Week 7
1436 words by mlathon
Child abuse and neglect is reaching epidemic proportions with disastrous consequences. Judges, lawyers, physicians and other community professionals agree that tax dollars would be best spent preventing abuse and preserving families. Unfortunately, adequate resources have not been invested by state and Federal government to make significant prevention possible. One problem is that on both these levels the political constituency necessary to meet the needs of children has not been organized.
It is clear that children and families need advocates. They need a concerned body of individuals who are willing to champion their rights and fight for advances in services that benefit children
They need you.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2003, approximately 906,000 children were victims and an estimated 1,500 children died of abuse or neglect.
Locally, according to Colorado Association of Family and Children’s Agencies (CAFCA), children in Colorado desperately need protection and care. Recently released statistics from 2005 include:
In 2005, apporoximately 30,000 children were reported abused or neglected and referred for investigation in Colorado.
Out of that number, nearly 9,000 cases were substantiated or indicated as abused. Twenty-one percent suffered physical abuse, 46.6% neglect, 1.4% medical neglect, 11.5% sexual abuse, 5% psychological maltreatment and 18% other or unknown.
Boys and girls are equally likely to be abused or neglected.
Approximately 80% of child abuse is perpetrated by a parent or caregiver.
An average of 20 children in Colorado die from suspected abuse or neglect every year.
Children under the age of 4 account for 75% of all child abuse deaths.
Neglect occurs more frequently than abuse and can be equally damaging and deadly. 30% of all child fatalities are due to neglect.
11,927 children spent some portion of 2005 in substitute (foster) care .
Approximately 1,500 abused and neglected children receive intensive, rehabilitative mential health services in residential programs.
The majority of children in residential care have been victims of significant physical or sexual abuse.
Among victims of sexual abuse, the inability to trust is pronounced, which also contributes to secrecy and non-disclosure.
Source: Courtois & Watts, 1982.
Children often fail to report because of the fear that disclosure will bring consequences even worse than being victimized again. The victim may fear consequences from the family, feel guilty for consequences to the perpetrator, and may fear subsequent retaliatory actions from the perpetrator.
Sources: Berlinger & Barbieri, 1984; Groth, 1979; Swanson & Biaggio, 1985.
Victims may be embarrassed or reluctant to answer questions about the sexual activity.
Source: Berlinger & Barbieri, 1984.
Victims may also have a feeling that “something is wrong with me,” and that the abuse is their fault.
Sources: Johnson, 1987; Tsai & Wagner, l978.
In addition to “sexual guilt,” there are several other types of guilt associated with the abuse, which include feeling different from peers, harboring vengeful and angry feelings toward both parents, feeling responsible for the abuse, feeling guilty about reporting the abuse, and bringing disloyalty and disruption to the family . Any of these feelings of guilt could outweigh the decision of the victim to report, the result of which is the secret may remain intact and undisclosed.
Source: Courtois & Watts, 1982; Tsai & Wagner, l978.
A child’s initial denial of sexual abuse should not be the sole basis of reassurance that abuse did not occur. Virtually all investigative protocols are designed to respond to only those children who have disclosed. Policies and procedures that are geared only to those children who have disclosed fail to recognize the needs of the majority of victims.
Source: Sorensen & Snow, 1991.
Study of 630 cases of alleged sexual abuse of children from 1985 through 1989: Using a subset of 116 confirmed cases, findings indicated that 79 percent of the children of the study initially denied abuse or were tentative in disclosing. Of those who did disclose, approximately three-quarters disclosed accidentally. Additionally, of those who did disclose, 22 percent eventually recanted their statements.
Source: Sorensen & Snow, 1991.
Young victims may not recognize their victimization as sexual abuse.
Source: Gilbert, l988.
There is the clinical assumption that children who feel compelled to keep sexual abuse a secret suffer greater psychic distress than victims who disclose the secret and receive assistance and support.
Source: Finkelhor & Browne, 1986.
Early identification of sexual abuse victims appears to be crucial to the reduction of suffering of abused youth and to the establishment of support systems for assistance in pursuing appropriate psychological development and healthier adult functioning . As long as disclosure continues to be a problem for young victims, then fear, suffering, and psychological distress will, like the secret, remain with the victim.
Sources: Bagley, 1992; Bagley, 1991; Finkelhor et al. 1990; Whitlock & Gillman, 1989.
In a twelve state study of approximately 9000 divorces cases, child sexual abuse allegations were made in less than 2% of contested divorces involving child custody.
Source: Association of Family Conciliation Courts, 1990.
Reported cases of child sexual abuse reached epidemic proportions, with a reported 322 percent increase from 1980 to 1990.
Source: Sorensen & Snow, 1991.
Bruises, burns, and broken bones are more easily identified as child abuse than is sexual assault.
Source: Farrell, 1988.
This crime must usually be proven without corroboration or physical evidence.
Source: Janssen, 1984.
A study conducted at Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati (Amy Arszman Daso and Robert Shapiro, M.D) indicates that child sexual abuse allegations should be taken seriously and found children’s testimony more reliable than physical exams in cases of sexual abuse. The researchers reviewed the records of 31 pedophiles who confessed between 1994 and 1999. The 31 perpetrators confessed to a total of 101 acts of sexual abuse, some of which they committed multiple times. The perpetrators abused 47 children. The 45 old enough to provide a history described 111 acts of sexual abuse. “Physical exams are an unreliable indicator of sexual abuse,” says Dr. Shapiro. “We’re not saying that children never make things up, but the responsible reaction is to listen carefully to allegations of abuse so that abused children will be identified and false allegations recognized.” (May 2000)
Contact: Jim Feuer (EMail: jfeuer@chmcc.org), Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, 513-636-4420
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Child Abuse & Child Sexual Abuse ~ Substantiated
Composition of substantiated child abuse in 2000:
879,000 children were victims of child maltreatment.
Neglect ~ 63%
Physical ~ 19%
Sexual ~ 10%
Psychological ~ 8%
Victimization rates declined as age increased.
Rate of victimization per 1,000 children of the same age group:
Birth to 3 years old = 15.7 victims per 1,000.
Ages 16 and 17 = 5.7 victims per 1,000.
Except for victims of sexual abuse, rates
were similar for male and female victimization:
11.2 and 12.8 per 1,000 children respectively.
Rate of sexual abuse by gender:
1.7 victims per 1,000 female children
0.4 victims per 1,000 male children.
Rate of child abuse by race:
White = 51%
African American = 25%
Hispanic = 15%
American Indian/Alaska Natives = 2%
Asian/Pacific Islanders = 1%
The comparative annual rate of child victims:
decreased steadily from 15.3 victims per 1,000 children in 1993
to 11.8 victims per 1,000 children in 1999;
then increased to 12.2 per 1,000 children in 2000.
Whether this is a trend cannot be determined until additional data are collected.
Source: US Dept of Health and Human Services,
Administration for Children & Families,
Child Welfare Information Gateway (formerly Nat’l Clearinghouse on Child Abuse & Neglect), 2000.
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Child Victims
An average of 5.5 children per 10,000 enrolled in day care are sexually abused, an average of 8.9 children out of every 10,000 are abused in the home
Source: Finkelhor & Williams, 1988.
In the adult retrosptective study, victimization was reported by 27 percent of the women and 16 percent of the men. The median age for the occurrence of reported abuse was 9.9 for boys and 9.6 for girls. Victimization occurred before age eight for 22 percent of boys and for 23 percent of girls. Most of the abuse of both boys and girls was by offenders 10 or more years older than their victims. Girls were more likely than boys to disclose the abuse. Forty-two percent of the women and thirty-three percent of the men reported never having disclosed the experience to anyone.
Source: Finkelhor et al., 1990.
“WHEN SEXUALLY abused boys are not treated, society must later deal with the resulting problems, including crime, suicide, drug use and more sexual abuse, said the study’s author, Dr. William C. Holmes of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.” [snip] “The earlier studies found that one-third of juvenile delinquents, 40 percent of sexual offenders and 76 percent of serial rapists report they were sexually abused as youngsters.” [snip] “The suicide rate among sexually abused boys was 1½ to 14 times higher, and reports of multiple substance abuse among sixth-grade boys who were molested was 12 to 40 times greater.” [snip] “Holmes said a review of the studies leads him to believe 10 percent to 20 percent of all boys are sexually abused in some way. But widely varying definitions of sexual abuse in the studies and differences in who was being studied make it difficult to accurately gauge the prevalence of sexual abuse, he said.”