This article focuses on a national report looking at
the amount of child abuse cases seen in the United States. Like the title of
the article states, child abuse rose three percent from 2013 to 2014. While
three percent doesn’t seem like a large number, it accounts for an additional
20,000 child victims. The increase in abuse and maltreatment is connected to “substance
abuse, mental health issues and domestic violence.” Race and age are explored
in regards to abuse as well. According to the report, white children were most
abused and/or neglected followed by Hispanic children then black children. Over
seventy percent of the deaths / fatalities were of children under the age of
three.
“Georgia, Illinois, West Virginia, Oklahoma
and Michigan had the highest rates of child fatalities.”
Victims most often suffered neglect. Who were the
perpetrators you are probably asking? The report stated that eighty percent of
the time…80%...it was the parents.
“States with more than 30% increases in
maltreatment over the past five years include Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee,
according to the report.”
Upon reading these new statistics, the information
and validity of such might be questioned by some readers.
“The report, formally known as the National
Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, is based on input from child protection
agencies in every state.”
This information is
from all of the CPS agencies of opened cases in every state. That does not account
for any of the screened out cases or the ones that go unreported.
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Working in a hospital setting with children after
they have been in the NICU, this article was horrible to think about but a true
reality check for me. I work with kids up to age three, the same time span that
includes 70% of child deaths from abuse or neglect. Babies literally rely on
parents and caretakers to give them care and support and keep them alive. Now imagine
a baby with medical needs or developmental delays from premature birth and the
extra attention he or she would need. Parents being 80% of the perpetrators of
abuse definitely correlates with these early deaths. I also noticed that the
article discusses sexual abuse and notes that “The report tallied 58,105
children who were sexually abused in 2014 — down considerably from the peak of
about 150,000 in 1992.” As we have discussed in class, the 90’s were a peak
time for juvenile offenses and crime in the media – just something interesting
I noted in my head. Finally, Rafael Lopez, the commissioner of the
Administration on Children, Youth and Families is noted to mention prevention
as a strategy to counter these increases. He does not, however, mention any
planned strategies to do so. Prevention and getting help early is vital to
decreasing child abuse and increasing child welfare efforts. There needs to be
some action taken to make more steps in implementing this prevention.
This data is so interesting and horrifying at the same time. I feel like as we continue to become more and more aware of the adversities facing youth today that numbers such as child abuse and deaths due to abuse should drop but it is, unfortunately, not that way. Saving lives, particularly those of vulnerable youth, should be at the forefront of our work yet it is so much easier said than done. What feasible things can anyone do, right now, to help these kiddos? I think things like this blog...
ReplyDeleteThat is such a high % of parents as abusers. This semester, in my crisis & trauma class, we are learning that children who are neglected are more affected/tend to have more trauma than those who are abused. While I've worked with women in addiction for the past 4+ years and understand the weight/pull of their addiction, it is hard knowing those consequences leave life-lasting effects on the children. This is definitely a long but unquestionably necessary cause.
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