How to Recognize and Report Child Abuse

More than 1 million children are victims of abuse or neglect by their parents and other caregivers every year in America. More than 1,200 children die each year as a result of the abuse and neglect they receive. After accidents, child abuse ranks as the second leading cause of death for children between one and five years old.

Violence hits home for too many children across the country, creating scars that will affect children, families, and communities a lifetime of anguish.

There are ways to prevent child abuse before it happens. In the very least, we can help prevent a child from coming into fatal danger by recognizing what child abuse is, why it’s such a problem, and what we can do to help stop it.

What Child Abuse Is and Why It Happens

Physical abuse of children has been something that we’ve learned to recognize as a problem. It wasn’t until the late 60’s that child abuse was given a name: Battered Child Syndrome. Since it was pinpointed and shown to be wrong, not something that we can turn the other way and allow to happen, society as a whole has learned a lot about what causes child abuse and how it can be prevented.

In simplest terms, child abuse is a pattern of injuries to a child that is not accidental. This might seem like common sense, but when we stop to think about what it really means, there are some patterns of injury that we might not have expected. In addition to physical injury and sexual abuse, neglect and emotional abuse are also considered to be mistreatment of children.