TITLE:
Understanding Factors That Hinder Child Abuse Cases from Being Reported to Officials in Households with Alcoholic Parents: Case Study of Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe
AUTHORS:
Privilege M. Chadwick-Charuma, Maria Tsvere, Patience Mutopo, Alexio Mbereko
KEYWORDS:
Child Abuse, Child Abuse Witness, Child Abuse Victims, Child Abuse Disclosure
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.7,
July
7,
2022
ABSTRACT: Background: This article discusses reasons why child abuse victims
and witness may not disclose child maltreatment. Methods: For primary data
collection of this article, a sample of church pastors, community members and social
workers from Mashonaland West in Zimbabwe were interviewed. Primary data from a
qualitative research methodology was used to explore why child abuse victims and
witnesses do not always report child abuse when they come across it. Aim: The purpose for this article is to promote awareness of what hinders people from reporting child abuse so that childcare professionals
and families can work together in removing barriers that hinders the revelation
of horrid secret such as child abuse. Results: Inefficient systems for reporting child abuse can hinder victims and witness
from disclosing child abuse cases. Conclusion: To prevent and reduce child abuse, there is a need to
have effective procedures of protecting and encouraging child abuse victims and
witnesses to disclose suspected child abuse cases.