Back in December, my social justice group and I decided to conduct mini interviews to gain information on the knowledge of child abuse an everyday person has. So, with Sarah Barlow at our side, we took to the streets and asked nine willing strangers three simple questions.
When asked, “what is child abuse,” a man named Michael stated a basic definition: “Child abuse is not only physical, but also emotional fear. It’s something that is detrimental to the child’s well-being that is not necessary punishment and it’s also completely against the child’s will.” A woman named Kyla agrees, saying that child abuse is “when a minor is mistreated in any way, whether emotionally or physically by a parent or guardian.”
When asked, “why is child abuse such a prevalent issue in the United States,” we got many different answers and views. One man named William thought it had a lot to do with the child’s “upbringing.” Michael, previously mentioned, said that it was because of the low amount of people who accept the fact that child abuse is real and it is happening. A lot of the times a child being abused is small and helpless while being completely at the mercy of the parent, so they can’t share what’s happening to them, in turn spreading the word.” Completely contrary to this view, Steve, (34), said that he didn’t think child abuse was a very prevalent issue at all. “I mean sure,” he says, “it happens from time to time, but I don’t think it’s as important as, say, robbery or murder.”
The final question we asked people was the most important information for us to gather, and that was: “what would you do if you saw or suspected child abuse.” Yibei, a student at NYU, along with many of our other subjects said that she would call the police. Some, like Steve, said that they would stay out of it, and some, like Michael, said they would go directly into the situation and try to put a stop to it: “If someone was getting emotionally or physically abused on the street, of course I would put a stop to it. I’m not a parent, but I would absolutely sympathize with the victim. If something’s wrong, I will get involved.”
Information Sheet For Interview Subjects
After talking to each person individually, we presented them with a sheet that included many statistics about child abuse, (attached).
These interviews were great experiences for us, building confidence as well as knowledge. They also eventually led us to the idea of creating a video entitled: “What Is Child Abuse?” where we spoke to members of the LREI community and compiled it into a short film. We hope to utilize the skills and knowledge we acquired during this experience later on in our teach in!
