Child Abuse and Neglect

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Child Abuse and Neglect

• Kathryn Conroy, LCSW, DSW
• Columbia University School of Social Work
• International scholar at Mongolian State
  University of Education

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Why do parents maltreat their children?

• Psychopathology
• Environmental Stress
• Social Learning

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Psychopathology

• The primary cause of the abuse resides within the
  parents personality or character traits
• Mental Illness

4
Environmental Stress

• Poverty, racism, unemployment, occupational
  stress, marital stress
• Predisposition of society to be violent toward
  all children.
• Alcoholism and addiction

5
Social Learning

• Ignorance regarding child rearing and child
  development.
• Lack of learning to be effective parents
  including affective and emotional lessons.
• Learning of actual maladaptive behaviors.

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Scope of the Problem

• 3 million reports of CA/N made last year.
• 3 million reports involve 5.6 million children
• US Department of HHS estimates incidence to be 3
  times the number reported.

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Incidence

• (all statistics in this overview are from
  HHS/ACYF 2004 the most recent year available)
• 50,000 allegations per week
• 3 million referrals in 2004
• 3 million referrals 5.5 million children
• National rate 42.6 per 1000 children
  (compared to 39.1 per 1000 in
  2003)

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Types of Maltreatment

• Neglect 62.4
• Physical Abuse 17.5
• Sexual Abuse 9.7
• Emotional Maltreatment 7.0
• Medical Neglect 2.1

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Distribution by Gender

• Males account for 48.3 of all cases reported
• Females account for 51.7
• Males account for 0.4 cases of sexual abuse per
  1000 children in the population.
• Females account for 1.7

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Distribution by Age of CA/N

• 0 3 years of age 16.1 per 1000
• 4 - 7 years of age 13.4 per 1000
• 8 11 years of age 11.7 per 1000
• 12 15 years of age 10.7 per 1000
• 16 17 years of age 5.9 per 1000

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Distribution by Race

• 53.8 of all victims are white
• 25.2 are African American
• 17.0 are Hispanic
• 2 are American Indians/Alaska Natives
• 1 are Asian/Pacific Islanders

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Perpetrators

• 57.8 female average age 31
• 42.2 males average age 34
• 83.4 are parents and 90 of them are
  biological parents
• 10 are unmarried partner of parent, legal
  guardian or foster parents
• 6.5 are other relatives

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Sexual Abuse

• 1 in 4 girls by age of 18
• 1 in 6 boys by age of 18
• 1 in 5 children are solicited sexually while on
  the internet
• 30 40 by a family member
• 50 by someone they know
• 10 by strangers

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Sexual Abuse continued

• Median age 9
• 30 of victims disclose to no one
• 75 disclose accidentally
• 20 recant
• Children fabricate only 0.5 of the time

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Distribution by Age of Child Fatalities

• 0 3 years 78. of all child fatalities
• 1 year 15.6
• 2 years 12.6
• 3 years 6.9
• 4 7 years 10.2
• 8 11 years 5.4
• 12 17 years 5.7
• The younger they are the more at risk.

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Reports by Source

• Educational Personnel 16.3 of total
• Legal, Law Enforcement 16.0
• Social Service Personnel 11.6
• Medical Personnel 8.2
• Mental Health Personnel 3.0
• Day Care Foster Care Providers 1.7
• Anonymous 9.1
• Other Relatives 8.1
• Neighbors 5.8

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Reports by Disposition

• Substantiated 25.7
• Unsubstantiated 57.7
• Indicated 4.1 (probably substantiated but
  could not be proved)
• Closed with no finding 1.6
• Other 11

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Remedy/Response

• Education
• Prevention
• Intervention

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Education

• Of the general public
• how to identify
• what to do
• where to go

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Prevention

• identify early
• target those with risk factors (poverty,
  substance abuse, domestic violence, mental
  illness, etc.)
• involve the community

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Intervention

• break down isolation
• ameliorate risk factors
• Repair

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Sources (all available on web)

• Health and Human Services
• Administration for Children and Families
• Childrens Bureau
• National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse
• Bureau of Justice Statistics
• FEDSTATS