Impact on emotional health

The remnants of an abusive childhood can impact an adult's ability to function in school, work, relationships, and life in general. There is seemingly no boundary to the negative repercussions of having suffered an abusive childhood. In my own work with adult survivors of abuse, I've seen examples of grown-up victims who:

• Lack motivation because they were conditioned to give up trying
• Are so afraid of poverty and loss that they constantly overwork themselves to avoid the looming imaginary threat of homelessness
• Subconsciously hold onto extra body weight out of a fear of not having enough to eat or to divert attention from the opposite sex
• Were never properly taught about personal hygiene
• Constantly re-enact their childhood relationships by remaining in abusive situations
• Don't feel close to anyone
• Have extreme difficulty communicating with others

Sometimes, abuse and neglect of children can become a terrible cycle in which adults abused as children can become abusive with their own children. The negative impacts of child abuse can so grossly alter a person's physical, psychological and behavioral growth that it may perpetuate the cycle of child abuse and keep the foster care system "in business."

Trauma after effects

As a child coming from various unhealthy environments continues to grow and enter into new stages of life, he or she may not being able to rise to a given challenge; they in turn run from any such challenge. “Too often they have major learning blocks as they avoid any stimuli evocative of painful feelings and indirectly generalize these to whole subject areas.  Learning requires curiosity and risk-taking, qualities which can be too dangerous to the narcissistically damaged child” (Katz 214).  As a result of experiencing repeated traumatizing events in the biological and foster home, older children who receive no treatment for psychological scaring suffer adverse effects.  “Older children who have been repeatedly traumatized suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and automatically freeze when they feel anxious, and therefore are considered oppositional or defiant by those who interact with them” (American… par. 14).  Lawrence B. Smith, a child, adolescent, adult and family therapist writes in The Washington Patent Magazine that, “Children with this disorder have a generalized distrust of others, particularly authority figures, who are seen as exploitive.  They see themselves as defective victims of life and accept no responsibility for anything.  Despite this outward presentation, internally they fell responsible for everything bad that happens” (Smith par. 1).  Children receiving no treatment for the effects of attachment disorder only continue through life unable to form healthy relationships and successfully meet any sort of challenge that may be presented.

Grief

Grief

In most cases of separation, the families involved go through the five stages of grief (shock/denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and resolution), although not necessarily in this order. For example, it is possible for a grieving person to move from anger to depression and back to anger again. "Reactions to the Five Stages of Grief" is a chart that identifies behavioral expression in children and parents during each of these stages.

One of the most common errors made by social workers, foster parents, and parents is to misinterpret a child's compliant and unemotional behavior during the shock/denial stage and judge a placement to be a "success." When a child is thought to have handled the move without distress, later behavioral signs are often not recognized as part of the grieving process. They may be ignored or attributed to emotional or behavioral problems. At times the child may even be punished for them, intensifying the child's distress and depriving him of support and help (Caye, et al., 1996).

Separation

Separation

Separation, the removal of children from the caregiver(s) to whom they are attached, has both positive and negative aspects. From a child protection perspective, separation has several benefits, the most obvious being the immediate safety of the child. Through this separation, limits can be established for parental behavior, and the child may get the message that society will protect him or her, even if the parent will not. Separation also temporarily frees parents from the burden of child-rearing, allowing them to focus on making the changes necessary for the child to return home.

Separating a parent and child can also have profoundly negative effects. Even when it is necessary, research indicates that removing children from their homes interferes with their development. The more traumatic the separation, the more likely there will be significant negative developmental consequences.

Repeated separations interfere with the development of healthy attachments and a child's ability and willingness to enter into intimate relationships in the future. Children who have suffered traumatic separations from their parents may also display low self-esteem, a general distrust of others, mood disorders (including depression and anxiety), socio-moral immaturity, and inadequate social skills. Regressive behavior, such as bedwetting, is a common response to separation. Cognitive and language delays are also highly correlated with early traumatic separation.

Social workers in child placement must be continually aware of the magnitude of the changes children experience when they are removed from their families. See "Helping a Child Through a Permanent Separation" for ways to minimize the trauma of separation.

Social workers out of control

Instead, the social workers cite vague reasons based on opinion rather than testable evidence — they use terms such as ‘emotional abuse’ the use of which has soared by 70 per cent.

In many cases the social workers don’t even need to produce evidence, only their personal view that a child might be ‘at risk of emotional harm’.

Once the social workers have made their decision, children and parents find themselves caught up in a shadowy system which seems rigged against them.

The social workers hire ‘experts’, such as psychologists, who earn thousands of dollars writing reports which appear to confirm the case planned for the courts. The reports can contain wholly allegations, such as that a mother might suffer from a ‘borderline personality disorder’. (Which of us could not have that charge levelled against them?)

Far too often the parents aren’t allowed to challenge the reports in court — even though the ‘experts’, rather than practising in clinics and seeing patients, may earn all their living from writing such reports, and endorsing what the social workers want them to say.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2128987/Children-stolen-state.html#ixzz2PAVuaJKr
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We need to gather as a large group

To fight the MCF, all those who have had sustained the abuse of the MCF workers power, please  lets gather together as a large group.
We can fight them , with a Class Action Law Suit.
 They have saved some kids, (sure). But destroyed families needlessly.
And this is what we must stand up for together.
Post comment, lets create a group, until we have enough of us to start this.