What You Didnt Know: Child Abuse

     Did you know every ten seconds a report of child abuse is reported, and almost five children die everyday as a result of child abuse?  And did you know that more than three out of four children that are abused are under the age of 4.  Child abuse occurs at every social and economic level, across ethnic cultural lines. Even within all religions and at all levels of education. “It is estimated that between 60-85% of children fatalities die to the maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates (National Child Abuse Statics). Children are suffering and dying from the epidemic of child abuse and neglect everyday.

    The statistics are that family’s member’s abuse 68% of children, and 90% of sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way.  Did you know that over 60% of people in drug rehabilitation centers report being abused or neglected as a child? Or that about 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the cycle.  Victims of child abuse are very traumatized for an unknown period of time. Victims like Julia can usually can be emotionally scarred for the rest of her life:

“Three year old Julia was referred to For The Child after her mother was shot to death by her father, who then turned the gun on himself. She was found asleep on the bed, in between the bodies of her parents. This fatal incident was the last event in a chronic pattern of domestic violence, substance abuse, and chaotic living. The aunt and uncle who adopted Julia wanted her to just forget what she had gone through, but her nightmares and behavior showed that her memories were sad and frightening. Working with a specially trained For The Child therapist, Julia used toys - a dollhouse, family figures, and police cars-to communicate through play her memories, fears and worries. Her aunt and uncle knew she was recovering from the trauma when she began normal play with other children and stopped playing scenes of fighting, death, and loss” (For The Child). 

"For The Child - Abuse Stories." For the Child - Long Beach. Web. 04 Feb. 2011. <http://www.forthechild.org/Abuse-Stories.htm>.