1.7 billion boys and girls across the globe suffer mental or physical abuse each year

From fist fights at school to murder and sexual abuse, each year nearly three in four children worldwide experience some form of violence, which has long term health and economic costs, a report said on Tuesday. The study by India-based advocacy group Know Violence in Childhood found that an estimated 1.7 billion boys and girls across the globe suffer mental or physical abuse each year, with children in Africa bearing the heaviest burden. “Childhood violence damages individuals, families and communities in both rich countries and poor,” the group’s co-chair Shiva Kumar told a media briefing, warning of the long-term harmful social, health and economic consequences. READ MORE HERE

Preventing child abuse can be difficult, especially since we feel often helpless against widespread abuse. So we created this one-stop guide to promote child abuse prevention by compiling a complete list of resources as an information gateway. We have included tips to educate adults and children, information about the different causes and forms of abuse, and how to respond when you suspect child abuse.

I was abused as a child but was able to rise above my troublesome past to become a functioning adult. Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to overcome a painful childhood, and as a result of their abuse, many children grow into insecure, dysfunctional adults. As a father of two small children, I wanted to make sure to end the cycle of abuse. I know the importance of teaching my children how to protect themselves by educating them on what is okay, and what is not okay.

There are no easy answers, but hopefully, this guide can help you spot child abuse, such as the shaken baby syndrome, or spot children that have been neglected, provide information about prevention programs, and learn the steps to report the abuse to child welfare services. READ MORE HERE

SEATTLE – The Seattle Archdiocese has paid $1.3 million to settle a sex-abuse lawsuit involving a former member of a religious order who taught in its schools. A man sued the archdiocese in 2015, alleging the church knew Edward Courtney abused students at two archdiocesan schools in Seattle but later recommended him for a teaching job at a public school outside Tacoma. The man alleged Courtney abused him in 1981 and 1982 at the public school. READ MORE HERE

JASPER, Florida — A man faces child cruelty charges, after his 19-month-old daughter was reportedly left outside during Tropical Storm Irma. Police in Jasper, Florida arrested 36-year-old Angelo Mitchell Monday. The Hamilton County Sheriff says the toddler’s mother reported the child missing at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday from their Jasper home. Officers and deputies searched the area and used a tracking dog to try to find the child, but came up empty. Around 11:30 a.m. Monday, a passerby discovered the child, lying in the yard of a home nearby. The little girl was discovered about 400-500 yards from her house. The sheriff says the 19-month-old suffered the whole night through the storm, exposed to the wind and rain, and was purple in color. READ MORE HERE

Suicide attempts among young adults between the ages of 21 and 34 have risen alarmingly, a new study warns. Among people over 21, the rate of suicide attempts rose 21.5 percent, increasing ‘significantly’ from 2004 to 2013. Suicide attempts are up across the board in the US, but young adults with lower education levels are at especially high risk. Deaths from suicide are on the rise as well, but not as dramatically as suicide attempts. Researchers from Columbia University think that economic and career instability may be leading more young adults to attempt suicide than ever. READ MORE HERE

Why Are Suicide Rates Rising?

U.S. Suicide Rate Surges to a 30-Year High

Suicide and Suicide Attempts in Adolescents

Dramatic Increase in Teen Suicide

Epidemiology of Youth Suicide and Suicidal Behavior 

About Teen Suicide – Kids Health

SEATTLE – The mayor of the US Pacific Northwest city of Seattle quit Tuesday after after his younger cousin became the fifth man to accuse the politician of sexual abuse. Ed Murray, 62, who had already confirmed he would not be seeking a second term, will step down effective of 5:00 pm Wednesday. Joseph Dyer, a 54-year-old dialysis technician, said Murray forced him into sex for about a year while the two shared a bedroom in the New York home of Dyer’s mother when the alleged victim was 13. READ MORE HERE

ALBION, New York –  10-year-old girl who was beaten repeatedly, forced to run with heavy packs and dragged behind a car escaped her tormentors as they slept to ask a neighbor for help, police in central New York said Friday. Four adults were charged after the bruised and malnourished girl escaped on Wednesday from her home in rural Oswego County, north of Syracuse. Her treatment, which included beatings with a tightly rolled newspaper wrapped with electrical tape, had apparently been getting worse since April, Oswego County Undersheriff Gene Sullivan said. READ MORE HERE

A man has been charged with producing child pornography and sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl while babysitting her. New South Wales police said the 64-year-old man had allegedly assaulted the toddler in Parramatta at Sydney’s west. It is unknown when the alleged assault took place. READ MORE HERE

CALIFORNIA – A 57-year-old man who worked as an airline pilot has been convicted of traveling to the Philippines to have sex with minors. Michael Carey Clemans was found guilty on Tuesday by a federal jury in Sacramento of attempted travel and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, conspiracy to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and buying of children. He pleaded guilty to three additional counts on his first day of the trial including conspiracy to produce child pornography, attempted production and production of child pornography, and receipt of child pornography. READ MORE HERE

Police allege the man believed he was speaking to a 14-year-old girl

A 31-year-old man who engaged in sexually-explicit conversations online with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl, was arrested in Parramatta on Thursday. He was charged with online child exploitation offences as part of an ongoing investigation by detectives from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad. He was expected to appear before a magistrate in court on Friday. Strike Force Trawler officers initially made contact with the man, from the Hunter Region, in July. READ MORE HERE

UPDATE: The U.S. Marshals say one of the four suspects, Vergis Land, has been taken into custody. He was arrested at a home in the 500 block of Aragona Boulevard in Virginia Beach on Wednesday afternoon.

HAMPTON ROADS, VIRGINIA — The U.S. Marshals are searching for four convicted sex offenders who are all longtime Hampton Roads residents. All four fugitive sex offenders are wanted on outstanding warrants for failure to register as a sex offender with the Virginia State Police. Three out of the four are also wanted by the Virginia Beach Police Department on probation violation charges. READ MORE HERE

AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Department of Public Safety has added Demus Lee Westmoreland, 52, to the Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list, and a cash reward of up to $3,000 is now being offered for information leading to his capture. Westmoreland is wanted for failure to register as a sex offender and probation violation. All tips are guaranteed to be anonymous. Westmoreland has been wanted since February 2017. He has ties to Galveston (Galveston County), his last known address; Sugar Land (Fort Bend County); and Lexington, Kentucky. In 2008, Westmoreland was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by exposure after an incident in Fort Bend County involving a 6-year-old girl. READ MORE HERE

ALBION, New York – Police say a 10-year-old New York girl was beaten repeatedly, served food doused in hot sauce and dragged behind a vehicle. Four adults have been arrested after the girl escaped from a home in the Oswego County town of Albion on Wednesday and asked a neighbor for help. The sheriff’s office said the abuse began in April; the girl was beaten with fists, feet and an “implement” and spent days working outside without water or bathroom access. Authorities say that once she was forced to run with a heavy backpack, then tied to a car and dragged. READ MORE HERE