This supports my first hypothesis, as I will help me relate my primary evidence to it. This is an extract from the website: www. nspcc. org. co. uk (a reputable organisation) to show children’s right in the way they are treated. Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse What is sexual abuse? Sexual abuse of children may include sexual touching, masturbation, intercourse, indecent exposure, use of children in or showing children pornographic films or pictures, encouraging or forcing children into prostitution or encouraging or forcing children to witness sexual acts.
Children and young people of all ages can be victims of abuse. Most sexual abuse of children is carried out by someone they know Children are more likely to be sexually abused by someone they know, including relatives and family friends, than by a stranger. Children may have confused feelings if they’re being abused by someone they trust. They may not realise that what is being done to them is abuse. What kind of people sexually abuse children? Child sex abusers can come from any social, racial or religious background and may be well-respected members of society.
Those who sexually abuse children in families include fathers, stepfathers, live-in partners, brothers, uncles, male cousins, grandfathers, father figures and family friends. Occasionally they may be the mother or female relative. Those who abuse children in one family may also abuse children in other families. Targeting children An abuser may target girls or boys or prefer children of a particular age. Child sex abusers often appear kind, concerned and caring towards children in order to build close relationships with them. They may observe a child and spend a long time building up the ‘friendship’.
They may form a relationship with a single parent in order to get access to children. Grooming children They may spend a lot of time building the relationship before the abuse begins. This often results in the child trusting and becoming dependent on them. This is called grooming. The abuser may seem to be a safe and reassuring figure. He may also convince himself that he is doing no harm to children. Keeping secrets The child becomes more dependent on the abuser and in order to keep the abuse secret the abuser will use the child’s natural fear, embarrassment or guilt about what is happening.
A child who talks and shares feelings with parents and others is less likely to become dependent on a single abusing adultChildren may be separated from parents/carers ONLY if it is in the child’s best interests. If children are separated from their families, or the place they usually live, the child, their parents or anyone else who is important to the child has the RIGHT to go to court and ask to have their case heard. If separated, for example in care (looked after), the child has the RIGHT to keep in regular touch with their parents and siblings unless it would be harmful to do so.
(Article 9 of the UN Convention) Adam, 12, told ChildLine that he was living in a children’s home a long way from his brother and sister and had not seen them for a long period of time. He had heard that his brother was now in a young offenders institution near where Adam now lived. His social workers kept changing and Adam did not know the name of his key worker. With Adam’s permission ChildLine spoke to the manager of the children’s home, who said he would make sure Adam knew the name of his key worker and was given information about his brother and sister.
Adam remained in contact with ChildLine through The Line service for young people living away from home. This website provides sufficient information because it tells me the way children are protected in the law as well as provide information such as being protected from child abuse. Child protection arises from activities of Childline. Therefore this is my most adequate secondary source for this project because it relates to my second hypothesis. It is also valid and up to date. Conclusion:
My primary evidence abnormally did not agree with my first hypothesis as the younger people of my sample chose ages above what the law sets in being able to have certain rights, showing my hypothesis was wrong. This is eccentric because I was quite certain younger people would want be eager to enter adulthood as quickly as they could in order to obtain rights. However I did find out that older people think that younger people are not mature enough to obtain certain rights, which agrees with a hypothesis I was considering investigating.
My secondary evidence did agree with my second hypothesis as I discovered in the evidence that there are many ways that children are protected and can be protected. This shows my hypothesis was right. Evaluation Discussion of research methods: My research methods were fairly reliable. The success of my research method was I found useful secondary evidence to support my second evidence. This showed my second hypothesis was a complete success. I was pleased with my sampling frame for my primary evidence as they all accepted to fill in my questionnaire and took it seriously.
I was good at being ethical because my sample were not nervous to fill in my questionnaires, as I did not ask for their personal details. However the results of my primary evidence did not agree with my first hypothesis. This could be due to many factors. The questionnaire could be a factor as I did not write down the current age in law young people are able to obtain the rights, which would confuse the sample as they might not have known what the current age in law is for each of the rights. Also it could be that my sample was too small which means I did not get relevant results.
My sample is therefore unrepresentative for my thirst hypothesis. If I were to start this investigation again I would widen the sampling frame and improve my questionnaire. My research has been useful for my second hypothesis but not for my first. I managed to collect enough secondary evidence to prove my second hypothesis. However I failed to collect useful primary evidence making my first hypothesis unsuccessful. I think my secondary data was valid. My primary data however was not valid, as it didn’t support my hypothesis.
This could be because the majority of my sample of younger people may have been mature about the age young people should be to be able to use rights. I would have liked more qualitative and quantitative evidence from my primary data. Overall I did enjoy doing the research although I was partly unsuccessful. On the other hand I have learnt from my mistakes, which has improved my skills as a researcher. I am now very well aware about the problems of doing research and it is not as simple as I thought it would be.