Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ISPCAN Conference 2023, Edinburgh, İngiltere, 24 - 27 Eylül 2023, ss.511
Objectives: An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 occurred in the province of Kahramanmaraş (Türkiye's South-eastern Anatolian Region) on February 6, 2023, in Türkiye. After the first earthquake, there were more than 250 earthquakes, the largest of which was 7.6 magnitude. Considering the geographical region affected by the earthquake, as it took place in 11 provinces, it is estimated that almost one out of every five citizens of the Turkish population was affected. As it is known, the disaster experienced after the earthquake is one of a traumatic experience for children, and especially child survivors are defined as a vulnerable group in the literature in terms of the lifetime consequences of exposure to disaster-related trauma (Watanabe et al., 2019). For this reason, it is thought that it is essential to evaluate the victims of the earthquake in Türkiye in terms of child neglect and abuse. As a matter of fact, it is predicted that earthquakes will occur in different parts of the country soon. For all these reasons, this study sought an answer to the following question: "What are the problems children experience in terms of child neglect and abuse after the earthquake in Türkiye?"
Method: In this study, which was carried out in a descriptive model, the data of state institutions (e.g., the minutes of the Türkiye Grand National Assembly Research Commissions, the Ministry of Family and Social Services, the Ministry of Health) and international organizations in the field such as UNICEF were used to access reliable data after the earthquake. Data were analysed using content analysis and descriptive statistics.
Results: Due to the physical, medical, and psychosocial problems caused by the earthquake, it is estimated that 2.5 million children under the age of 8, approximately 3 million children between the ages of 8-17, and a total of 14 million adults and children were affected by the disaster. Exposure to earthquakes is thought to increase the risk of psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms associated not only with a single traumatic event from the initial earthquake but also with ongoing aftershocks and infrastructure damage, damage to homes, and long-term environmental degradation. When the data obtained on the effects of the disaster in terms of child neglect and abuse are evaluated, it has been obtained that all kinds of abuse and neglect are seen in the earthquake zone and that children with certain individual and familial characteristics (e.g., unaccompanied children, refugee children, children from low socioeconomic level) are at higher risk.
Conclusions: It is important to establish a common database for the prevention of human trafficking such as child abduction and the disappearance of children, and the delivery of children under protection in hospitals or institutions affiliated to the Ministry of Family and Social Services to their reliable relatives as soon as possible; to ensure that experts who can speak their mother tongue are also present in the field to prevent traumatization of refugee children; to take measures to prevent sexual abuse cases in tent camps and container camps; to establish container centers to meet the educational and psychosocial needs of children, and to strengthen the foster family system.
List of recommendations:
-Security and child protection services should be strengthened to prevent child abuse and neglect, such as sexual abuse, child trafficking, and early marriage.
-To prevent situations such as suicide, psychological counselling and guidance services should not be only at the level of psychological first aid and short-term, but should be provided urgently to children and their caregivers with trauma-oriented and evidence-based approaches.
- Preventive and curative mental health services should be handled with a holistic perspective and offered to risk groups.
- It should be mandatory for employees in all government institutions that provide services not only to those working in the field of child protection but also to meet the basic needs of people such as health, education, housing and security, to receive training on child neglect and abuse, psychological first aid, trauma and approaches to grief.
- A protocol should be developed for volunteering in humanitarian aid works, people in this field should be evaluated in terms of criminal records, and it should be mandatory for them to receive training on child neglect and abuse. In addition, even if there is voluntary service provision, every person and institution should be supervised. A precautionary package should be created to investigate child abuse and neglect reporting incidents.
- It is important that international organizations such as UNICEF, Save the Children, and ISPCAN, which works in the field of child neglect and abuse, cooperate not only in the short term but also in the long term to help children in the affected countries psychosocially and in terms of supervision.