Information Gateway (CWI) talks about the common risk and protective factors for abused and neglected children, which includes child, parental/family, and social/environmental factors for both. What I found interesting is that Dave was not under the child risk factors for abuse or neglect. He had friends, was great to get along with, was intelligent, and did not have any physical or emotional disabilities, which pertains to children who are usually abused or neglected. In fact, Dave did not have any risk factors against him, except for alcohol abuse, which both parents played a role in. I do not know why the mother snapped the way she did because there were no stresses in her life, except to stay home and take care of the children. Before Dave was abused, his life was, along with the rest of the family’s was great, so there are no signs as to why the mother did what she did. The other article from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) talks about the different definitions of child abuse and neglect, the scope of the problem, the factors that contribute to it, the consequences