3.6 million cases of child abuse are reported annually in the United States. Within this number, around five children die every day, according to Child Protect Children’s Advocacy Center. Most children become victims of child abuse prior to eighteen months of age. Child abuse invades youth’s emotions, senses, self-worth, and physical health. According to local Family Specialist Azucena Campos López, child abuse is “very prevalent and everybody can help.” Child abuse prevention is necessary in intervening and altering the course of victims’ futures, a process requiring involvement from anybody and everybody.
Although there are many different forms of child abuse, the umbrella term commonly used to group them is Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Although ACEs can happen anywhere, these forms of abuse are more often observed in communities where there may be a lack of resources and high unemployment. Witnessing violence at home or in the community, having a family member self-harm or commit suicide, or experiencing financial instability or food insecurity are examples of ACEs. Sixty-four percent of US adults have experienced at least one ACE prior to age eighteen, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
An important first step towards effective child abuse prevention is realizing how pervasive and prevalent abuse is. According to the CDC, each year in the US one in seven children is experiencing some form of abuse. Maltreatment in childhood also disproportionately affects marginalized groups; research from the National Library of Medicine has shown that children who are African American, Asian American or Pacific Islander, or multiracial experience higher rates of child abuse. Additionally, there are racial and ethnic disparities in the support received for child abuse. For instance, the National Library of Medicine found Latinx children to be notably less likely to receive support services, but more likely to appear in reports of child abuse. There are also racial and ethnic biases in the child welfare system, with non-white families often being falsely reported for child maltreatment. Recognizing this inequity is crucial to improvements in reporting, intervening, and preventing child abuse.
Intervention must also include a consideration of all the possible undermining factors of abuse. One such factor could be where the abuse is taking place. Abuse can ensue in even the most trusted spaces where the abuser feels safe to act. Frequent places include, but most certainly are not limited to, schools, medical centers, child care facilities, prisons, and often one’s own home.
The economic welfare of a community also has a clear impact on the prevalence of abuse. According to the CDC, children living in poverty are five times more likely to experience abuse and neglect. However, it is crucial to distinguish living in poverty from experiencing neglect. As the Child Welfare Information Gateway points out, “In the past, prevention strategies have often focused on family-level issues and dynamics, but the role of poverty, and the systemic factors that make escaping poverty difficult for families, cannot be ignored.” In other words, the underlying precursors for child neglect may be more complex than family dynamics and could include economic status and financial or health care stress. Possible solution steps would require societal shifts and change in intervention tactics, such as acknowledging that while childrearing may reflect a parent’s choices, it can also reflect the systemic lack of support. As the executive director of the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance, Teresa Rafael, states, “There is a fine line between parental neglect of children and societal neglect of families.” By recognizing how economic status can greatly influence child welfare, strengthening families’ financial security becomes a pertinent prevention method.
The stresses that encumber low-income families and heighten chances of child abuse are tied with other negative effects. Victims of abuse are also prone to education loss, health problems, and substance abuse, with eighty-one percent of twenty-one-year-olds who were once victims having at least one psychological disorder. Twenty-five percent of abused children are more likely to experience teen pregnancy, according to the American Society for the Positive Care of Children. Fourteen percent of incarcerated men and thirty-six percent of incarcerated women experienced child abuse, according to Child Protect Children’s Advocacy Center. However, possibly the most obvious repercussion of ACEs is the trauma that can live on for generations and often perpetuate a cycle of abuse. Whether the abuse is physical, emotional, or both, it never persists without having negative, lasting impacts on a victim’s well-being. The victim can become secluded, prone to self-harm, or harm to others. Simultaneously, it is important to note that “being a victim does not always predetermine a perpetrator,” as Azucena states. The outcomes swing wildly case by case.
The least discussed, yet far too common, result of child abuse is the death of victims. The CDC found five of the top ten leading causes of death in the US to be ACE-associated, either directly from physical abuse or health-defects caused by such.
Potential prevention methods should consider how communities and even society can step in to create a more nurturing environment for youth. This could look like more family-friendly work policies that offer more leniency to caregivers; increasing access to safe, high-quality, affordable child care and medical care; and providing behavioral parent training and early home visitation can improve family dynamics and relationships. Legislation can contribute by allocating funds to schools and educational facilities to promote coaching on the facets, effects, and reality of child abuse, to caregivers, victims, and survivors, as well as instituting public services addressing substance abuse, mental health, and other risk factors.
There are a multitude of ways you can contribute to child abuse prevention. Firstly, researching the signs of abuse, both physical and mental, allows you to recognize it faster and heighten the chances of helping as well as providing you with the skill set to inform others about the importance of prevention. To learn more about the reality of child abuse and neglect, I highly recommend the autobiography A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer, a New York Times bestselling and internationally renowned author. Pelzer writes about his experiences being victim to an abusive, emotionally fickle, alcoholic, and eventually single mother; one of the most severe cases of child abuse in California history. As distressing and mortifying as his story may be, it’s no less galvanizing and an absolutely life-changing read.
Getting help or involving a professional would follow if you’re witnessing or experiencing abuse. This step is challenging and can often be intimidating for a multitude of reasons. So before even reaching out to a prevention program, Child Protective Services, or law enforcement, seeking support from a trusted family member or friend is also an option. Support or advocating for prevention programs is another form of involvement, through working to intervene before the abuse occurs rather than after it has been reported. This can look like community outreach to caregivers educating and assisting families with tension, or lack of time and resources.
To make an impact on such a grandiose scale, it is essential that everyone understands the role they can play. As Azucena puts it, “In a world full of kids, [child abuse prevention] must be everyone’s priority.” The numbers amount to hundreds of thousands of children put in harm’s way every day, inevitably placing our future in peril. The responsibility lies in all our hands to contribute to protecting and preserving the safety of our youth.