The Director of Childline Botswana, Onkemetse Mbazo has said that incidents of child abuse are on the rise in the country.  In an interview with The Telegraph, Mbazo said that most of the children they have accommodated are of cases such as jailed parents, neglected children, with some coming from unfit parents.  She said that there are also cases of parents who are being abused by their children. “We have accommodated children from one-day old to about five years of age. Family re-integration of children is also a challenge,” said Mbazo, commending the government for assisting NGOs with donations.

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http://sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=9033&GroupID=1

Shaken Baby Syndrome Statistics

• One shaken baby in four dies.
  Some studies estimate that 15% of children’s deaths are due to battering or shaking, and an additional 15% are possible cases of shaking.
• Of the 37 children that died in Florida in 1995-96 13 died from a combination of Shaken Baby Syndrome/ Head Trauma.
• Of the thousands that survive death, serious injury usually occurs.
  “SBS” victims range in age from a few days to a few months old; the average is six months.
• More than 60% of the victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome are male.
• Almost 80% of the perpetrators of Shaken Baby Syndrome are male

These Shaken Baby Syndrome Statistics are scarry, at best. Please help us spread the word about Shaken Baby Syndrome.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT:

http://www.aboutshakenbaby.com/shaken_baby_statistics.htm

“If this pace continues, there is a possibility we could have an estimated 600 children in the custody of Clermont County Children’s Protective Services (CPS) by the end of the year,” said CPS Foster Care Supervisor Erica Boller. “In the first three months of this year we had twice as many cases as we had in the first six months of last year!” Boller said that tensions linked to the tightening economy and the proliferation of heroin and other drugs can be linked to many of the cases. “Just about every week, we are called about another child born to a heroin-addicted mother,” added CPS Intake Department Supervisor Susan Grabowski. “This is a situation that is impacting counties and cities across the country.”

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http://local.cincinnati.com/share/news/story.aspx?sid=172343&cid=100225

WNC numbers show kids in danger, or vigilance.

Children in Western North Carolina may be in more dangerous situations than their counterparts in other parts of the state, according to a new report. WNC counties have higher rates of child abuse and neglect reports and have a higher rate of children in foster care, according to a report from the N.C. Center for Afterschool Programs.

The 16 westernmost counties all ranked 50th or lower in keeping down the number of children in foster care per 1,000 children. All but McDowell ranked 50th or lower for rates of child abuse and neglect reports. Only three other counties had higher rates of abuse and neglect reports than Haywood County. Only eight others had higher rates of children in foster care.

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http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20101010/NEWS/310100056

Investigations by Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies following suspected episodes of child abuse were seldom followed by improvements in household risk factors for future abuse — casting doubt on the agencies’ effectiveness, researchers said.

Among 595 households followed in a longitudinal study of risk factors for child abuse, those subjected to CPS investigations showed few major differences afterward in abuse risks that existed before the inspection, compared with households that had not been assessed, according to Kristine A. Campbell, MD, MSc, of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, and colleagues.

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http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/DomesticViolence/22557

KABAZI, Kenya — Emma has gone to court every month for 2 1/2 years to try and prove that a neighbor raped her mentally disabled 14-year-old daughter.

The process is excruciating. Evidence went missing. The court file disappeared. Officials mock and ignore her. But the illiterate single mother perseveres, encouraged by a new Kenyan government help line started two and a half years ago to fight child abuse.

In Kenya and a handful of other African countries that have collected data, hospitals, police, the government and aid agencies are getting increased reports of child sex abuse. It’s unclear whether more abuse is happening or more people are coming forward, but the numbers may be the first sign that new initiatives such as help lines, legislation and police units specializing in investigating sex abuse are starting to work.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gl31Kfjf1HHhRKAXsaIuwk7xulJAD9IJLGK80?docId=D9IJLGK80

Indiana continues to increase the number of children it is taking away from families — a fact that bucks the national trend and concerns both state child welfare officials and national experts.

The new federal statistics revealing that trend are especially disturbing because they suggest that either the state’s Department of Child Services is not doing enough to keep families together or that Indiana has a disproportionately high rate of bad parents. Whatever the explanation, it doesn’t bode well for Hoosier children.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100927/LOCAL/9270320/Number-of-kids-taken-by-DCS-is-up-again?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|IndyStar.com

How Many Children Die Each Year From Abuse or Neglect?

The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) reported an estimated 1,760 child fatalities in 2007. This translates to a rate of 2.35 children per 100,000 children in the general population. NCANDS defines “child fatality” as the death of a child caused by an injury resulting from abuse or neglect, or where abuse or neglect was a contributing factor.

With the exception of FFY 2005, the number and rate of fatalities have been increasing over the past 5 years. The national estimate is influenced by which States report data. For 2007, several States reported increased fatalities compared to FFY 2006, which resulted in a higher national estimate. To some degree, this can be attributed to improved data collection and reporting, but all the causes of the increase are not specifically identifiable.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/fatality.cfm

D’IBERVILLE, MS (WLOX) – With the recent arrest of a D’Iberville man on charges of sexually abusing three children between the age of 10 to 15, law enforcement officials remain concerned about the increasing frequency of this type of crime.

D’Iberville Police Department Captain Keith Davis told WLOX News, this is the seventh child abuse case his department has investigated in less than two years. For this small city, that’s seven too many.

“We have seen cases where the person responsible was a victim themselves of child abuse; we have seen cases where the individual claimed to have some type of sickness,” Davis said.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=13175672

A bubbly, extroverted young girl who had been popular with classmates suddenly becomes withdrawn in the middle of the school year.

Her demeanor changes. She stops going to school. Her grades drop.

“She starts going into her little shell,” said Chris Barnhill, executive director of Williamson County CASA.

School officials suspect something is up, and after her fifth unexcused absence, a court-appointed special advocate is asked to look into the girl’s home situation.

The advocate discovers the girl is being abused by her father.

She is taken out of the home and parental rights are terminated.

Her father goes to prison. Her mother loses custody because it is discovered that she was aware of the situation and did not intervene.

Not merely a difficult scenario, this is a true story. The girl is now in foster care and is awaiting adoption. It all happened in Williamson County.

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http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100916/WILLIAMSON01/9160354/Williamson-County-child-abuse-cases-double

Catholic abuse in England and Wales revealed

Channel 4 News has compiled the first map of Catholic abuse detailing some 37 cases across England and Wales where Catholic priests have committed sexual offences against children.

Click here to see the interactive map

Over the last few months more evidence has emerged of systematic child abuse within the Catholic church from around the world, writes reporter Antony Barnett.

So what about the Catholic Church in England and Wales? What is the true scope and scale of the child sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests in England and Wales?

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/catholic+abuse+in+england+and+wales+revealed/3767082

Ask parents what they worry about most when it comes to their children, and they frequently cite the following: kidnapping, a terrorist attack, or some harm done by a stranger.

In reality, according to a 2001 U.S. Department of Justice bulletin, the top sources of mortality in American children are a little closer to home: car accidents, homicide, and abuse at the hands of someone they know. Homicide is actually ranked second or third, depending on the age group analyzed, among the three leading causes of childhood mortality. And while deaths of children resulting from accidents, congenital defects and infectious diseases have fallen over the past 30 years, homicides of children have increased.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.mountainx.com/blogwire/2010/dept._of_justice_bulletin_gives_statistics_on_child_homicides_in_u.s

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http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/murder-child090910/murder-child090910/