National Child Abuse Prevention Month

“A woman has been charged with shaking and killing her 19-day-old daughter.� [Utah]

“A two-year-old boy is in the hospital with severe burns over 40 percent of his body. Investigators say he was scalded in his family’s home…and then never received medical attention for six full days.� [New York]

“Police say a ten-year-old boy was tied up and kept in an animal crate for eight hours….The boy’s mother and stepfather claim the boy stole a toy fan and would not admit what he did.� [Texas]

“A 63-year-old man was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail for sexually abusing children at the day care center where he worked.� [Virginia]

“A man pleaded guilty to abusing his then-girlfriend’s child so severely in 2004 that the 4-year-old boy developed gangrene and lost a leg.� [North Carolina]

“A Lowell mother who accused her boyfriend of physically abusing her then 4-month-old baby—fracturing the baby’s legs, arm and hip—is now facing charges herself in connection with what police say was ongoing child abuse.â€? [Massachusetts]

While shockingly familiar, these recent news items highlight the horrors of child abuse and neglect in this country. It is a public health issue with devastating and widespread consequences, both to the children and families directly involved and to society at large. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, which affords a valuable opportunity to raise awareness of this issue and note some disturbing trends. Consider the following…

• According to the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, “each week, child protective services (CPS) agencies throughout the United States receive more than 50,000 reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. In Federal fiscal year 2003, an estimated 2.9 million reports concerning the welfare of approximately 5.5 million children were made. In approximately two-thirds (68 percent) of these cases, the information provided in the report was sufficient to prompt an assessment or investigation.�

• According to the most recent report on the State of America’s Children, issued annually by the Children’s Defense Fund, “more than 900,000 children, one every 35 seconds, were abused or neglected in 2003. Four out of ten received no services whatsoever from America’s child welfare system, despite the fact that problems left unaddressed often have long-term consequences for children. For example, it is not surprising to learn from a new study of foster care alumnae that one-third of those who had been in foster care were living below the poverty level, one-third had no health insurance, half had one or more mental health problems, and the rate of post traumatic stress disorder among a group of youth formerly in foster care was twice as high as that for war veterans.�

• In 2003, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, “an estimated 1,500 children were confirmed to have died from maltreatment; 36% of these deaths were from neglect, 28% from physical abuse, and 29% from multiple maltreatment types….Children younger than 4 years accounted for 79% of child maltreatment fatalities, with infants under 1 year accounting for 44% of deaths.�

• A 2001 report issued by Prevent Child Abuse America estimated that the direct costs of child abuse and neglect were some $24 billion per year and the indirect costs were an additional $69 billion per year.

• According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, “children who have been abused may display: a poor self-image; sexual acting out; inability to trust or love others; aggressive, disruptive, and sometimes illegal behavior; anger and rage; self-destructive or self-abusive behavior, suicidal thoughts; passive, withdrawn, or clingy behavior; fear of entering into new relationships or activities; anxiety and fears; school problems or failures; feelings of sadness or other symptoms of depression; flashbacks, nightmares; drug and alcohol abuse; sleep problems.”

No matter the facts, statistics, or horror stories of child abuse, it is important to remember that none of us are helpless in the face of this public health crisis. Abuse and neglect are preventable. Resources and services to assist families at risk for such and treat those who have been victimized are available in a great many communities. And these organizations need your support. Please help out and get involved, however you can. After all, it takes a whole village to raise a child.

5 thoughts on “National Child Abuse Prevention Month”

  2. Lisa,

    Thanks for your comment. I checked out your site and it looks interesting — I will peruse it some more later when I have some time without needing to tend to my kids. For starters, I’ll just say it is very gratifying to read about you as a former child living in foster care, since as a social worker who has seen so many children in foster care and in residential care, I rarely get to know what happens to them as adults. Yours sounds like a true success story. It’s great that you are using the web to communicate with others about foster care and how to make the lives of foster children better.

  3. We must all do everything we can to protect children from abuse of every kind. It starts by seeing things:

    Through the Eyes of a Child
    words and music by Dr. BLT (c)2006
    [audio src="http://www.drblt.com/music/eyez.mp3" /]

  4. Don’t worry about illegally downloading the above song. I am the original writer and it’s free to those who use it to help save children from abuse. In case you’re wondering about my unusual way of commenting, it’s something I refer to as “blog ‘n’ roll.

  5. I have recently written and published a book titled “Anastasia and The Ghostly Owl (The Choice Was Hers!).” This story is about hope, overcoming obstacles, and making choices in the face of adversity. More concretely, it is about child abuse and how the protagonist, a young girl named Anastasia, comes to terms with it.

    The purpose of this story is to reach out to as many people as possible, to present hope, to inspire, and to encourage those who have been unfortunate to have experienced unfair adversity in their life. I appear to have been successful in that goal. Here are some excerpts from reviews . . .

    This is a moving story about one girl’s journey to find feelings of self-esteem and self-worth.
    — Jill Zimmerman Rutledge, LCSW, author of Dealing With The Stuff That Makes Life Tough: The Ten Things That Stress Girls Out and How To Cope With Them

    This short but potent tale is indeed the story of a young girl, Anastasia’s, metamorphosis out of the smothering and woundedness caused by cruelty and abuse. … Perhaps this unique story will touch many lives … Perhaps this story will bring one person into a life of more fun and less pain!
    — Review by Viviane Crystal, Member of Reviewers International Organization

    … I couldn’t put the book down until I completely finished it on the back cover. It is so down to earth, so well versed I could feel times that I was “Anastasia.â€? Reading the words, but the brain saying “you’ve been thereâ€? too.
    — Emily Schuessler, Customer, Ontario

    “Anastasia and the Ghostly Owl (The Choice Was Hers!)” is a book with a purpose, namely to inspire readers to overcome whatever challenges they may face … It’s an unusual book … this book is meant to serve as a blinking arrow penetrating the darkness to point you toward the light that lies at the end of your own personal tunnel, and I think it succeeds very well in doing just that.
    — Daniel Jolley, one of Amazon.com’s Top 50 Reviewers

    “Anastasia and The Ghostly Owl” is about hope and overcoming obstacles that you will read and re-read, and will be a classic treasured by generations to come.
    — Florence Starr, Customer, and Founder of The Home For The Aged in Fernie, BC

    “‘Who am I?’ is a question that many people of many ages ask – it is the first question of the story. Anastasia asked this of herself over and over; of course, life is properly a process of discovery, and this can take place at different times and in different ways for each individual. … This book shows a creative spark and an intense desire to share with others. … this is Wladichuk’s first book … A good premier effort.
    — FrKurt Messick, one of Amazon.com’s Top 50 Reviewers

    I appreciated the simplicity of this very complex story … I read the book 3 times within a 24 hour period and each time I was forced outside my comfort zone and caused to remember and experience again my own journey to self-actualization. … Thank you for sharing this story with me.

    — Tom Jones, Customer who also put his review on Amazon

    Please take a moment to visit my website for links to the full reviews . . . http://www.ghostlyowl.com

    Child abuse, of course, is not restricted to any one particular segment of society, so I am contacting various groups and organizations with the intention of inspiring others who have suffered unfair adversity. Please take a moment to visit my website to read excerpts from “Anastasia and The Ghostly Owl (The Choice Was Hers!)” and to see what reviewers and customers are saying about my book.

    Thank you so much for your assistance.

    Sincerely

    Anita E. Wladichuk , Author
    “Anastasia and The Ghostly Owl (The Choice Was Hers!)”

    Ghostly Owl Publishing Company
    Suite 479, 104-1015 Columbia Street
    New Westminster, BC V3M 6V3
    Canada

    Email: ghostlyowl@hotmail.com
    Website: http://www.ghostlyowl.com

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