Preventing Child Abuse

A father grabs his two-month-old daughter because she's crying, slams her head against a doorjamb and then throws her across a room onto a bed. She dies the next day. A 15-month old boy is rushed to the hospital where he dies an hour later, his bottom and genitals covered with a horrible diaper rash that was left untreated and turned septic. A crying two-week old baby is grabbed up by his mother's boyfriend and shaken until he stops crying. He dies later that day from brain hemorrhaging caused by the blood vessels in his skull tearing as his headed whipped back and forth when he was shaken.

Three children, all of whom died at the hands of those who should have been most concerned with their care and well being. Unfortunately, they are not alone. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) each year in the United States, some 1,400 children die as a result of neglect and abuse.

Abuse and neglect affect some 850,000 to 900,000 children each year. Sadly, it is those children least able to defend themselves that are victims. According to NCANDS, children under age one account for 41 percent of cases, and children under age four account for 76 percent of cases. While the media plays up the deaths of children at the hands of babysitters or other caretakers, 79 percent of the time children are abused by one or both of their parents. While abuse cuts across age groups and socio-economic strata, more often than not, someone who commits child abuse is a young adult in his or her mid-20's with no high school diploma, living at or below the poverty level, that has difficulty coping with stress.

Most people see abusers as uncaring, unloving monsters. The fact of the matter is that generally these parents do love and care about their children. However, they don't have the coping skills to handle their own lives, let alone the stresses and responsibilities that come with having children. In many cases drugs, alcohol, and mental illness, either individually or in combination, is involved.