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Child abuse neglect is not a clear-cut
instance of hurtful interaction between the abusing parent and target
child. Child abuse is a family affair involving the active abuser,
neglector, the passively cooperative if unseeing mate, and the other
children in the family, who may or may not be active participants but
are certainly observers. Child battering is probably one of the most
common causes of death in young children. Child abuse is a symptom of
the violence running rampant in our society and we as a society are
unable to control its existence.
Child Abuse Law
In 1974, the Child Abuse Prevention and
Treatment Act were signed into law. The National Center on Child Abuse
and Neglect acts as a clearing house for information on public and
private programs related to child abuse. The agency develops training
material for professionals working with abused children and their
families, and awards grants to public and private organizations for the
purpose of setting up centers to provide needed services.
A strictly legal definition of child
abuse neglect is the following: "Where a child under the age of sixteen
is suffering from serious physical injury or abuse inflicted upon him
by other than accidental means or suffering harm by reason of neglect,
malnutrition or sexual abuse, goes without necessary and basic physical
care, including medical and dental care, or is growing up under
conditions which threaten the physical and emotional survival of the
child.
Child Abuse Statistics
Child abuses seems inexplicable to most
of us, a cruelty beyond comprehension. The 1975 national survey of
family violence reveals the astonishing child abuse statistics; even
when pushing, slapping, shoving, strapping, caning, and paddling are
excluded-all acts that done to strangers could be considered illegal.
Generalizing the survey's findings, which the investigators regard as
an underestimate, about 3.7 percent of the nation's children between
three and seventeen and living with both parents were repeatedly
punched, kicked, bitten, beaten up, and otherwise physically abused.
According to child abuse statistics from
the same survey, 60 percent of child abusers are men; about
three-fourths of the incidents occur in cities and only one-sixth in
suburbs. Estimates of the number of abused children in our country
range from 800,000 to over 1 million annually; accurate figures cannot
be compiled because all cases are not reported. Authorities suspect
that child abuse or neglect among the rich and middle class is
frequently not reported. Most child abuse reports come from hospital
emergency rooms that are used by the poor. The rich take their battered
children to family doctors, who are less likely to file reports of
child abuse.
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