Month: September 2020

Stay Focused On the Cause

I recently read an article that stated that women are more likely to commit child abuse than men. The numbers were staggeringly high, slanted toward the women. When I read through the comments, it was somewhat expected that there would be pushback from some of the women. But a full-blown argument broke out questioning who abuses children more.

Who really cares!?! The fact remains that children are still being abused. It doesn’t matter who abuses them more. We need to be focused on preventing ALL forms of abuse. If we asked the 29% of kids who are abused by men, I’m pretty sure they feel just as scared and confused as the ones abused by women.

While articles like this have value (they help maintain our focus on all potential sources of abuse), they aren’t meant to be an indictment against any class of people. I truly hope we all stay focused on the true goal: The elimination of child abuse in all forms.

http://www.breakingthescience.org/SimplifiedDataFromDHHS.php

Child Domestic Violence

About 1 in 7 children experienced child abuse and/or neglect last year.[i] For a standard size classroom of 30 children, that’s at least 4 children being abused.

NATIONAL CHILD ABUSE STATISTICS

  • 4 million child maltreatment referral reports received.1
  • Child abuse reports involved 7.2 million children.1
  • 3.4 million children received prevention & post-response services.1
  • 207,000 children received foster care services.1
  • 75.3% of victims are neglected.1
  • 17.2% of victims are physically abused.1
  • 8.4% of victims are sexually abused.1
  • 6.9% of victims are psychologically maltreated.1
  • Highest rate of child abuse in children under one (24.2% per 1,000).1
  • Over one-quarter (27.%) of victims are younger than 3 years.1
  • Annual estimate: 1,670 to 1740 children died from abuse and neglect.1,3
  • Almost five children die every day from child abuse.1,2
  • 80% of child fatalities involve at least one parent.1
  • 74.8% of child fatalities are under the age of 3.1
  • 72.9% of child abuse victims die from neglect.1
  • 43.9% of child abuse victims die from physical abuse.1
  • 49.4% of children who die from child abuse are under one year.1
  • Almost 60,000 children are sexually abused.
  • More than 90% of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator
  • Estimated that between 50-60% of maltreatment fatalities are not recorded on death certificates. 
  • Child abuse crosses all socioeconomic and educational levels, religions, ethnic and cultural groups.1

These statistics are sobering and sickening at the same time. No man, woman, or especially, a child deserves to be abused in any way. In this era of Me Too and Black Lives Matter, both tremendous causes long overdue, I beg you to include domestic violence and child abuse on the list.

[i] https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/fastfact.html & CAN-factsheet_2020.pdf