South Africa has the world’s highest incidence of rape; a girl born there today has a one in three chance of finishing school, and a one in two chance of being raped. The stories behind these statistics are explored in the documentary Dispatches: The Lost Girls of South Africa, to be screened next Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4.

Like a third of the 200,000 children who are raped in South Africa every year, Fuzeka, 12, was attacked by a close relative. Staring straight ahead, she recounts how her father indecently assaulted her, and told her that when he slept with her he would use a condom as he is HIV positive.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/south-africas-shame-the-rise-of-child-rape-1974578.html

The Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center says it cannot keep up with the growing number of children who need counseling after suffering physical or sexual abuse.

Even after adding another counselor, the center – which handles Dallas cases referred through Child Protective Services – has had to place children on a waiting list because of increases in the past five months, particularly in March.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-childabuse_16met.ART0.Central.Edition1.a1aec7e.html

SAN DIEGO – A disproportionate percentage of victims of severe physical child abuse in San Diego County tend to be infants, and the perpetrators are often younger parents or caregivers, according to a report released Wednesday. The San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency examined the most severe physical child abuse cases locally over the past 18 months to look for trends.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/New-Report-Looks-at-Abuse-of-Young-Children/qoktcvS9UkanYin0HU7jkg.cspx

Around 785 children were abused last year in Switzerland according to the biggest statistical snapshot to date, but experts say the real number could be higher.

A study by the Swiss paediatrics society pulled together figures for 2009 from 14 of the country’s biggest paediatrics institutions, for the first time giving an overall scale of the problem.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_news/Known_child_abuse_cases_are_tip_of_iceberg_.html?cid=8852478

INDIANA–Alarming figures

Statewide, substantiated cases of abuse and neglect for the year ending June 30, 2009 increased dramatically over 2008.

	2008	2009
Indiana	17,529	20,026
Adams County	69	93
Allen County	990	1,086
DeKalb County	298	458
Huntington County	127	103
Kosciusko County	218	213
LaGrange County	137	100
Noble County	137	199
Steuben County	173	196
Wells County	89	88
Whitley County	50	49

INDIANA–On the heels of a discouraging child fatality report, Indiana’s Department of Child Services released figures on child abuse and neglect cases showing almost a 24 percent increase statewide. The numbers offer more evidence that reductions in child protection services are coming at the worst of all possible times.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100508/EDIT07/305089971/1021/EDIT

Kentucky Ranks No. 1 In Country For Child Abuse Deaths

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —

Last year, 86,454 children were involved in reports of child abuse or neglect made to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Department of Protection and Permanency.Child abuse experts said the number of reported cases is far from the actual number of incidents.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.wlky.com/news/23489831/detail.html

In the nine months between June 2009 and April 2010, 75 children have been killed by fathers involved in volatile custody battles with their former partners, according to the Center for Judicial Excellence, a court advocacy organization which has been tracking news articles of such deaths around the U.S. Based in San Rafael, California, the Center focuses on strengthening court integrity as well as improving public accountability of the judiciary.

READ MORE HERE:

http://thecrimereport.org/2010/05/06/failure-to-protect-the-crisis-in-america%E2%80%99s-family-courts/

New Zealand’s child abuse statistics are keeping the country from being at the top of the State of the World’s Mothers’ Report.

Save the Children has revealed its annual list, with Norway at the top and Australia in second place. They were followed by Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=175070

Abusive head trauma, as shaken baby syndrome is formally known, often leads to permanent brain damage or paralysis.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-05-03-abuse03_ST_N.htm

Child Abuse Skyrocketed During This Recession

According to a multi-center study led by Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, the number of cases of abusive head trauma, formerly known as “shaken baby syndrome,” increased signficantly since the beginning of the recession.

Lead researcher, Dr. Rachel Berger, a child abuse specialist and researcher at Children’s Hospital’s Child Advocacy Center, says they studied 512 patients with abusive head trauma ranging in age from 9 days to 6 years.

READ MORE HERE:

http://wduqnews.blogspot.com/2010/05/child-abuse-skyrocketed-during-this.html

CUMBERLAND COUNTY (WTVD) — Social workers in Cumberland County are scrambling to get a handle on a spike in reported child abuse cases.

Last month, the number of reported cases jumped 46 percent. There were 427 reported cases of child abuse in Cumberland County involving more than 800 children.

READ MORE HERE:

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7414090

EASTERN IDAHO – Child abuse is taking something innocent and robbing it of it’s purity. It’s a problem that’s been plaguing society for centuries and sadly child abuse keeps growing. Eyewitness news reporter Emily Florez takes a sobering look at this problem, and what’s being done to prevent it.

Every single day there are children in our area who wake up wondering if they’re loved and even worse some children question if they’re safe behind their homes’ closed doors.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.kidk.com/news/local/92550414.html

KLAAS KIDS–

According the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC)

• 85% to 90% of the 876,213 persons reported missing to America’s law enforcement agencies in 2000 were juveniles (persons under 18 years of age). That means that 2,100 times per day parents or primary care givers felt the disappearance was serious enough to call law enforcement.
• 152,265 of the persons reported missing in 2000 were categorized as either endangered or involuntary.
• The number of missing persons reported to law enforcement has increased from 154, 341 in 1982 to 876,213 in 2000. That is an increase of 468%.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.klaaskids.org/pg-mc-mcstatistics.htm

Abuse reports are continuing to rise here, across nation

It’s difficult to talk about child abuse, but the subject is very important. And it is being talked about a lot this month because April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Unfortunately, child abuse is a fact of life in many Rowan County families, as in families across the state and nation.

Annually, more than 3.5 million children are reported to child protective services agencies as victims of child abuse and neglect. Mirroring the nation, the number of reports of child abuse and neglect in North Carolina continues to rise, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. In fiscal year 2009, the state had 67,397 reports of abuse or neglect, up from 58,815 in fiscal year 1998.

READ MORE HERE:

http://www.salisburypost.com/Opinion/041810-insight-child-abuse-month