No Fault of their Own
No man can pay for the life of anyone else. No one can give God what that would cost. The price for a life is very high. No payment is ever enough.
-Psalm 49:7-8
What is Maltreatment?
Child maltreatment is the general term used to describe all forms of child abuse and neglect. There is no one commonly accepted definition of "child abuse and neglect." The federal government defines child abuse and neglect in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act as "the physical and mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child under the age of 18 by a person who is responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances which indicate that the child’s health or welfare is harmed or threatened.
How many children are abused each year?
According to Child Maltreatment 2010, the most recent report of data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), approximately 3.6 million reports of suspected abuse or neglect were filed. Of these, 20% of the reports were substantiated, meaning approximately 720,000 children were found to be victims of child abuse or neglect in 2009. Of this number, the data is broken down by the type of allegation:
◦ 78% suffered Neglect
◦ 18% suffered Physically Abused
◦ 10% suffered Sexually Abused
◦ 8% suffered Emotional or Psychological Maltreatment
◦ 2% suffered Medical Neglect
What are Factors that May Increase the Risk for Abuse and Neglect?
◦ Children under 4 years of age are at greatest risk for severe injury and death from abuse.
◦ Children who have special needs, cry persistently or have abnormal physical features.
◦ Children who are unwanted.
◦ Families experiencing financial difficulties or a great deal of stress.
◦ Families who lack awareness of child development or have unrealistic expectations.
◦ Communities consumed with violence.
◦ Communities lacking adequate services to support families.
Child maltreatment is the general term used to describe all forms of child abuse and neglect. There is no one commonly accepted definition of "child abuse and neglect." The federal government defines child abuse and neglect in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act as "the physical and mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent treatment, or maltreatment of a child under the age of 18 by a person who is responsible for the child’s welfare under circumstances which indicate that the child’s health or welfare is harmed or threatened.
How many children are abused each year?
According to Child Maltreatment 2010, the most recent report of data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), approximately 3.6 million reports of suspected abuse or neglect were filed. Of these, 20% of the reports were substantiated, meaning approximately 720,000 children were found to be victims of child abuse or neglect in 2009. Of this number, the data is broken down by the type of allegation:
◦ 78% suffered Neglect
◦ 18% suffered Physically Abused
◦ 10% suffered Sexually Abused
◦ 8% suffered Emotional or Psychological Maltreatment
◦ 2% suffered Medical Neglect
What are Factors that May Increase the Risk for Abuse and Neglect?
◦ Children under 4 years of age are at greatest risk for severe injury and death from abuse.
◦ Children who have special needs, cry persistently or have abnormal physical features.
◦ Children who are unwanted.
◦ Families experiencing financial difficulties or a great deal of stress.
◦ Families who lack awareness of child development or have unrealistic expectations.
◦ Communities consumed with violence.
◦ Communities lacking adequate services to support families.
Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect
The number of children reported as abused or neglected has increased dramatically in Alabama. "The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awake. The further back in history one goes, the lower the level of child care and the more likely children are to be killed, abandoned, beaten, terrorized and abused" (Lloyd De Mause, The History Of Childhood, 1974).
Your help is needed to ensure that children receive adequate protection and services. Please call your County Department of Human Resources or local law enforcement agency to report suspected abuse or neglect:
Your help is needed to ensure that children receive adequate protection and services. Please call your County Department of Human Resources or local law enforcement agency to report suspected abuse or neglect:
United States of America
There are approximately 1 million substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect in the United States each year and millions more reported cases.
A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds. More than FIVE children die every day as a result of child abuse! 1,740 children died in the United States in 2008 from abuse and neglect. The estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2008 is $124 billion. Nearly 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the cycle of abuse. |
According to the Child Welfare Dynamic Report System, the most recent report of data from the California Department of Social Services (University of California at Berkeley collaboration), approximately 87,000 children were found to be substantiated victims of child abuse or neglect. Of this number, the data is broken down by the type of allegation:
◦ 62% suffered Neglect ◦ 19% suffered Physically Abused ◦ 9% suffered Sexually Abused ◦ 10% suffered Emotional or Psychological Maltreatment Child Abuse PreventionThe ultimate goal is to stop child maltreatment before it starts. Strategies that support parents and teach positive parenting skills reduce the risk for child maltreatment. Positive parenting skills include good communication, appropriate discipline and responding to children’s physical and emotional needs.
|
We Walk by Faith, Not by Sight
One night I dreamed...
I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints. So I said to the Lord, "you promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?"
The Lord replied, "The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, is when I carried you."
by Mary Stevenson
I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there were one set of footprints.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints. So I said to the Lord, "you promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there have only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?"
The Lord replied, "The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, is when I carried you."
by Mary Stevenson