Most abusers are members of the victim’s family, either a caretaker or parent or a close relative. This includes physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and child neglect. 90% of confirmed physical abuse and neglect cases involve caretakers of children.Contrary to common belief, males and females perpetrate abuse against their own children at surprisingly similar rates. “Among all abused children, those abused by their birth parents were about equally likely to have been abused by mothers as by fathers (50% and 58%, respectively), but those abused by other parents, parent-substitutes, or other, non-parental perpetrators were much more likely to be abused by males (80 to 90% by males versus 14 to 15% by females). Children who had been physically abused by their birth parents were more likely to have suffered at the hands of their mothers than their fathers (60% versus 48%), while those who had been physically abused by other parents or parent- substitutes were much more likely to have been abused by their fathers or father-substitutes (90% by their fathers versus 19% by their mothers).”On the whole, children are somewhat more likely to be maltreated by female perpetrators than by males: “65 percent of the maltreated children had been maltreated by a female, whereas 54 percent had been maltreated by a male.”This last statistic is unfair because it includes child neglect, in which mothers are named at rates that are absurd given that women accused of child neglect are almost always single mothers. The fathers who abandon their children are almost never convicted of child neglect. Still, the statistic shows the current state of affairs. READ MORE HERE
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