Reports of child abuse top 50,000 in 2010, a record high

Listed child abuse cases hit a record 55,152 in fiscal 2010, rising for 20 straight years since statistics began to be compiled in fiscal 1990, a government survey showed Wednesday. The figure does not include cases in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, as well as Sendai, which failed to gather data after being devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to the government.

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http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110721a8.html

In 2007, approximately 3.2 million allegations of child abuse and neglect, representing 5.8 million children, were made to child protective services agencies. Of those, 2,085,443 reports were referred for investigation, as reported by 37 states. During FFY 2007, an estimated 794,000 children in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico were determined to be victims of abuse or neglect. Of these children, 59.0% were neglected, 10.8% were physically abused, and 7.6% were sexually abused. The victimization rate was 10.6 per 1,000 children, representing a 12.4% decrease from 2006, which can be explained by definitional changes.

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http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/statefactsheets/2010/nationalfactsheet10.pdf

NEW YORK — America uses flawed methods to tally and analyze the deaths of children who have been maltreated, and the latest annual estimate of 1,770 such fatalities is likely too low, the Government Accountability Office says in a new report to Congress. Better data, says the GAO, would aid in developing strategies that could save many children’s lives in the future. The GAO report, the subject of a House Human Resources subcommittee hearing Tuesday, says state agencies and the Department of Health and Human Services should broaden the scope of data collection, improve coordination, and seek uniform definitions of abuse and maltreatment.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hleAAvmjXWoEH7IqiVeRd1Jrmiqg?docId=883ba35174cc4b01a87bae962f0299c9

The number of reports of family violence within the military, which had been in decline over several years, has been rising over the last two years, and reports of abused children and spouses increased significantly last year, a report by the Defense Department’s Family Advocacy Program shows. But what it means — more people reporting who had kept silent in the past, better record-keeping or more people in the military abusing their spouses and children — is unknown.

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http://www.stripes.com/reports-of-family-violence-abuse-within-military-rise-1.148815

PENNSYLVANIA–Given that the latest state report on child abuse shows the numbers are going down, it’s easy to assume everyone would be relieved. Unfortunately not. Doctors are raising serious red flags about how Pennsylvania’s narrow definition of child abuse is causing too many cases to go undetected, too many children unprotected. Dr. Rachel Berger of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC wrote recently in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “We believe statistics about abuse and neglect of children in our state do not accurately reflect what our children are experiencing. And without reliable data, we cannot address the safety, health and vulnerability of Pennsylvania’s children.”

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http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/07/pa_child_abuse_numbers_raise_q.html

A 12-member jury said he was guilty. But Martin Romero refused to believe it. He had just listened to a week of testimony from medical experts and his 17-year-old daughter describing years of sexual abuse that started when she was 4 years old. The physical evidence was overwhelming. The girl had internal injuries consistent with sexual abuse over a long period of time.

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http://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/article_2b0205c6-a5d9-11e0-afaf-001cc4c03286.html#vmix_media_id=71119631

Sexual harassment is unwanted and unwelcomed sexual behavior which interferes with your right to get an education or to participate in school activities. In school, sexual harassment may result from someone’s words, gestures or actions (of a sexual nature) that make you feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, offended, demeaned, frightened, helpless or threatened. If you are the target of sexual harassment, it may be very scary to go to school or hard to concentrate on your school work.

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http://www.education.com/reference/article/sexual-harassment-schools/

Sexual abuse of children by children was a hot topic at a recent education conference held by the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation. It’s time to take back our children, say experts. The daycare centre seemed like a safe and fun environment for three young friends, a three-year-old boy and two girls aged three and four. That was until the boy allegedly tried to stick an object into the girls’ private parts.

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http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/when-kids-are-prey-in-child-s-play-1.1091584

BOOK INFO:

Go the Fuck To Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don’t always send a toddler sailing off to dreamland. Honest, profane, and affectionate, Adam Mansbach’s verses and Ricardo Cortés’ illustrations perfectly capture the familiar–and unspoken–tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night, and open up a conversation about parenting in the process. Beautiful, subversive, and pants-wettingly funny, Go the Fuck to Sleep is a perfect gift for parents new, old, or expectant.

Here is a sample verse:

The cats nestle close to their kittens now.
The lambs have laid down with the sheep.
You’re cozy and warm in your bed, my dear
Please go the fuck to sleep.

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OPINION:

We’ve detailed the viral sensation that is Adam Mansbach’s Go the F**k to Sleep, including its pirate-ship ride into the national consciousness and its eventual explosion as an actual printed book (with attendant movie deal). And everyone who has a kid, or has had a kid, can see the humor behind the good-natured f-bombs and recognizes the frustration inherent in getting a child to, well, follow the title’s advice. Oh, wait. I was wrong. Apparently, not everyone can see the humor in a foul-mouthed “children’s book”. They just have to look really long and hard to find something to be offended about. Not only that, but they actually have to make a bunch of stuff up in order to turn this viral sensation into the worst thing since the last moral panic.

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http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110628/17362614895/reading-go-fk-to-sleep-may-lead-to-child-abuse-racism.shtml

In late 1993, the Criminal Division of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office undertook a 3-1/2 year research project, partially funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, to study the investigation of child abduction murder cases. In this first research project, published in 1997, researchers reviewed more than 600 child abduction murder cases across the United States, then interviewed the investigating detectives. This data provided law enforcement valuable insight into what investigative techniques tend to be most productive.

Now the Attorney General’s Office has released a follow-up study, including 175 additional solved cases. The additional cases generally reflect and support the findings in the original report with several significant and definite differences:

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http://www.atg.wa.gov/ChildAbductionResearch.aspx

Are doctors ready to call it child abuse?

ORONO, Maine — Physicians are often the first to examine babies and children who have been injured deliberately at the hands of their parents or other adults. The locations of bruises or burns, specific types of fractures and elevated levels of certain blood enzymes are among the red flags that should alert physicians to the possibility that a young patient may have been abused. But, according to a national expert speaking Thursday in Orono, some doctors either don’t recognize the signs of abuse and neglect or are reluctant to report their suspicions to law enforcement or child protective authorities.

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http://bangordailynews.com/2011/06/23/health/bruises-burns-and-broken-bones-are-doctors-ready-to-call-it-child-abuse/

The baby who “pooped his pants for the 14th time today.” Failed toilet training efforts on toddlers. A teen report card with too many D’s. “Anybody who’s had kids knows the frustration,” said Dr. Annamaria Church, chief of Erlanger’s general pediatrics division. “What isn’t normal is to lash out toward a child.” And yet such behavior has become alarmingly routine at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger, where Church has seen nine physical child abuse cases in the past six weeks.

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http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jun/22/child-abuse-cases-escalating-chattanooga-area/