A Critical INVESTIGATION of Discourse on Child Abuse in the Online Child Care Communities

This study aimed to review discourses on child abuse that are formed in online communities related to child care information and examine interactions that contribute to the formation, criticizing violent environments against the growth of the social week or children and providing how to cope better with the harmful conditions. For this aim, the study selected some credible online communities that provide child care information and col-lected data from them for this research. More specifically, the research reviewed materials and replies regarding child abuse that are posted in those online communities. And then, this study analyzed the posts by using Fair-clough’s Method of Critical Discourse Analysis in order to determine the superficial and social meanings of dis-course on child abuse and socio-cultural implications of that abuse. The analysis found that superficially, infor-mation about domestic violence and trustless early childhood education institutions brings the mass media-based formation of discourse on child abuse which focuses its lenses on the traditional notions of corporal punishment and discipline and puts child abusers under intense criticism and hatred. Socially, discourse on child abuse is formed in conjunction with social factors including images from mass media that show abusive parents, family discord, poor domestic environment and excessive child protection involving corporal punishment or discipline. Socio-culturally,, finally, discourse on child abuse has practical implications for the need to take measures for children’s human rights and against child abuse, increase child protection agencies and provide parent education. This study is significant in that it tried to help raise social attention to child abuse and provide social or institu-tional solutions to the problem by investigating discourse on child abuse that is formed in the online child care communities and discussing problems like poor domestic environment that my contribute to child abuse.