The Senate Addresses Child Abuse

On February 28, 2008, in a unanimous vote of 36-0, the United States Senate passed the creation of a Child Advocacy Program and Act. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill in November of 2007.

The child advocacy bill was sparked by a case involving a fourteen-year-old adoptive child in the U.S. The child suffered extension brain damage at the hands of both her adoptive mother and her stepfather. The current bill allows a child advocacy department/program to be place in each states governor's office. The department is then accountable for reviewing and monitoring social services for children who are the custody of the state. Many politicians, across the political party lines, called this vote a small part of patching to wholes in laws protecting our nation's children.

In 2003, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act was amended by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act. The amendment gave a basic definition of mistreatment and abuse to states nationally. The states have since taken the definitions into common use and apply civil and criminal law to each case based on individual state criteria.

Child abuse has not seen impressive decline in the last decade. In 2001, approximately 2.9 million cases of abuse were investigated nationally. Of those cases, 899,000 were found to have proven forms of abuse in the home. In 2005 states saw similar statistics and on a state by state basis found the highest levels involving neglect. For instance, in 2005, in the state of Indiana 54 cases of child abuse were reported and confirmed. Of these cases, 64% were neglect, 16.9% was physical, 9.3% was sexual, 7%was emotional, and 2% was medical neglect. Keep in mind that a high percent of cases go unreported and investigated especially in cases of sexual abuse. In cases that involve adoption or fostering, a startling percent of abusive children find themselves ignored by the system or left in the home by Social Services. Many times, older children with a lower rate of placement find themselves affected by this trend.