It’s a sad but true fact that even after years and years of awareness campaigns, prevention efforts, federal legislation and educational activities, child abuse is still a prevalent and major concern in our country. Statistics reveal that a report of child abuse is made every ten seconds*. National attention has been given to this epidemic since 1974 through the passage of the first Federal child protection legislation, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). In 1983, April was designated as National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Statistics About Child Abuse

This is hard information to digest but educating ourselves about this ongoing problem is the first step in being able to do something about it.

• 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.
• 90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way; 68% are abused by family members.
• Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.
• About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.
• Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy.

(source: ChildHelp.org)

What You Can Do To Help

First and foremost, to report an incident of child abuse, call the National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-4-A-CHILD

Know who to go to in your area to report or get help.

Find information that can help you and others: Child Welfare Information Gateway (ChildWelfare.gov) has great educational resources and links on their website.

Know the definitions and signs of different types of maltreatment.

Reach Out: Helpful tips from Prevent Child Abuse America for advocacy and prevention.

Be The Change

The cycle of child abuse can be broken, one family at a time, one parent at a time, one child at a time. If you need help, please find it (all the links above will point you to ways to get help). If you’re aware of abuse, please report it.

*source

Photo credits: National Child Abuse Prevention logo from ChildWelfare.gov, Clip Art from Microsoft Office Online, ‘Be the change’ photo is property of the author and used with permission.