Understanding Child Abuse

Children of all ages are frequently abused in our community. This may be neglect, physical or mental abuse. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, “Every year approximately 3.3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving nearly 6 million children were made to local child protective service (CPS) agencies.” The sad truth is every 13 seconds a child is abused by a parent or someone close. According to the National Committee for the Prosecution of Child Abuse, approximately 18,000 children are permanently disabled and 2,000 die from physical abuse or neglect each year. Neglect, being the most common form of child abuse, accounting for more than 60% of all cases; followed by physical abuse, accounting for 25% of all cases. Child neglect is the failure to provide for the shelter, safety, supervision and nutritional needs of the child. The three factors of neglect are; physical, emotional, and educational. Physical neglect includes not seeking medical attention and inadequate supervision. Emotional neglect includes the tardiness of the child’s need of affection and spouse abuse in the child’s presence. Educational neglect includes allowing chronic truancy and the lack of pertaining to a special educational need. Children that are older, often tend to be oblivious to the neglect because they become used to it and even take the roll of the parent. With that being said, statistics state that, 14% of all men in prison in the USA were abused as children and 36% of all women in prison were abused as children. Physical abuse is defined as non-accidental trauma or physical injury caused by punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning or otherwise harming a child. Factors such as parents’ immaturity, lack of parenting skills, poor childhood experiences, drug or alcohol problems and domestic violence can contribute to child abuse. On the other hand, emotional abuse is