After a chance encounter raises concerns about child neglect, a friend’s unexpected response and a social worker’s unsurprising confession causes an adult survivor of child abuse to wonder how her own life could have been different. Is there a societal duty to address child abuse?

Is there a duty?

The day before Thanksgiving, I placed an advertisement on Freecycle for walnuts. I received a response from a lady stating she had some walnuts available for me to pick up from her home. Upon arrival at her home, I immediately noticed the decayed pumpkin on the front porch which was left over from Halloween. When I knocked on the door, I could hear a woman’s voice yelling at a child, followed by a child crying. When the door opened, I saw four children, still dressed in their pajamas. The woman left the door open while she went to retrieve the walnuts. Standing in the doorway, I could smell a foul odor coming from inside the home. Then a little boy, no older then two, came up to me to say hello. He was dressed in nothing but a diaper. The diaper however was so full that feces were leaking out and there were food stains on the front of it, which to me indicated the child had been in the diaper for a long time. As I looked around the house, I also noticed the house was dirty and there were several diapers on the living room floor.

After leaving the home I had some concerns, but as an ordinary citizen, I am not mandated by law to report the suspected neglect or abuse. Having grown up in an abusive home myself, I was taught to fear Social Services as an agency that removes children from their families and asks questions later.  As a result of these conflicting emotions, I decided to call a friend and ask for her opinion. My friend advised me to stay out of it, that what goes on inside someone else’s home is none of my business.

This response really upset me. How many people in my childhood heard the abuse and chose not to report it? Being the oldest child in my family, I endured the brunt of the abuse and often wore visible bruises and scars. Yet my friends, teachers, and neighbors chose to look the other way. Perhaps it was because I came from a more affluent home. Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder how many of the obstacles I have to overcome would have been prevented if someone had chosen to report my family to Social Services.

I decided to make a report to the Sonoma County Suspected Child Abuse Reporting Hotline. I wanted to make an anonymous report, which became increasingly difficult because all of the lines were busy and a social worker had to call me back. It took over an hour for a worker to call me back. During our conversation, the worker apologized for the wait, stating that the department is currently understaffed. She then proceeded to asked me a line of questions in an attempt to establish my motive in making the report. In the end the social worker informed me that the department was not likely to investigate my report because of a lack of funding. The worker did state, however, that this incident would be noted and if they received other reports about the individual eventually they would investigate.

Studies have shown that children who are repeatedly exposed to child abuse are more prone to substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, mental illness and criminal behavior. [1][2] As a society, our tax dollars pay the cost of rehabilitation, welfare, and incarceration programs. So why then as a society don’t we do more to prevent child abuse? Why does our government not appropriate more funds to child abuse intervention and prevention programs? Why does our society perpetuate the stance that what goes on in our neighbor’s home is none of our business?

Due to the ongoing abuse I received as a child I became a runaway at the age of 15. I turned to drinking heavily to cope with my life. Then at the age of 17, I became pregnant. As the result of my pregnancy, I went on public assistance where I received treatment for my alcohol addiction as well as financial assistance for me and my child. Fortunately for me, becoming a parent was enough incentive to overcome my alcohol addiction and start five years of intensive psychotherapy. However, I would emphasize that all of the treatment I have received has been paid for by the County, State and Federal Government.

It’s hard to quantify how much of my treatments’ expense could have been prevented had Social Services intervened during my childhood. There is really no way of telling. But that does not negate our societal duty to report suspected child abuse, nor our government’s responsibility to provide the funding to protect our children. As a society we all pay for the effects of child abuse. Wouldn’t it be better to live in a society that cared more about preventing the abuse than paying to rehabilitate individuals who have been affected by it?

If you know or suspect a child is being abused, please call the 24-hour Child Abuse Hotline.

(707) 565-4604

(800) 870-7064

Sources:

1. MacMillian, H.L., et. al., “Childhood Abuse and Lifetime Psychopathology in a Community Sample,” American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 158 # 11, pp 1878-1883, November 2001.
2. Sexual Abuse as a Factor in Adolescent Pregnancy and Child Maltreatment, by Debra Boyer and David Fine © 1992 Guttmacher Institute.

SOURCE:  http://empirereport.org/reports/20091213-help-lower-our-taxes-report-child-abuse

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