It is about time that we started proactively checking on
children’s welfare and identifying parents guilty of child abuse or
neglect early, before they can do more harm.
It is about time that we started proactively checking on children’s welfare and identifying parents guilty of child abuse or neglect early, before they can do more harm. The recent scandals involving the Catholic Church demonstrate that parents are not the only group that abuses children, but parents are overwhelmingly responsible. At least one parent has been identified as the perpetrator in over 80 percent the cases of substantiated child maltreatment. That statistic refutes the argument that children are always better off with their parents; they are only better off if the parents will love and care for them. This is one of the few areas where preemptive government intervention is called for. Additional funding would be a real investment in the nation’s future.
Nationally, there were more than two million referrals resulting in 448,400 substantiated cases of child abuse or neglect in fiscal year 2007, according to the Federal report on child maltreatment. Substantiated cases represented about 21 percent of the total cases referred. Fifty-eight percent of the initial referrals came from professionals such as educational, legal, law enforcement, criminal justice, social service and medical personnel. Less than one percent of the reports came from the alleged victims.
Since most referrals come from professionals, the fact that three-quarters were eventually judged unsubstantiated or otherwise disposed of is troubling. The public is very distrustful of anything that appears to be a witch-hunt when it come to child abuse; therefore, over reporting damages the system’s credibility and also wastes resources; at the same time under reporting leaves the victims at risk. This figure appears to indicate the need for better means of identification and some additional professional training.     Â
There is a good reason for the relative scarcity of victim reports; this is due of their young age. Nearly 32 percent of all victims were younger than 4 years old and an additional 23.8 percent were in the age group 4 to 7 years. Obviously, the younger the victim, the less capable they are of reporting the abuse. It is impossible to know how many cases go unreported, but there are enough tragic incidents appearing unexpectedly every year to indicate it’s a substantial number.
The large differences in incident rates between states indicate that there are too many variances of the laws and their interpretations. California reported 12.2 percent of the cases involved psychological abuse and 6.1 percent involved sexual abuse. During the same period, Pennsylvania reported that 0.9 percent of the cases involved psychological abuse and 59.9 percent involved sexual abuse, the rates in Florida were 0.5 and 3.4 percent respectively. Those differences defy logic and make evaluations more difficult. Similar significant disparities exist in the percent of referrals screened into or out of the state systems for investigation by Child Protective Services.
Law enforcement, social and health authorities are usually in a good position to identify at-risk children based on several family factors including a history of domestic violence, criminal records, age, economic condition and substance abuse. The most effective program would concentrate on those in the highest risk categories before the problems develop.
Special emphasis should be placed on cases involving substance abuse because they often result in antisocial behavior, the release of inhibitions and accompanying violence as well simple neglect when addicts are concentrating on self-gratification. I do not believe in over-pampering children. Some falling down teaches them how to deal with gravity and reasonable age-appropriate parental discipline is essential to the maturation process, but protecting children from abuse and neglect is not pampering, it’s fulfilling our minimal human obligations. Unfortunately, in our current stretched system, we are too often too late – that has to change.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.
