About three million children a year are reported to child protection services each year in the U.S.

Between 40 to 85 percent of kids in foster care have mental health problems.

As a guardian ad-litem, many of the children in my case load had multiple foster placements because they were so mixed up and badly needed help that just was not available. Many of those children still live troubled lives (the last study I saw, showed 80% of youth aging out of foster care leading dysfunctional lives).

Prisons, Jails, underfunded schools, and failing support for children’s programs and health support have stressed the last few generations of America’s youth to where we now hold world records for prison populations, poor health, and poverty stricken children.

As a long time volunteer county guardian ad-litem, I believe that America’s institutions should be defined by what it is they actually create instead of what they were designed to create; they must be seen as producing obese children, preteen moms, and adolescent felons, as we now lead the industrialized world measurably in these areas.

Our children deserve better. Our society deserves better.

Support programs that help children learn, heal, and keeps them out of the justice system (we now prosecute about 25% of juveniles at adults).

Let’s stick together on this friends.

Support educators, social workers, foster and adoptive parents and the people working with troubled youth.

Most of all, support children and programs for children in your community. It will be a better community because of it.

Rosalynn CarterFormer First Lady
Posted: May 6, 2010 09:16 AM
Solving the Mental Health Crisis for Our Children

When I was a child in Plains, everyone knew everyone else in town. Church and school were the center of our community and were strong and positive influences on my life and those of my siblings and friends. So much has changed since then. The social fabric I took for granted no longer exists. On May 6–National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day–we need to acknowledge the fact that too many children in our nation are left to struggle with a whole host of stressful circumstances–violence, divorce, poverty, substance abuse and war, to mention just a few, without effective supports.

Children in foster care are especially vulnerable; they have already been exposed to trauma by virtue of being brought into the protective services system in the first place. Approximately 800,000 children are reported in the foster care system nationwide at any one time. Anywhere from 40 to 85 percent of kids in foster care have mental health problems–a staggering number. At a recent symposium at The Carter Center, a poised young woman in medical school described her early life as a foster child. “When I left my mom to live in a foster home,” Angela told us, “I was very, very upset because nobody told me why I left. They could not tell me anything. I was 6, so if they had said anything, I would not have understood it. I have been in different foster homes and group homes. I have been in mental institutions …

“It was really hard growing up, having to fight in different group homes and foster homes. One of the things that used to bother me the most was one of the girls always got to go home on holidays, and I wished I had a family that I could go home to. That used to eat me up inside so much.”

Children growing up in these circumstances are at great risk, but like Angela, they are also remarkably resilient. Indeed, today we know much about how to cultivate resilience in all children. Carl Bell, MD, President and CEO, Community Mental Health Council, Director of Public and Community Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago who introduced Angela at our symposium, has also been one of the field’s foremost advocates for promoting resiliency.. He speaks passionately about the need to shift our focus from a deficit-based model of child development, where the goal is to overcome problems, to a strength-based model that emphasizes support.

Carl puts it this way: “Most of life is about attitude and perception.” Children are best served when we help them develop the skills they need to frame whatever challenges and obstacles they may meet in a positive paradigm.

Carl has identified a number of characteristics present in resilient children–the same characteristics that enabled Angela to overcome her troubled childhood. These include having a sense of purpose in life, confidence in one’s ability to control any given situation, compassion for others, a belief in the fundamental goodness of people, and the energy and resourcefulness to make things happen. John Gates, PhD, former director of the Mental Health Program at The Carter Center, describes them as “characteristics that enable children to work well, play well, love well, and expect well.”

In Minnesota, an innovative program called Check and Connect, developed by the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration in Minneapolis, uses strategies such as social skills training and relationship building to increase student engagement with school and reduce dropout rates.

The program was initially designed to meet the needs of students with behavioral and learning challenges by pairing students with a patient, caring adult mentor. Studies have demonstrated over and over the positive effects achieved by this program, yet because of funding constraints it remains only a demonstration project.

Why is it that we are so slow to take what we know works and make it available to communities all across the country? We can and must do more. We are all familiar with the adage “A stitch in time saves nine.” When it comes to children, this proverb couldn’t be more apt. If budding issues are not adequately addressed early on, they become bigger and more often devastating problems later in life.

Mental health problems during childhood are often precursors to delinquency, substance use, smoking, risky sexual behavior, and school failure. Our inattention is causing unnecessary pain, trauma, and even death. The wasted potential is immeasurable.

Our children are our most precious resources. And we cannot delay, for as my good friend and our nation’s surgeon general while we were in the White House, the late Dr. Julius Richmond observed, “Every day that we do not intervene with effective programs, we are losing remarkable human potential. And every child whose potential is wasted is an incredible loss to the nation.”
Invisible Children (The American Cycle Of Abuse & Its Cost) Free ebook & audiobook

Five time Nobel Peace Prize nominees Sara O’Meara and Yvonne Fedderson founded ChildHelp to raise awareness and funds to end child abuse. From their website;

National Child Abuse Statistics;

Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. Over 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States; however, those reports can include multiple children. In 2007, approximately 5.8 million children were involved in an estimated 3.2 million child abuse reports and allegations.

http://www.childhelp.org/resources/learning-center/statistics
Programs Prevention/Intervention

Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-4-A-CHILD

Staffed 24 hours daily by professional crisis counselors, the Hotline is accessible throughout the U.S., its territories, and Canada.

Through interpreters, communication is possible in 140 languages. The confidential and anonymous Hotline offers crisis intervention, information, literature, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources.

Child abuse prevention and education program within elementary schools which reaches over 450,000 children annually.

Children’s Advocacy Centers
A coalition of law enforcement, prosecution, social service agencies, medical professionals, and crisis counselors working together to utilize a highly effective, one-stop approach to the investigation of child abuse. The concept of the Children’s Advocacy Center is also available within a mobile unit to provide services for abused children in remote areas.

What can I do?
By supporting Childhelp, you are playing a direct role in the treatment and prevention of child abuse. Your donations and purchases from the Childhelp store and the Gift of Hope gift catalog help a dedicated and passionate staff carry out Childhelp’s mission of meeting the physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs of abused and neglected children.

Residential treatment facilities (Villages)
Provide specialized, comprehensive care for severely abused children. In addition to psychotherapy, counseling, medical care, and on-site schools, the programs also include art, animal-assisted, music and recreational therapy to help heal the heart, soul, and body of each child in our care. Learn more

Therapeutic Group Homes
Provide a nurturing refuge for abused and neglected children until they can be placed in foster care, with adoptive parents or returned to their families, as determined by the courts. Learn more

Therapeutic Foster Care
Recruitment, training and certification for foster families with access to 24 hour professional counseling and support. Learn more

National Child Abuse Statistics;

Statistics
-Almost five children die everyday as a result of child abuse. More than three out of four are under the age of 4.

-It is estimated that between 60-85% of child fatalities due to maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates.

-A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds.

-Ninety percent of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way; 68% are abused by family members.

-Child abuse occurs at every socio-economic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.

-Thirty-one percent of women in prison in the United States were abused as children.

-Over 60% of people in drug rehabilitation centers report being abused or neglected as a child.

-About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.

-About 80% of 21 year old that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.

-The estimated annual cost resulting from child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2007 is $104 billion.
What can be done?

Treatment, Prevention and Research are key. Childhelp, one of the largest and oldest national, non-profit organizations dedicated to treatment and prevention of child abuse, provides a broad continuum of programs that directly serve abused children and their families. Childhelp also leads public awareness campaigns to educate the public and rally communities behind the child abuse.

What can I do?
By supporting Childhelp, you are playing a direct role in the treatment and prevention of child abuse. Your donations, purchases from the Childhelp store and the Gift of Hope gift catalogue, and time spent volunteering help a dedicated and passionate staff carry out Childhelp’s mission of meeting the physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs of abused and neglected children.

Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect in USA

-Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy

-Children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime.

-Children who have been sexually abused are 2.5 times more likely develop alcohol abuse

-Children who have been sexually abused are 3.8 times more likely develop drug addiction

-Nearly 2/3’s of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children

Consequences of Child Abuse in the USA

-Eighty percent of young adults who had been abused met the diagnostic criteria for at least 1 psychiatric disorder at the age of 21 (including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, & post-traumatic stress disorder)

-Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy

-Abused teens are 3 times less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at greater risk for STDs

The Link Between Abuse As a Child & Future Criminal Behavior

-Fourteen percent of all men in prison in the USA were abused as children

-Thirty-six percent of all women in prison were abused as children

-Children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59% more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime.

The Link Between Child Abuse & Substance Abuse

-Children who have been sexually abused are 2.5 times more likely develop alcohol abuse

-Children who have been sexually abused are 3.8 times more likely develop drug addictions

-Nearly 2/3’s of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused as children

Sources:
-Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and The Federal Administration for Children and Families. The CDC oublication: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

-Prevent Child Abuse America: Current Trends in Child Abuse Reporting & Fatalities: The 2000 Fifty State Survery

-National Center on Child Abuse Prevention Research: Prevent Child Abuse America; Current Trends in Child Abuse Reporting and Fatalities: The Results of the 1997 Annual Fifty State Survey

-Lung, C. & Daro D. (1996) Current Trends in Child Abuse Reporting and Fatalities: The Results of the 1995 Annual Fifty State Survey. Chicago: National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse. http://www.childabuse.com/fs9.htm

-US Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children & Families. Child Maltreatment 2003: Summary of Key Findings

-National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse & Neglect Information. Long-term Consequences of Child Abuse & Neglect 2005

-US Department of Justice

-Child Abuse & Neglect Study by Arthur Becker-Weidman PhD

-National Institute on Drug Abuse 2000 Report

-DePanfilis, D. (2006). Child neglect: A guide for prevention, assessment and intervention. Dept.HHS, et al
-Long-Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect. Child Welfare Information Gateway.Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2006. Retrieved August 22, 2007 from http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/
long_term_consequences.cfm

-Wang, Chung-Tung Ph.D. & Holton, John Ph.D. (2007). Total Estimated Cost of Child Abuse and Neglect In the United States. Prevent Child Abuse America funded byThe Pew Charitable Trusts

-U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Administration on Children Youth & Families. Child Maltreatment 2007 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009). Retrieved April 3 2009 from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb

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African American and American Indian children are disproportionately represented in the system as well as in their probability of leading dysfunctional lives as they age out of foster care.

These recent news posts will bring you up to date on the difficulties being faced by the people of California (and other states) in dealing with the policies and politics of abused and neglected children

A few more observations from California’s Blue Ribbon Commission;

Fewer than 150 full & part time judicial officers preside over the entire dependency court system (many thousands of children are being reported each year).

Full-time juvenile dependency court judges carry an average caseload of 1,000 cases.

Children and parents sometimes do not meet their attorneys until moments before their hearings (reports are often incomplete, it’s hard to get all the facts straight in a few moments).

The median time for a hearing is 10 to 15 minutes (this often determines the fate of a family for many years to come).

Judges are often assigned to juvenile court for short rotations, instead of the recommended three years. (my comment; judges do not always have a good understanding of what they are getting into in juvenile court and it can take some time to adjust to this kind of law practice.

Short term assignments to the juvenile court pretty much insures that about the time the judge begins to understand the complexities of the issues faced by these families and community trying to serve them, the judge moves on – no one is served by this)

Families are often involved with more than one system, yet courts and other agencies do not easily share data or information that may be critical to the families’ circumstances.

In my own case as a guardian ad-Litem, I have seen the results of a seven year old terribly abused boy given back to the custody of his terribly abusive father even though the father had a court order (from an adjoining state) keeping him away from young boys. Yes, it has completely destroyed the boy. He is mentally unhealthy and has HIV AIDS today.

My note; every state is facing problems like this. Few states appreciate the value of investing in systems that will save the children they are serving.

California has about 48 initial child abuse reports per 1,000 children according to the kidsdata.org

Article on LA County childcare approach to children in foster care;
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-foster-care5-2010feb05,0,201241.stor

The Department of Children and Family Services will suspend its effort to reduce the number of children in foster care in the wake of the deaths of several children formerly in its care.

By Garrett Therolf
February 5, 2010

Los Angeles County has suspended a long-standing effort to reduce the number of children in foster homes because keeping more of the children with their birth families could be unsafe, the county’s top child-welfare official said.

FOR THE RECORD:

Foster care: The headline for an article in Friday’s Section A about foster care in Los Angeles County incorrectly said county child welfare officials planned to “end” an emphasis on family over foster care. As the story reported, Department of Children and Family Services Director Trish Ploehn told a reporter last week that such reunifications would not happen as frequently as in the past until new reforms were in place to ensure safety. The county still plans to reunite or preserve families whenever possible. —

The decision marks a turnaround for the Department of Children and Family Services, which for many years has sought to cut the foster care rolls, in part by trying to mend troubled families. The department’s leaders have cited the decline in foster children — from a high of 52,000 in 1997 to a low of 19,900 last year — as one of their proudest achievements.

“I do want these numbers to start going down again but only when I can assure everyone that the work we are doing results in safety for that child who is going home,” said Trish Ploehn, the department’s director.

“I don’t know how much more we can go down in the numbers, though,” she said. “We are a very large county, and it’s possible that we are already at the level where we are supposed to be.”

The decision is the most significant of several reforms made by the department after a series of high-profile child deaths last year, some of which involved the department putting too much faith in its ability to rehabilitate families. In 2009, The Times reported that reunifications led to some children’s further injuries and even deaths. Isabel Garcia, for instance, starved to death two months after child-welfare officials deemed that she, her five siblings and their parents were all doing well.

Toddler Angel Montiel and his siblings were reunited with their parents after the couple enrolled in parenting classes, drug testing and other “family preservation” services.

He subsequently was beaten to death. An autopsy found dozens of injuries, some fresh and some healed, including broken bones and burns. Originally charged with murder, his mother pleaded no contest to manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

“These cases had a very deep effect on the department,” Ploehn said.

Under the department’s policies, social workers had been encouraged to keep children in their original homes by helping parents deal with problems believed to underlie abuse, including addiction, anger, unemployment and mental illness.

At the same time, the county increased the number of child-parent reunions, reduced the time such reunifications take and — for children who couldn’t go home — doubled the number of adoptions.

In 2007, the department wagered that it could drive the numbers down further. It entered an experimental federal program that pays the county a limited sum for foster care services. If it exceeded that amount, the county had to pay the difference. If it spent less, the county could use the savings to reduce child abuse and neglect as it saw fit.

The policy pivot by Ploehn is likely to be controversial. Foster care has many critics who say children often are dispatched to one place after another without any sense of permanence or normal family life, and end up homeless and unemployed in adulthood.

A group called DCFS Give Us Back Our Children often demonstrates outside Edelman Children’s Court in Monterey Park, saying that too many children are removed from families unnecessarily.

One member, Sabreen Shabazz, 56, of Los Angeles, cares for her 11-month-old granddaughter, who was removed from her daughter’s custody.

Shabazz worries that her granddaughter might be unnecessarily sent to foster care because the family lives on only $845 a month and sometimes struggles to pay for apartment repairs ordered by the department.

“DCFS has a family preservation unit and they need to focus on that work more, not less,” said Janet Mitchell, a friend who attends the group’s monthly meetings. “Look at Sabreen: She’s a loving grandmother who just needs help. They live in poverty, but the child is happy because she is loved.”

In 2009, at least 17 children died of abuse or neglect even though child-welfare officials were well aware of their troubled family histories. Fourteen youngsters suffered such deaths in 2008.

Among the other reforms under way:

* Three hundred workers are being redeployed to the child abuse investigations unit at a cost of $37.5 million, reducing the average investigator’s caseload from 25 to 18.

* An improved computer system is being developed to provide child-abuse investigators with more information from other county agencies — mental health, for example, or law enforcement — about troubled families.

* An additional layer of review is being added to child-abuse investigations before they can be declared “unfounded.”

* Dozens of workers are being disciplined for their poor handling of cases that ended in death.

By some key measures, however, the county is falling behind schedule on reform efforts, especially the computer system.

That project is overseen by County Chief Executive William T Fujioka because it requires coordination with many county departments.

The need for such a system has been repeated in more than a dozen reports over almost two decades. Each concluded that county agencies were not exchanging vital information that could prevent death and injury to abused children. None inspired significant change.

Once again, the deadline for many of the improvements — such as adding data from county hospitals and local police departments — has passed without action. Work on longer-term goals has barely begun.

Overall, the department’s reform efforts also have been stymied by a 9% reduction in its $1.7-billion budget this year. That’s not likely to improve any time soon: Ploehn has been ordered to plan an additional 9% cut for next year.

garrett.therolf@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Department of Family Services For The Record on DCF’s article;
http://mayorsampressrelease.blogspot.com/2010/02/update-la-times-issues-for-record-on.html

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Fifty percent of Americans do nothing when they witness abuse

New Study by Prevent Child Abuse America Reveals Alarming Trends in How Americans Respond to Child Abuse

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Three in ten Americans have witnessed an adult physically abuse a child and two in three Americans have seen an adult emotionally abuse a child (see table 1). Yet nearly half of these Americans failed to respond to the incident, according to a study released today by Prevent Child Abuse America, formerly the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse.Of the 1,250 Americans surveyed, 44 percent failed to respond upon observing child abuse, with one-half of these individuals reporting that they had no idea how to respond effectively (see table 2). Of those who claimed to have done something in response to the situation, 55 percent reported that they had given the offending adult a disapproving look and 63 percent claimed to have verbally reprimanded the adult. According to Prevent Child Abuse America, these responses can be counterproductive and may further endanger the child.

“The research shows that most Americans fail to respond effectively when they encounter child abuse or neglect in a public place because they don’t know what to do,” explained A. Sidney Johnson III, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse America. “Clearly, there is a need to give all citizens the information they need to respond to these situations in a helpful, effective and safe manner.”

- more -

To educate the general public on appropriate and effective responses to child abuse in a public place, Prevent Child Abuse America has launched a new public service campaign. The campaign includes brochures and posters offering advice on positive parenting and on how to respond effectively when observing child abuse or neglect in a public place.

With funding from Target Stores, a longtime supporter of the organization’s child abuse prevention programs, the materials are being distributed through Prevent Child Abuse America’s nationwide network of chapters, offering the following tips for responding to child abuse or neglect in a public place:

Start a conversation with the adult to direct attention away from the child. For example: “My child gets upset like that, too.”
Divert the child’s attention (if misbehaving) by talking to the child.
Look for an opportunity to praise the child or parent.
If the child is in danger, offer assistance.
Avoid negative remarks or looks, which are likely to increase the parent’s anger and could make matters worse.

New Identity for Nation’s Leading

Child Abuse Prevention Organization

The public service campaign is part of a major effort to communicate the new name for Prevent Child Abuse America, which has previously been known as the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse. With 27 years of experience and a network of 42 state chapters, Prevent Child Abuse America is the leading organization working at the national, state and local levels to prevent child abuse in all its forms.

In addition to educating the public about effective responses to child abuse, the campaign is intended to better communicate the nationwide breadth of Prevent Child Abuse America’s capabilities and the depth of its commitment to end child abuse. The announcement of the organization’s new name and public service campaign came on the eve of April’s observance of Child Abuse Prevention Month at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Previously, the national organization and its chapters had not followed any standardized model in the use of name or logo, confounding efforts to demonstrate nationwide unity of the organization, its capabilities and its mission. Prevent Child Abuse America had determined that improved clarity of its national identity and heightened awareness of its capabilities could further strengthen its efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect.

“Prevent Child Abuse America – as a national organization and as a network of state chapters – brings an incredible breadth of knowledge and capabilities to the prevention of child abuse and neglect,” said Maura Somers Dughi, president of the Board of Directors for Prevent Child Abuse America. “Under our new national identity, it will be easier to demonstrate the strength and value of this knowledge and these capabilities on the local, state and national levels.”

Twenty-six state chapters have already changed their names to reflect the national organization’s model, as in the case of Prevent Child Abuse California, Prevent Child Abuse Illinois and Prevent Child Abuse New York. Ten other chapters are expected to change their names in the next six months.

New TV and Radio Awareness Campaign Launched

In conjunction with the organization’s new name, Prevent Child Abuse America is launching a nationwide campaign of television and radio public service announcements. The energetic and uplifting television spots feature children speaking directly into the camera to offer their thoughts on “What Kids Are Made Of.” Complementary radio spots have also been produced. Both television and radio spots are being distributed nationally by the Advertising Council.

The media campaign has been adapted from one originally developed by the Partnership to Prevent Child Abuse, a Connecticut alliance of public and private concerns dedicated to empowering and educating communities and individuals to recognize the vital role they play in child abuse prevention. The partnership includes the Connecticut Center for Prevention of Child Abuse, a chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America.

The spots were produced by Cronin and Company, Inc., of Glastonbury, Conn., which donated its time as part of its 50th anniversary celebration. Response to the campaign was so strong throughout the state, that the Connecticut chapter and its advertising agency, in collaboration with the Partnership to Prevent Child Abuse, approached Prevent Child Abuse America about national distribution.

“We were impressed and thrilled by our Connecticut chapter’s television and radio spots from the very start and couldn’t have been happier to adapt them for use nationally,” said Johnson. “Our chapters are producing incredibly powerful and creative public awareness materials, and we’re pleased to be able to work with our chapters whenever possible to share these great materials with the rest of the country.”

Headquartered in Chicago, Prevent Child Abuse America was founded in 1972 with an endowment from the Donna J. Stone Foundation and is dedicated to the prevention of child abuse in all its forms. Supported by private and corporate donors, the organization is widely known for its public awareness, education, prevention programs, advocacy and research. More information about child abuse prevention is available by calling 1-800-CHILDREN or by accessing the organization’s website, www.childabuse.org.

# # #

Table 1: Personal Observations of Child Abuse and Neglect

Observations of Child Abuse or Neglect

Percentage Responding in the Affirmative

Have you seen an adult physically abuse a child?

32%

Have you seen an adult emotionally abuse a child (e.g., insult, taunt or harass)?

66%

Have you seen an adult neglect a child (e.g., ignore a child’s needs, fail to feed or clothe properly or withhold affection)?

47%

Source: Kirkpatrick, Kevin (1999, March). 1999 Public Awareness Survey. Chicago: Prevent Child Abuse America.

Table 2: Reasons for Failing to Respond to Observations of Child Abuse and Neglect

Reasons for Failing to Respond

Percentage Responding in the Affirmative

Didn’t think it was any of my business

57%

Didn’t know what the proper response might be

50%

Afraid other people might interpret response as overreacting

23%

Concerned for own personal safety

19%

Thought the parent’s actions might be justified

17%

Source: Kirkpatrick, Kevin (1999, March). 1999 Public Awareness Survey. Chicago: Prevent Child Abuse America.

Copyright ©2000 Prevent Child Abuse America. All rights reserved.
200 S. Michigan Avenue, 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604-2404
phone 312-663-3520; fax 312-939-8962

Durham, NH–According to a new brief by Carsey Institute director of research on vulnerable families Marybeth J. Mattingly and research assistant professor of sociology Wendy A. Walsh, rural families who have been reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) are more likely than those reported in urban areas to experience high family stress and financial difficulties. Rural children referred to CPS are also more likely than urban children to live in a single parent home.

Based on data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, this brief shows that across place, nearly 40 percent of children who are reported to CPS live in poverty, and roughly half have a caregiver with mental health issues.

Families reported to CPS also report low levels of social support. Families living in rural areas may have less access to services designed to help cope with situations that may lead to child maltreatment, so policies must be designed to address this.

Author Marybeth J. Mattingly can be reached for comment at 603-862-2961, 240-593-4297, or atbeth.mattingly@unh.edu.

Read the brief.

Read about author Marybeth J. Mattingly.

Read about author Wendy A. Walsh.

The Carsey Institute conducts national and regional policy research on vulnerable children, youth, and families and on sustainable community development. We give policy makers and practitioners the timely, independent resources they need to effect change in their communities. href=’www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu’>carsey institute rural families distribution of child maltreatment>

A Pennsylvania judge was just sent to prison for receiving commissions for each youth he sent to a privately run juvenile detention center run by his friends.

Thousands of innocent youth paid for this crime. Illinois has recently stun gunned, choked, and brutalized young girls in its juvenile justice system.

A MN judge has sent me the Ritalin, Prozac, and other psychotropic medications proscribed to five, six, and seven year olds that passed through her courtroom (seldom receiving adequate mental health therapy to accompany these not yet recommended for children medications).

Missouri had suffered a 90% recidivism rate in its juvenile justice system, New York & California are close (and topping the expense charts at almost $250,000/per child per year) & all states seem to be moving toward trying more and more children as adults

Today’s NYTimes Report: Sex Abuse High at 13 Juvenile Centers

establishes that almost a third of juvenile justice detainees are victimized. About 12% are sexually abused & six of the sites had abuse rates of over 30%. WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly one out of every three youths at 13 juvenile detention facilities have reported some type of sexual victimization, according to a government study issued Thursday that found widespread reports of youth sex abuse at correctional centers.

Nationwide about 12 percent of youths held in state-run, privately run, or local facilities reported some type of sexual victimization, the Justice Department found in the first report of its kind. The rates varied widely between facilities.

Victimization included forced sexual activity with another youth and all sexual activity with staff.

”They were convicted of a crime. They have to serve time but they shouldn’t serve time in a manner in which they’re going to be abused or assaulted,” said Troy Erik Isaac, 36, who said he was sexually assaulted in a California juvenile facility.

At 12, Isaac was sent to a juvenile center for vandalism, and within days his 16-year-old cell mate raped him during the night, he said. Isaac reported it and eventually was moved. But Isaac said the rapes continued as guards looked the other way and he became too afraid to fight back.

”It’s a traumatizing experience for someone that is young. You take that with you wherever you go,” said Isaac, who spent most of his life in and out of prison until he started a community service organization, Hands On Advocacy Group, two years ago.

About 26,550 juveniles are held in such facilities around the country, and the survey — conducted for the government by Westat, a company based on Rockville, Md. — collected information from about 9,000 of them via anonymous computerized questionnaire. The survey was conducted from June 2008 through April 2009 and asked whether the young inmates had been abused in the previous year of detention.

About 10 percent of youths surveyed reported abuse involving facility staff people, and nearly all of those complaints were against female staffers, who made up less than half of the workers. About 2 percent of the reported abuse involving other young inmates.

Although advocates said the level of abuse wasn’t surprising, the prevalence of sexual abuse by staff, particularly female workers, was shocking, said Linda McFarlane, deputy executive director of Just Detention International, which fights to end sexual abuse of those who are detained.

”Many of these are already the most vulnerable and traumatized youth from all of our communities and they’re placed for custody because they’re considered to be a danger,” she said. ”If sexually abused in those very institutions that are supposed to help them prepare for life in the community, then it’s just an incredible travesty.”

The study identified six facilities where the survey found at least three out of every 10 inmates said they were sexually victimized while in custody: Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility in Indiana; Corsicana Residential Treatment Center in Texas; Backbone Mountain Youth Center in Swanton, Md.; Samarkand Youth Development Center in Eagle Springs, N.C.; Cresson Secure Treatment Unit in Pennsylvania; and the Culpeper Juvenile Correctional Center, Long Term, in Mitchells, Va.

Another seven sites reported nearly as high levels of sexual abuse or victimization: Victory Field Correctional Academy in Vernon, Texas; Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility; Shawono Center in Grayling, Michigan; Woodland Hills Youth Development Center in Nashville, Tenn.; L.E. Rader Center in Sand Springs, Okla.; Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in Virginia; New Jersey Training School in Monroe Township, N.J.

The numbers were far different than the records kept by many states. Officials in several states, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, New Jersey and Maryland, said they had very few or no substantiated complaints of sexual abuse in recent years at the facilities named in the report.

In New Jersey, the Juvenile Justice Commission has concerns with the Justice report, including ”methodological problems often associated with self-reporting.”he Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice was shocked that it had two facilities on the list, spokesman Bruce Twyman said. In the last year, the department had increased training for staff and upgraded video surveillance to combat sexual abuse, he said.

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”It’s not something that we’re proud of,” Twyman said. ”We look at it from this standpoint: Any sexual victimization is one too many so we want to be very aggressive about rooting it out, there’s no question about that.”

Indiana Department of Correction spokesman Doug Garrison said the agency saw the report as an opportunity to reinforce to staff and inmates that it has a ”zero tolerance” policy toward sex.

”There’s no such thing as consensual sex in a correctional facility, certainly not in a juvenile facility either,” he said.

In Texas, the news comes amid major reforms following a widely publicized abuse scandal.

”We have a zero tolerance policy on sexual misconduct,” said Jim Hurley, spokesman for the Texas Youth Commission. ”This is a very important subject for us, and something we are on top of at the Texas Youth Commission.”

During the time the survey was conducted the agency had 23 allegations of sexual misconduct. One was adjudicated and two remain open.

Genger Galloway, of Crockett, Texas, fought for many of the reforms that are in place now. Her son, Joseph, who was jailed for molesting his siblings at 15, said he was sexually assaulted by a female staff member and beaten and sodomized by a male inmate as a guard stood by in 2003.

Galloway lobbied the Texas legislature for change, but she said it was too late for her son.

”My son will never be the same,” she said. ”My son is full of hatred.”

Staff sexual misconduct was higher in state-run facilities than in privately or locally operated sites, the study found, and smaller facilities tended to have fewer reports of sexual victimization.

——

Potter contributed from Richmond, Va. Associated Press writers Kelley Shannon contributed from Austin, Texas; Emery Dalesio from Raleigh, N.C.; Charles Wilson from Indianapolis; Dave Dishneau from Hagerstown, Md.; Travis Loller from Nashville, Tenn.; Beth DeFalco from Trenton, N.J.; and Ramit Plushnick-Masti from Pittsburgh.

Thank you Lelde.

With almost half the population of the U.S. (138M v 307M) Japan reported 33,308 cases of child abuse in 2005 compared to about 3 million cases in the U.S. In 2007, 37 Japanese children were killed by their parents compared to 1400 in the U.S.

The very first Japanese child abuse survey was conducted in 1999, along with specialized training for social workers. In 2006, the government introduced a national 10-year plan to improve child-rearing nationwide that included new 1700 community daytime childcare centers by March of 2010.

Japan is only now beginning to identify and respond to child abuse and neglect, after hundreds of years of three generations living in the same home, and the supreme authority of the oldest male, family intervention by the community is a difficult issue.

Child Protection and Abuse in Japan

According to a UN report, in 2006 Japan ranked seventh in the list of countries of the highest living standards. While highly developed both economically and socially the country experiences problems similar to those in less-developed countries. Child abuse is one such example. During 1990, when the data was first collected by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there were 1,101 reported incidents of child abuse.

The report stated that physical cruelty was the most common kind of abuse accounting for 44.5% of all cases, followed by neglect (36.7%) and mental abuse (15.6%). There were 1,048 reported instances of sexual abuse, comprising 3.1% of the total. Those most at risk were children under six years old, with 15,255 pre-schoolers being the target of abuse.

According to Al-Badri, in 2005 child abuse was still soaring in Japan, with 33,308 reports to child welfare consultation centers or the police in the year ending March 2005. This provided more than a 20% increase since the previous year.

Another report by the local government in Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo, released in 2006 revealed that more than 60% of the public consider the root cause of child abuse to be parents’ inexperience and selfishness.

Among other reasons cited of the increasing child abuse were the increasing shift away from households in which three generations would cohabit, meaning that grandparents were no longer able to assist with childcare chores; the lack of community in the country, with people feeling less connected to their local neighborhoods; the rising cost of bringing up children; and the increase in single-parent families.

According to Japanese Police, child abuse has been one of the biggest social problems in recent years. The number of abuse cases cleared by the police in 2007 reached 300 and the number of offenders was 323, increase of 3 (or 1.0%) and a decrease of 6 (or 1.8%) over the preceding year respectively. The number of victimized children was 315 (a decrease of 1, at 0.3% over the previous year). Out of these, 37 children were killed.

Child pornography is also a serious issue. To deal with this issue, the Act on Punishing Acts Related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and for Protecting Children was enacted in May of 1999. In 2007, the total number of persons arrested in violation of this act was 1,361 for 1,914 offenses. For child prostitution, 984 persons were arrested in 1,347 cases, including 596 persons (60.6%) in 679 cases (50.4%) involving the use of on-line dating services, 61 persons (6.2%) in 61 cases (4.5%) involving the use of telephone clubs. For child pornography, 377 were arrested in 567 cases, including 172 persons in 192 cases involving the use of the Internet.

In 2007, the number of victimized children under the age at 18 in child prostitution decreased 13.7% to 1,144 from the previous year.

In 2007, the number of victimized children under the age at 18 in child pornography increased 8.7% to 275 from the previous year. Furthermore, it has recently been reported that the Yakuza (members of organized crime syndicates in Japan) have been heavily involved in burgeoning new business: child pornography.

While it is illegal to make or sell such material in Japan, possession often goes unpunished. This legal loophole has been exploited by the Yakuza, adding to their traditional money spinners like prostitution and drugs.
Such statistics and stories reveal the extent of child abuse, which many Japanese believe does not exist in their society.

Japan’s unusually strong families are being strained, weakened by the long recession and record unemployment, which have undermined stability in the home and in addition to economic pressures, divorce rates and remarriages are rising, which experts say has led to abusive behavior by some stepparents.

Dr. Seiji Sakai, a child psychiatrist and director of the Center for Child Abuse Prevention admits: “In pediatric circles we thought there wasn’t much child abuse and that we were different from the United States because our culture was different.

The single biggest problem was society failing to realize that there is child abuse.” At the same time, while statistics suggest a rise in child abuse, experts are uncertain whether more is actually occurring or whether more instances is now being reported. As Machiko Ayukyo, a lawyer handling child abuse cases admits: “Child abuse is on the rise in Japan. Superficially, it seems the trend is rising, because more is coming to light. I feel that this has been happening for a very long time and it is finally just coming to the surface.”

The Government statistics show that in 1997, there were 5,352 reported cases of child abuse, a 30 percent rise from the previous year. In 1990, when the government began to record statistics there were just one thousand reports of child abuse a year. In 2004, the number was 24,000 and in 2006, the number was estimated to be around 35,000 cases of abuse. The population of children under the age of 14 years was 18.58 million in 2000.

The prevalence rate of child abuse and neglect is calculated to 9.1 per 10 000 children. However, this rate is only the tip of the iceberg, because there are still many unreported cases. As for forms of child abuse and neglect in 2000, physical abuse was 50.1%, neglect was 35.6%, psychological abuse was 10.0% and sexual abuse was 4.3%.

It should be acknowledged that the total number is still quite small compared to many other countries.

However, for Japan, which places so much emphasis on safety and family, the number is shocking. As Japan has became more urbanized and the number of nuclear families increased, parents have become more isolated, there is more and more pressure put on parents while support and assistance is decreasing.

As it is argued, such pressure has increased the prevalence of violence and abuse of children in such families, although the relationship is not clearly proven.

However, the statistics may not present a full picture because the Government has not traditionally kept track of cases and few are reported to authorities. Furthermore, traditionally, the police rarely investigated accusations of child abuse or wife beating, believing these were issues best left to the head of the household: the father or grandfather.

For centuries, Japanese believed that children were like possessions and that parental authority was virtually supreme. In Japan, the right of the family head was very strong and until the 1860’s, when if the father unintentionally killed a child, by being too strict or too violent, he was not questioned.
Parents have traditionally had enormous authority when it comes to raising children, with the government reluctant to intervene, but that is now changing.

Authorities are now struggling to figure out when and how to intervene. The Government wants to crack down on so-called “parental rights” and is planning to increase the number of situations in which the state can take children from their parents.

Doctors, lawyers and welfare workers, as well as some media, have recently begun to increase public awareness of these issues. More rigid laws are being discussed and legislated, which would give some power to intervene in this rigid and inaccessible family sphere. The Ministry of Health and Welfare commissioned its first child abuse survey in 1999, along with specialized training for social workers in child abuse, to provide increased psychological support for abused children.

In 2006, the government introduced a national 10-year plan to improve child-rearing conditions nationwide. This has seen an increase in the number of community centers being turned into daytime childcare centers where toddlers can play together and parents can lend each other mutual support.

More than 1,700 such centers are expected to be operational by the end of March 2010. However, more official help is necessary to prevent parents allowing their emotions to boil over into violence. The key is stopping the abuse before it starts by helping parents who have not harmed their children, but feel that they are struggling to keep a grip on things.

As Masaaki Noda, a professor at Kwansei Gakuin University pointed out, Japan will have to brace itself for more horror stories of child abuse that have already come up in the press recently until it terminates its traditional reluctance to interfere in other’s ‘private’ lives.

In regards to criminal law, Japanese society has long regarded the disciplinary issue as a part of individual (parental) discretion. Authority (e.g., schoolteachers, police, and local government) is reluctant to enter into this issue unless it is prosecuted as a court case. If the penal code is applied strictly to child abuse, however, it is no longer abuse but should be considered assault and battery.

There appears to be no provision in the Japanese penal code noting that assault and battery should be accepted from prosecution and punishment if committed by the victims’ parents or caregivers.

Child abuse then often is a crime committed by someone who is in a position to take care of the victim leading to a situation where the child emotionally and financially depends on his/her abuser.

The Child Welfare Law was enacted in 1947 to protect child abuse and poverty-related maltreatment. In 1965, Maternal and Child Health Law strengthened child health care delivery system throughout Japan. Health check-ups for infants and young children, home visit to newborns and psychological support to mothers and children are conducted and its coverage is approximately 90%. While the system for child survival and development had been successful, the welfare system for child protection was not enough. The Child Abuse Prevention Law was also enacted in 2000 and its objective was to promote measures towards the prohibition and prevention of child abuse by prescribing the responsibility of central and local government to prevent child abuse and neglect, and to establish measures to give appropriate protection to children who are abused.

The Law encourages prevention, early detection and early response of child abuse and neglect. Teachers, workers in child welfare centers, medical doctors, public health nurses, and lawyers should report to child guidance centers when they find a child abused or neglected.

The child guidance centers make an assessment from viewpoints of medicine, psychology, education and mental health, and take care of abused children under the collaboration with family courts, residential care facilities and foster families.

In Japan, each prefecture has one or more child guidance centers. In total, there are some 170 centers in Japan. The Child Welfare Act empowers the head of a child guidance centre to give abused children temporary shelter in the centre or to transfer them to the family court.

However, it is only the family court that can authoritatively investigate the home and, if necessary, deprive parents of their power. Child guidance centers usually are very reluctant to ask the prefecture to order the deprivation of parental power by the family court and the family court also is very hesitant to do this. As a result, the annual number of cases of parental power deprivation is extremely low.

The child guidance centers also have no formal means to gather evidence of child abuse. Anyone who notices child abuse may report it to a child guidance centre under the regulations of the Child Welfare Act, but there are no people in certain occupations (e.g., pediatricians, schoolteachers, social workers, etc.) who have legislated duties to do so.

As a consequence, people who become aware of a child being abused often are reluctant to report it out of fear of being sued by the victim’s parents for defamation.

The duty of certain professionals to report should be legislated. It should be noted, however, that a report may discourage an abuser from seeking help. Because Japan ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child, it should endeavor to embody its principles.

Much should be done to that end in Japan, but what is clear is that many children are still being abused. While in recent years, the activities for prevention of child abuse and neglect have been strengthened in Japan, public awareness of child abuse and neglect is still quite low.

First, the human resources in child guidance centers to protect children are lacking. While the number of reported cases increased drastically, the number of staff has not yet increased.

Second, Japan needs to establish practical measures to support all the family members from the viewpoint of family structure. Asian ‘solutions’, applicable to Japanese family structure, ought to be employed. Third, the collaboration between local governments and NGO is lacking which is a problem in many fields in Japan, including the issue of child abuse and neglect.

The participation of civil society is one of the most critical issues of Japanese society.

To prevent child abuse and neglect in Japan, it will require the full participation of civil society and community.

Just like here.

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Works Cited

Al-Badri, D. Japan Hit By Huge Rise in Child Abuse. The Guardian, Tuesday, June 27, 2006. Accessible online at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/jun/27/japan

Japan Rocked By Soaring Child Abuse. Guardian News and Media, 2008. Published 08.08.2004. Accessible online at: http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-8-2004-57591.asp

Kitamura, T.; Kijama, N.; Iwata, N.; Senda, Y.; Takahashi, K.; Hayashi, I. Frequences of Child Abuse in Japan: Hidden But Prevalent Crime. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Vol. 43, Issue 21, 1999). (Accessible online at: http://ijo.sagepub.com.ezproxy.macalester.edu/cgi/reprint/43/1/21)

Nakamura, Y. Child abuse and neglect in Japan. Pediatrics International, Vol. 44, 2002, pp. 580-582. Accessible online at: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.macalester.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=106&sid=c72c6313-7a37-4c3e-af71-c48495c43f8b%40sessionmgr112

Simkin, M. Horrific child abuse case highlights wider problem in Japan. Correspondents Report, February 8, 2004.

The Situation of Child Protection in Japan. Police of Japan. Accessible online at: http://www.npa.go.jp/english/syonen2/The_situation_of_child_protection_in_Japan.pdf

Willacy, M. Without Honor and Humanity. ABC News, October 10, 2009. Accessible online at: http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2009/s2715335.htm

WuDunn, S. Child Abuse Has Japan Rethinking Family Autonomy. The New York Times, August 15, 1999

Yanagawa, T. Current Status of Child Abuse and Neglect in Japan. 6th ISPCAN Regional Conference, Singapore, 17 November, 2005. Accessible online at: http://canal.hus.osaka-u.ac.jp/yanagawa.pdf

Among the 24 industrialized nations, the U.S. stands out with no positive public federal policy for children.

The only Child Protection policy in America is its Imminent Harm Doctrine, allowing courts to remove children whose lives are endangered by their parents. CP systems in the U.S. are under resourced, poorly coordinated, with no meaningful studies or outcome based measurements to track success or failure.

Absent coordinated positive public policy for the care of children, America is now at the confluence of misaligned and mistaken public policies that are overwhelming its schools, health and mental health services, child protection services, juvenile justice services, and criminal justice systems.

Failing schools, unsafe communities, and absurdly high rates of incarceration are just the tip of the iceberg.

Many Americans see the tip of this iceberg and assume that they understand the deeper problem, which they will fix by lowering taxes, criticizing civil servants, harsher sentencing, limiting juvenile or criminal justice rehabilitation, and move towards privatizing prisons.

What people are not seeing, and what undermines our civil society, is the correlation between healthy children and healthy citizens. We are ignoring an explosion of traumatized children with serious mental health issues, unable to cope with school & work, or get by without intervention or services

Dr. Bruce Perry gives credible argument with his research that within the next few generations, 25% of Americans will be special needs people.

Support KARA buy our book or donate

Become part of KARA’s email network by sending a request to join to;

amy.rostronledoux@yahoo.com

Every year, we read about useful new methods of addressing trauma, yet in my 12 years working with children in child protection I rarely saw abandoned kids receive the mental health services that they needed to lead normal lives.

Prozac, Ritalin, and other psychotropic medications are readily available, but without consistent access to therapy, abused and neglected children are often doomed to live with the PTSD that makes them behave in ways that cost them their place in our community.

Here are a few PTSD articles on the topic that I found on BBC that were very powerful; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6897406.stm


Brain target for stress disorder

Patients with PTSD can be offered counselling
Blocking a molecule in the brain may “cure” post-traumatic stress disorder, according to US researchers.
They showed that inhibiting a specific enzyme removed fear in mice and report to journal Nature Neuroscience that the finding may lead to new treatments.

Around a third of people may suffer PTSD after an exceptionally traumatic event, such as a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

Experts said it was early days but the findings were worth exploring further.

This data points to a promising therapeutic avenue to treat emotional disorders and raises hope for patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or phobia
Professor Li-Huei Tsai, study leader
There is currently no treatment for PTSD although antidepressants and sleeping pills can help with the symptoms, which include flashbacks, anger, anxiety and depression.

Professor Li-Huei Tsai and colleagues in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at MIT looked at the effects of an enzyme called Cdk5 in the brains of genetically engineered mice which had been given mild foot shocks.

When re-exposed to the same environment but without the shocks, mice in whom the researchers had increased levels of Cdk5 activity had difficulty letting go – or extinguishing – the memory of the foot shock and continued to freeze in fear.

But in mice whose Cdk5 activity was blocked, the bad memory of the shocks disappeared when the mice learned that they no longer needed to fear the environment where the foot shocks had occurred.

The enzyme activity was modified in the hippocampus – the brain’s centre for storing memories.

Traumatic experience

Emotional disorders such as post-traumatic stress and panic attacks stem from the inability of the brain to stop experiencing the fear associated with a specific incident or series of incidents.

A study conducted by the US Army in 2004 found that one in eight soldiers returning from Iraq reported symptoms of PTSD.

The National Institute of Clinical and Health Excellence estimate five in 100 men and 10 in 100 women in the UK will get PTSD in their lifetime.

In guidance published in 2005 NICE said the condition was under-recognised in the NHS and better screening and treatment was needed.

Professor Tsai said: “This data points to a promising therapeutic avenue to treat emotional disorders and raises hope for patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or phobia.”

Dr Jonathan Bisson, senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Cardiff and co-chair of the NICE guideline group said the finding was “potentially a significant advance”.

He added: “Translation of them into an effective treatment for PTSD is a long way off, and may not be possible.

“But the results are consistent with current theories on the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms and it is an area very worthy of further investigation.”

Humans have six hour window to erase memories of fear

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8401134.stm

Humans ‘have six-hour window’ to erase memories of fear

Memory fuels our fears
Humans have a six-hour window of opportunity when fearful memories can potentially be erased, a study says.
Reliving a harrowing memory opens what experts call a “reconsolidation window” – a time-limited period when it can be changed from bad to good.
A New York University team was able effectively to neutralise fearful memories by acting within six hours.
They hope their work, reported in Nature, will ultimately help those with disorders like post-traumatic stress.
Naturalistic approach
In the study, the volunteers were wired up to electrodes and given a shock each time they were shown a picture of differently coloured squares to make them fearful of the image – which they did.
A day later, the investigators worked on banishing the fear.

Our results suggest a non-pharmacological, naturalistic approach to more effectively manage emotional memories
Lead researcher Dr Elizabeth Phelps
They re-exposed the volunteers to the same image, but this time without the shocks.
They found that this worked, but only if the volunteer was first made to recall the fearful experience and, critically, made to recall it no longer than six hours before the “treatment” commenced.
Also, the treatment only blocked fear for the specific coloured square for which the fear memory was recalled, suggesting that the erasure is highly specific.

People need to realise it is the memory that is fearful and not the current reality
Professor Anke Ehlers
Lead researcher Dr Elizabeth Phelps of New York University said: “Timing may have a more important role in the control of fear than previously appreciated.
“Our memory reflects our last retrieval of it rather than an exact account of the original event.
“Our results suggest a non-pharmacological, naturalistic approach to more effectively manage emotional memories.”
Professor Anke Ehlers, an expert in post traumatic stress disorder at London’s Institute of Psychiatry, said: “Talking about the traumatic memory can help. That’s a common element of therapies.
“People need to realise it is the memory that is fearful and not the current reality.”

The following is my synopsis of the report written by KARA’s Macalaster Student Volunteer (Thank You Lelde) on abused and neglected children in the UK. The entire report can be read by clicking the “read more” button at the end.

In 1889, the first act of parliament for the prevention of cruelty to children (the Children’s Charter) was passed. In 1932 all existing child protection laws were united under a single piece of legislation. In 1968 the Social Work Act gave authority to local authorities for investigating child abuse.

Of 11 million children in England, 235,000 receive support from a local authority; 60,000 are looked after by a local authority, 37,000 are the subject of a care order; 29,000 are the subject of a Child Protection Plan, 1300 are privately fostered & 300 are in secure children’s homes.

Of America’s 73 million children, about 750,000 are in county adoption, foster care and child protection and another 1.8 million living with relatives. This would indicate an American rate of child abuse (children that are out of the home or in child protection) approximately three times that found in England.

Reading this study closely, it appears that many UK children fail to receive the help they need (which may account for some of the big disparity in rates of child abuse between our nations).

The NSPCC child Maltreatment study found that one in six children experienced serious maltreatment; it appears that only one in one hundred children received services.

16% of UK children under 16 experienced sexual abuse during childhood by people known but unrelated to them, with the majority reporting more than one incident. 72% of those children told no one at the time, 31% told no one by early adulthood.

25% of UK children experienced physical violence during childhood; 78% happened at home, 15% at school, & 13% in public places.

Of the 189 children reported murdered or injured by their caregivers, only 33 had child protection cases open.

Does anyone know of the approximately (my estimate) 10,000 U.S. children that are murdered or injured annually by their caregivers, how many of them were open child protection cases? Please comment here or contact KARA directly; info@invisiblechildren.org

Invisible Children Around the World; United Kingdom

“Children grow to fill the space we create for them, and if it’s big, they grow tall.”
Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan

Brief History of Child Protection in UK

In 1889, the first act of parliament for the prevention of cruelty to children, commonly known as the ‘children’s charter’ was passed. For the first time it enabled the state to intervene in relations between parents and children and police could arrest anyone they found ill-treating a child and enter a home if a child was thought to be in danger.

The Children’s Act of 1908 established juvenile courts and introduced the registration of foster parents. The Children and Young Persons Act of 1932 broadened the powers of juvenile courts and introduced supervision orders for children at risk also uniting all existing child protection laws under a single piece of legislation. Under 1968 Social Work Act, local authority social work departments replaced children, welfare, health and probation committees and local authorities took over responsibilities for investigating child abuse.

The Children Act of 1989 gave every child the right to protection from abuse and exploitation and the right to inquires to safeguard their welfare. It emphasized that children were usually best looked after within their family but in case of emergency children needed to be removed from their immediate relatives in order to safeguard their well-being and health. In 1999 the Protection of Children Act was passed, specifically aiming to prevent pedophiles from working with children.

The Act required childcare organizations in England and Wales to inform the Department of Health about anyone known to them who was suspected of harming children or putting them at risk.
In January 2003, Lord Laming published a report of death of child abuse victim Victoria Climbie, which claimed that health, police and social services had missed 12 opportunities to save the child. Attracting great public attention in September a government policy paper titled “Every Child Matters” is released and proposes an electronic tracking system for England’s children.

150 children’s trusts across the country were to be set up by 2006, amalgamating health, education and social services, a children’s director to oversee local services, statutory local safeguarding children boards and a children’s commission for England. The Children Act 2004 pushed forward the main proposals of this government policy paper and it was passed by the parliament. Simultaneously, however, it allowed local authorities more flexibility in organizing their children’s services.

I. Child Abuse and Neglect: Situational Analysis
Despite the aforementioned successes in the field of child abuse and neglect prevention laws and policies, the statistics about child abuse and neglect is rather grim. Looking back over the past 30 years, child deaths from abuse and neglect have not decreased. Current figures show that one to two children are killed each week, the majority by their parents or carers.

Of the 98 child homicides in England and Wales in 2000/2001, parents were the chief suspects in 76 cases. On average there are between 100 and 200 serious case reviews each year involving the death or serious injury of children as a result of abuse or neglect. Infants are particularly vulnerable as the death rate from severe physical abuse is 10 times higher in babies than children aged one to five years old. Studies have shown that up to one in ten children suffer harm at some point in their childhood.

It is difficult to state an overall single figure of maltreatment. This is because each form of maltreatment may not happen in isolation from other forms, for example physical abuse might be experienced alongside emotional abuse. The closest thing to an aggregate prevalence figure is from the second volume of the NSPCC Child Maltreatment study, which examined abuse and neglect within the family. It found that 16% of children (1 in 6) experienced serious maltreatment by parents, of whom one third experienced more than one type of maltreatment. Adding those children who experienced intermediate levels of maltreatment, the total percentage of children experiencing some degree of maltreatment by parents at some time in their childhood rises to 38%.

There is no aggregate figure for all maltreatment by mothers and fathers from the NSPCC prevalence study. The study did find, however, that both parents were equally likely to be involved in maltreatment (physical abuse, emotional abuse and neglect), with the exception of sexual abuse. For the 1% of children aged under 16 who experienced sexual abuse by a parent or carer, it almost always involved fathers or step-fathers.

Out of 11 million children in England, 200,000 children live in households where there is a known high risk case of domestic abuse and violence; 235,000 are ‘children in need’ and in receipt of support from a local authority; 60,000 are looked after by a local authority, 37,000 are the subject of care order; 29,000 are the subject of Child Protection Plan, 1,300 are privately fostered and 300 are in secure children’s homes.

Study conducted in 2000 of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect defined neglect in two ways: the absence of physical care at home and the absence of supervision by parents or carers. The data revealed the following:

• 6% of children experienced serious absence of care at home during childhood

• 5% of children experienced serious absence of supervision during childhood.

• 18% of children experienced some absence of care during childhood and 20% experienced less than adequate supervision.

• 7% of children experienced serious physical abuse at the hands of their parents or carers during childhood

• 1% of children aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse by a parent or carer and a further 3% by another relative during childhood.

• 11% of children experienced sexual abuse by people known but unrelated to them

• 5% of children experienced sexual abuse by an adult stranger or someone they had just met

• 6% of children experienced serious absence of care at home during childhood.

• 5% of children experienced serious absence of supervision during childhood

• 6% of children experienced frequent and severe emotional maltreatment during childhood.

In 2007/2008, 55 children were reported killed by someone known to the child. However, over 80% of children killed or serious injured through neglect or abuse was not on England’s child protection registers.

Only 33 of the 189 children whose death or injury in 2005 to 2007 led to a review were on the registers. Marion Brandon, a University of East Anglia academic who is leading an analysis of the serious case reviews, revealed that social workers often struggled to respond appropriately: “They make an early assessment and do not tend to change their minds. They keep looking for evidence that supports their view and that can be very dangerous and they might stick to saying it is a case of neglect when it is actually abuse.”

While child protection registers are not a measure of the incidence of maltreatment but do give some indication of the scale of the problem. However, research indicates that abuse and neglect are both under-reported and under-registered.

Nearly 32,000 children in the UK are known to be at risk of abuse right now. Latest available figures show that there were 31,919 children on child protection registers in the UK as at 31 March 2006. The division is the following:
• England: 26,400
• Northern Ireland: 1,639
• Wales: 2,163
• Scotland: 2,288

Approximately 38,000 registrations were made to child protection registers in the UK between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006: in England: 31,500; in Northern Ireland: 1,166; in Wales: 2,870; in Scotland: 2,791.

On average, over 700 registrations are made to child protection registers in the UK each week. However, because new registrations, re-registrations and de-registrations occur throughout the year, the net annual increase in registrations is actually quite small (the net annual increase in registrations for the UK from 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006 was 1,426).

II. Statistics on Homicide in United Kingdom
On average, every week in England and Wales one to two children are killed at the hands of another person and each week at least one child dies from cruelty.

On average, 67 children in England and Wales are killed at the hands of another person every year. In 2005/2006, 55 children were killed at the hands of another person in England and Wales. While the number of child homicides fluctuates each year, the overall child homicide rate in England and Wales has remained broadly similar since the 1970s. Infants aged under one are more at risk of being killed at the hands of another person than any age group of child under 18 in England and Wales.

Almost two thirds of children killed at the hands of another person in England and Wales are aged under five.

Every ten days in England and Wales one child is killed at the hands of their parent and in half (52%) of all cases of children killed at the hands of another person, the parent is the principal suspect. Killings of children by a natural parent are committed in roughly equal proportions by mothers (47%) and fathers (53%), but that where the child is killed by someone other than a parent, males strongly predominate.

III. Statistics on Child Sexual Abuse in United Kingdom
1% of children aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse by a parent or carer, and a further 3% by another relative during childhood. 11% of children aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse during childhood by people known but unrelated to them. 5% of children aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse during childhood by an adult stranger or someone they had just met.

In total, 16% of children aged under 16 experienced sexual abuse during childhood. 11% of this was contact abuse and 6% was non-contact. Overall, 11% of boys aged under 16 and 21% of girls aged under 16 experienced sexual abuses during childhood.

The majority of children who experienced sexual abuse had more than one sexually abusive experience; only indecent exposure was likely to be a single incident. Three-quarters (72%) of sexually abused children did not tell anyone about the abuse at the time. 27% told someone later. Around a third (31%) still had not told anyone about their experience(s) by early adulthood.

More than one third (36%) of all rapes recorded by the police are committed against children under 16 years of age. A study which examined police data on rapes committed against children found that children under the age of 12 were the most likely of all those aged 16 and under to have reported being raped by someone they knew well.

Children under the age of 12 were least likely to have been raped by a stranger but children between 13 and 15 years of age were the most likely to have reported being raped by an ‘acquaintance’. For the children who experienced sexual abuse in the family, the most common perpetrator was a brother or stepbrother:

o 38% of penetrative/oral acts of sexual abuse in the family were by a brother/stepbrother
o 23% were perpetrated by a father
o 14% were perpetrated by an uncle
o 13% were perpetrated by a stepfather
o 8% were perpetrated by a cousin
o 6% were perpetrated by a grandfather
o 4% were perpetrated by a mother.

IV. Statistics on Physical Violence Against Children in United Kingdom
A quarter (25%) of children experienced one or more forms of physical violence during childhood. This includes being hit with an implement, being hit with a fist or kicked, shaken, thrown or knocked down, beaten up, choked, burned or scalded on purpose, or threatened with a knife or gun.

Of this 25% of children, the majority had experienced ’some degree of physical abuse’ by parents or carers. In total, 21% of children experienced some degree of physical abuse at the hands of their parents or carers. 7% of children experienced ’serious physical abuse’ and 14% ‘intermediate physical abuse’ at the hands of their parents or carers. A further 3% of respondents experienced aspects of childrearing which could give ’cause for concern’.

Of the quarter (25%) of children who had experienced physical violence during childhood, for the majority it happened at home. The violence occurred in the following places:

o 78% of respondents said this violence happened at home
o 15% had experienced the violence at school
o 13% said the violence had happened in a public place.

Almost a quarter (24%) of children experienced physical maltreatment in their families that at least sometimes breached ‘acceptable societal standards’. 7% of children experienced serious physical abuse at the hands of their parents or carers during childhood. The person responsible for physical violence during childhood was most often the mother (49%) or father (40%).

Violence was reported as being carried out by some stepfathers (5%) or stepmothers (3%), grandparents (3%), and other relatives (1%). Violence by peers was also reported, with 10% naming brothers, 3% sisters and 14% other young people as responsible.

V. Conclusion

One of the main challenges is to ensure that leaders of local services effectively translate policy, legislation and guidance into day-to-day practice on the frontline of every service. Leaders of local services must recognize the importance of early intervention and ensure that their departments support children as soon as they are recognized as being ‘in need’, averting escalation to the point at which families are in crisis.

Early intervention is vital – not only in ensuring that fewer and fewer children grow up in abusive or neglectful homes, but also to help as many children as possible reach their full potential.

The Audit Commission has estimated that, if effective early intervention had been provided for just one in ten of those young people sentenced to custody each year, public services alone could have saved over £100 million annually.

A recent report by Graham Allen and Iain Duncan Smith highlights the need for early intervention, noting that “child poverty and income are only part of the picture.

Building human capabilities is at least as important and rewarding. Capable, competent human beings will almost always find their way in life, find work and raise happy families.”

The report also highlights the importance of the first years of a child’s life and how they lay the foundation for that child’s growth and development.

The authors believe that “medical evidence points overwhelmingly in favor of a shift to Early Intervention. It highlights the essential importance of years 0–3 in human development, and the vital influence on years 0–3 of their primary caregivers.

That in turn makes it essential to prepare children of 0–18 for their future role as parents. Skills that for generations were passed on, almost unconsciously, now have to be taught: if they are not, we will all reap the consequences.”

Works Cited
Batty, D. Timeline: A History of Child Protection. 18 May, 2005. Accessible online at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/may/18/childrensservices2
BBC. Child Abuse Missed by Register. November 15, 2008. Accesible online at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7730939.stm
Brookman and Maguire (2003) Reducing homicide: a review of the possibilities. London: Home Office. Accessible online at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/rdsolr0103.pdf.
Cawson (2002) Child maltreatment in the family: the experience of a national sample of young people. London: NSPCC.
Cawson, P.; Wattam, C., Brooker, S. & Kelly, G. Child Maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a Study of the Prevalence of Child Abuse and Neglect. NSPCC, 2007
Coleman, K. et al (2007) Homicides, firearms offences and intimate violence 2005/2006. London: Home Office. Accessible online at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb0207.pdf
Creighton and Tissier (2003) Child killings in England and Wales. London: NSPCC Research briefing, 2003.
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (NI) (2006) Children Order Statistical Bulletin 2006.
DfES (2006) Statistics of Education: Referrals, Assessments and Children and Young People on Child Protection Registers. 31 March 2006.
Graham Allen & Hon Iain Duncan Smith. Early Intervention: Good Parents, Great Kids, Better Citizens. Centre for Social Justice/Smith Institute, 2008.
Harris, J. and Grace, S. (1999) A question of evidence? Investigating and prosecuting rape in the 1990s. Home Office Research Study 196. Home Office
HM Treasury, Policy review of children and young people: A discussion paper. January 2007
NSPCC. Prevalence and Incidence of Child Abuse and Neglect. Accessible online at: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/statistics/prevalence_and_incidence_of_child_abuse_and_neglect_wda48740.html
NSPCC. Child Neglect: Key Child Protection Statistics. Accessible online at: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/statistics/child_neglect_statistics_wda48727.html
Safeguarding Children and Young People- every nurse’s responsibility. Royal College of Nursing, Guidance for Nursing Staff. Accessible online at: http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/78583/002045.pdf
The Lord Laming. The Protection Of Children in England: A Progress Report.12 March, 2009. Accessible online at: http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/HC-330.pdf
Walker, A., Kershaw, C. and Nicholas, S. (2006) Crime in England and Wales 2005/06. Home Office Statistical Bulletin (July 2006 / 12/06).
Williams, C. Action for Children Backs Early Intervention with Families in Need. Accessible online at: http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/03/19/111053/action-for-children-backs-early-intervention-with-families-in-need.htm

* Close to one third of Canadian teen agers reported some kind of abuse or neglect,

* Children know their abusers in eight out of ten cases,

* Canada experiences 2200/100,000 investigations of child abuse (about half the U.S. statistic 4500/100,000),

* it is estimated that only one in ten abused children is ever reported in Canada.

Most Canadian jurisdictions now categorize exposure to family violence as a distinct type of maltreatment in their child welfare legislation.

I would agree with this entirely. A child watching mom beaten or raped is traumatized.

Trauma is real and results in severe and lasting mental health development problems. The world health organization defines torture as extended exposure to violence and deprivation. Children watching their mothers beaten or raped, it may be argued, are being tortured.

In my experience as a guardian ad-Litem, our county was just too overwhelmed to adequately address this type of abuse. The desire is there, but there was no way the case loads and court loads could accommodate these children.

Without significant signs of bodily harm, I never saw a confirmed case of child abuse where a child was removed from the home because of what had happened to the mother (or father).

Another significant piece of verbage;

“Makes child abuse an aggravating factor for the purpose of sentencing”,

as a guardian ad-Litem, I was repeatedly forced to choose between criminal court with a seven year old defendant and questionable removal of the child from the home (and prosecution of the perpetrator), or child protection court with automatic removal (either/or).

The people (multiple cases over twelve years) I witnessed molesting and torturing children were never charged. Most of them did terrific damage to a number of children over many years.Day care workers are paid about the same as food service workers in America (the lowest paid employees in the U.S.). This is how we value children in America.

Buy, or listen to our book (for free)

Join our online group on children’s issues by sending an email to;

amy.rostronledoux@yahoo.com

As Pliny the Elder said 2500 years ago, “what you do to your children, they will do to your society”

Child Abuse and Neglect in Canada: Data and Statistics
Physical child abuse statistics are difficult to determine. While hospitals and other public institutions often do their duty and report child abuse letting the social workers investigate the reported allegations, thousands of children are abused behind closed doors. According to Valpy, ‘the numbers of child abuse deaths in Canada are under-reported–the result of, among other things, non-existent national standards and death review mechanisms’.

Following is just some statistics on child abuse and neglect in Canada over the time span of approximately 10 years.

Trocme and associates in a model study of child abuse reports in Ontario found the incidence of investigated cases to be 21 per 1000 children. Child abuse was substantiated in 27% of these cases, suspected in 30% and found unsubstantiated in 42%. Almost 41% of the cases involved physical abuse, 21% sexual abuse, 30% neglect and 10% emotional maltreatment.

A conservative estimate, based on the assumption that there exists an equal number of cases that remain unreported, is that there are approximately 94 000 Ontario children each year in situations that may be abusive. These findings help to place in context the calculation that 1 in 8 Canadian children experiences some sort of abuse. This figure represents 900 000 children.

In 1999, the McCreary Adolescent Health Survey found that 35% of girls and 16% of boys between grades 7 – 12 had been sexually and/or physically abused. Among girls surveyed, 17-year-olds experienced the highest rate of sexual abuse at 20%.

A study in 2001 on physical child abuse statistics estimated that 135,573 child maltreatment investigations by Social Service Agencies were conducted in Canada in 1998 and 45% of these were substantiated. Physical abuse accounted for 31% of all investigations made to child welfare agencies in Canada in 1998.

Physical child abuse was committed largely by biological parents: fathers were alleged perpetrators in 46% of substantiated cases of physical child abuse–mothers, 43%. The highest proportions of substantiated physical child abuse cases were in the adolescent age group: boys, 22% and girls, 18%.

A similar case study on Canadian physical child abuse revealed that an average of about 100 child homicides were documented by the police each year across the country between 1994-1998. From 1974 to 2000, 63% of the homicides of children/youth were committed by family members and 37% were committed by non-family members.

Of the non-family member perpetrators 37% were casual acquaintances, 27% strangers, and 20% close friends. Furthermore, the breakdown of perpetrators of physical assaults on children and youth as reported to police in 2000 were 53% acquaintances, 21% family members, and 20% strangers.

A study on Family Violence by the National Clearinghouse estimated that 1 out of every 3 female children and 1 out of every 6 male children in Canada will experience an unwanted sexual act before they reach adulthood.

Police-reported data for 2007 indicate that children and youth under the age of 18 were most likely to be physically or sexually assaulted by someone they know (85% of incidents). Nearly 53,400 children and youth were the victims of a police-reported assault in 2007, with about 3 in 10 incidents of assaults against children and youth perpetrated by a family member. When children and youth were victims of family violence, a parent was identified as the abuser in nearly 6 in 10 incidents.

Girls under the age of 18 reported higher rates of both physical and sexual assault by a family member than boys. In 2007, the rate of family-perpetrated sexual assault was more than 4 times higher for girls than for boys. Male family members were identified as the accused in a sizable majority of family-related sexual (96%) and physical assaults (71%) against children and youth.

Homicides of children and youth (under the age of 18) represented about 9% of all homicides in 2007. Most child and youth homicide victims were killed by someone they knew. In 2007, 41% of child and youth homicides were committed by a family member, 27% by someone known to the victim but other than a family member, 20% by strangers and the remaining 13% of child and youth homicides were unsolved.

Parents were the perpetrators in the majority of child and youth homicides committed by family members. Fathers (54%) were more likely than mothers (34%) to be the perpetrators. Infants under the age of one experienced higher rates of family homicide compared to older children. From 1998 to 2007, baby boys (35 per million population) had somewhat higher rates than baby girls (27 per million population).

In family homicides of infants, half of victims (51%) were killed by their mother and 47% by their father, whereas in family homicides of older children fathers were the most likely perpetrators.
Nearly 53,400 children and youth were the victims of a police-reported assault in 2007, with about 13,200 of these incidents perpetrated by a family member.

In 2007, the rate of police-reported physical and sexual assault4 against children and youth was higher than the rate for adults. In 2007, for every 100,000 young persons under 18 years of age, there were 833 victims of police-reported physical and sexual assault compared to 761 among adults. The highest rate of physical and sexual violence (1,628 per 100,000 population) was for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17—a rate more than 4 times that for children under the age of 12.

The difference in the assault rates between adults and children was largely due to rates of sexual assault. In 2007, the sexual assault rate for children and youth (193 per 100,000 population) was over 5 times higher than it was for adults (37 per 100,000 population). Adolescents aged 12 to 17 reported a rate of physical assault (1,333 per 100,000 population) that was nearly double that of adults (724 per 100,000 population).

Overall, in 2007, police-reported rates of physical assault by family members were somewhat higher for girls (149 per 100,000 population) than for boys (133 per 100,000 population). In addition, rates of family-related physical assault were higher among older youth, particularly for 12 to 17 year-olds. Among boys, the rate of physical assault by a family member peaked around the age of 14 (200 incidents per 100,000 population).

In comparison, the rate for girls was highest among 17 year-olds (364 per 100,000)—the highest rate of family-related physical assault for all children and youth, regardless of sex. The rate of family-related sexual assault against children and youth was more than 4 times higher for girls (107 per 100,000 population) than for boys (25 per 100,000 population). Young adolescent girls, particularly those between the ages of 12 and 15, were at greatest risk of sexual assault by a relative. Similar to previous years, the family-perpetrated sexual assault rate for boys was considerably lower than the rate for girls, regardless of age.

Children and youth who reported being victimized by a non-family member were more likely than those victimized by a family member to have been physically injured. According to police-reported data for 2007, nearly half (48%) of children and youth violently victimized by someone other than a relative sustained physical injuries, compared to 40% of those victimized by a family member.

Furthermore, boys (46%) were more likely than girls (36%) to be injured as a consequence of family-perpetrated violence.

In their 2001 report on Family Violence in Canada, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics found that children who are exposed to physical violence in their homes are:

• more than twice as likely to be physically aggressive as those who have not had such exposure;
• more likely to commit delinquent acts against property
• more likely to display emotional disorders and hyperactivity

University of Victoria’s Sexual Assault Centre posts the following childhood sexual abuse statistics:

• 1 in 3 females and 1 in 6 males in Canada experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 18.
• 80% of all child abusers are the father, foster father, stepfather or another relative or close family friend of the victim.
• Incestuous relationships last 7 years on average
• 75% of mothers are not aware of the incest in their family
• 60-80% of offenders in a study of imprisoned rapists had been molested as children
• 80% of prostitutes and juvenile delinquents, in another study, were sexually abused as children.

A study on child abuse in 2007 investigating the statistics over the time span of one year revealed the following statistics:
• 31.2% of the male children said they were abused
• 21.1% of the female children said they were abused
• 10.7% of the girls reported they were subjected to severe physical abuse
• 9.2% of the boys reported they were subjected to severe physical abuse
• 12.8% of the girls admitted to having experienced sexual abuse
• 4.3% of the boys admitted to having experienced sexual abuse
• In total, 33% of the boys and 27% of girls said they experienced abuse in some form or the other.
In their 2001 report on Family Violence in Canada, The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics found that:
• 69% of substantiated physical abuse involved inappropriate punishment
• 68% of substantiated sexual abuse involved touching and fondling
• 58% of substantiated emotional maltreatment involved exposure to family violence
• 48% of substantiated cases of neglect primarily involved failure to supervise the child properly, which lead to physical harm

In their 2001 report on Family Violence in Canada, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics found that family members, including relatives, constituted the vast majority (93%) of alleged perpetrators. Another statistical study conducted in 2001 by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics found that:

• among family assaults parents were the perpetrators in 56% of physical assaults against youths and 43% of sexual assaults against youth victims 12 to 17 years of age;
• siblings were responsible for approximately 25% of physical and 26% of sexual assaults in the family that were perpetrated against youth
• extended family members committed 8% of physical, and 28% of sexual assaults against youth

Although the overall number of children murdered in Canada is very low, according to Public Health Agency of Canada and based on Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2003 and Canadian Center for Justice Statistics, the breakdown of murders of children in year 2001 is the following :

Biological fathers 16
Biological mothers 16
Step-fathers 4
Step-mothers 1
Sibling 3
Spouse 0
Other family 3
Total non-family homicides 26
Acquaintance 4
Stranger 11
Unknown 5
Total solved homicides 69

According to Statistics Canada, a child dies every week in Canada at the hands of a caregiver. Similarly, 70% of children who are victims of homicide are killed before the age of 5. 80% of abusers are known to their child victims and more than 90% of child abuse cases are unreported.
Works Cited:
Canadian Statistics on Child Abuse. Accessible online at: http://www.irvingstudios.com/child_abuse_survivor_monument/PDFs%20for%20Media/a%202007%20StatisticsOnChildAbuse.pdf
Children and Youth in Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statistics Canada, June 2001 (Catalogue no. 85F0033MIE)
Child Abuse. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Accessible online at:

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001576
Child Abuse and Neglect: Statistics. Canadian Children’s Rights Council. Accessible online at:

http://www.canadiancrc.com/Child_Abuse/Child_Abuse.aspx
Child Abuse Prevention Website: Abuse Statistics. Accessible online at:

http://www.safekidsbc.ca/statistics.htm
Canada Child Abuse Statistics: Not Just American Problem. Child Abuse Statistics Resource Online. Accessible online at: http://child-abuse-statistics.info/child-abuse-stastics/canada-child-abuse-statistics
Child Sexual Abuse Statistics, compiled by the National Advisory Council of Women, quoted by University of Victoria’s Sexual Assault Centre
McCreary Centre Society. Healthy Connections: Listening to BC Youth, 1999, p. 17.

Physical Child Abuse Statistics. Accessible online at: http://www.child-abuse-effects.com/physical-child-abuse-statistics.html

Day care workers are paid about the same as food service workers in America (the lowest paid employees in the U.S.). This is how we value children in America.

Buy, or listen to our book (for free)

Join our online group on children’s issues by sending an email to;

amy.rostronledoux@yahoo.com

As Pliny the Elder said 2500 years ago, “what you do to your children, they will do to your society”