It was late at night, and you were just about to go to bed when you heard a scream. It came from downstairs. In fact, you were almost certain that it came from that 10-year-old who lived downstairs with her mother. You looked at the clock and it was 1am; it wasn’t a time when a 10-year-old should still be awake.
But again, you might be wrong. After all, it was late and you were sleep deprived. You got into bed and turned off the light, when you heard another scream, along with an angry voice. You couldn’t make out what exactly they were saying, but it sounded like a heated argument. What should you do?
You turned up the light and grabbed your phone. Should you call the police? Should you wake your friend up in the middle of the night and get a second opinion? As you sat there, struggling, it quieted down. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe the child just had too much candy earlier and refused to go to bed. That child was definitely a screamer. You remembered hearing her scream in the afternoon when she was playing outside.
Now it was all quiet, and you put down the phone. It was no big deal, you thought to yourself, people tend to get over-anxious in the middle of the night. But then, it came again. It was the loudest scream ever, and you could have sworn you heard someone hit something.
Okay, this was enough. You took out your phone and were about to dial. But again, you hesitated. Why wasn’t anyone else doing anything? Were you the only one who heard this? Why didn’t their neighbors call? At the same time, you remembered watching it on TV, where child services workers would come unannounced and grab babies, taking them away from the mother. If you had caused that mother to lose her daughter, you definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep with that.
As much as I hope none of us would ever have to face this kind of situation, chances are that some of us will, and some of us have. While there might be a dozen reasons why you wouldn’t want to report (such as the bystander effect), there is one sufficient reason why you would – because the law says so. Under Child, Family and Community Service Act, Chapter 46, anyone with reason to suspect child abuse has the legal obligation to report to the authorities.
Of course, it might also be nice to know that child services don’t just come and snatch babies like what’s shown on Hollywood. Although in extreme cases, children might have to be taken away from the parents for their own safety, in most cases, they try to use counseling and support to keep the family together. They know, for example, that depression is sometimes the cause of domestic violence, so they might try to provide treatment for the parents’ depression, in the hope that it will diminish future child abuse.
Child abuse and neglect is associated with a huge variety of mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders. Not to mention that abused children are likely to grow into abusive parents themselves, too. Next time when you encounter a situation like this and have to report someone, try to do it with pride – at least you have enough courage and knowledge to do it. Any by doing it, you might have just saved someone’s life.
