TAIWAN — The number of suspected child abuse cases reported to authorities rose dramatically in the first half of 2010 compared to a year earlier, indicating increased awareness in society of the issue, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said yesterday. A total of 13,130 cases were reported from January to June, 40.4 percent more than during the same period in 2009, and 9,039 of those cases, an increase of 39.77 percent, were confirmed, according to MOI statistics. Those aged 6-11 accounted for 3,305, or 36.56 percent, of the victims, and those aged 0-5 accounted for 2,262, or 25.03 percent. On the background of the abusers, 6,512, or 75.02 percent, were the victims’ parents or foster parents. The number of abusers who were live-in partners of one of the parents was up 49.3 percent from last year to reach 212, while the number of abusers who were relatives of the victims but not their parents jumped 42.11 percent to 459.

DUBLIN — Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has slammed Irish Catholic orders for concealing the extent of child abuse committed by their members. Martin said the orders face a “last chance” to make amends with victims. The comments published Monday in an Irish Times column are the harshest by a Catholic leader since investigators last week documented widespread abuse of children in schools run by 18 Catholic orders.

A couple of individuals have crossed the United States on foot, even before the movie “Forrest Gump,” to raise money and awareness for various causes. But how many have accomplished the feat three times? That is the goal of Louis Michael Figueroa. The 42-year-old has crossed America two and a half times in his life. “When I ran in 1982, I was a 16-year-old kid without gray hair,” Figueroa said as he ran his hand through his short hair, flecked with gray, as he sat for an interview in the lobby of the Lompoc Holiday Inn. Running straight across the country, the young Figueroa set a record, crossing the continent in 60 days, doing it to help inspire a boy fighting bone cancer.

Disney’s ‘Tangled’ Takes On the Serious Issue of Emotional Child Abuse–A week or so ago, thousands of Facebook users changed their identifying photos to cartoon characters in a vague attempt to “raise awareness” of child abuse. Ironically, at the same time a new hit movie was using animation to focus on the same subject in a more sophisticated manner.

An infant girl was scalded in a bathroom sink and her teenage parents arrested on suspicion of child abuse after failing to seek timely medical attention for her, authorities said Friday. Jiovanni McMillan, 18, of San Jacinto, put the 2-month-old in the sink to bathe her at a relative’s Perris-area home, turned on the water and looked away for a moment, a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department news release said. The water was scalding hot and the baby began to scream, the release stated. Neither he nor the 17-year-old mother, a Los Angeles resident whose name was not disclosed because she is a minor, sought medical help until more than 12 hours later, after the infant’s skin began to peel off from the burns, sheriff’s Sgt. Patrick Chavez said.

PHOENIX – It’s a tragic case of child abuse: a 3-month-old boy was beaten to death and police say his father is to blame. Now the boy’s mother speaks exclusively to FOX 10. The mother, who should have been enjoying motherhood, is now preparing to bury her young son. Police say the child’s father admitted to shaking his own son. The boy clung to life at an area hospital for three days before he passed away. “He was breathing and he died, but he died in my arms,” said Imari McClure, the boy’s mother. McClure never though she would be planning a funeral for her 3-month-old baby boy. Francisco Hernandez, Jr. died of shaken baby syndrome on Wednesday.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – A young St. Petersburg mother lost custody of her child after getting her fourth DUI, driving with her 2-year-old under the influence and causing a three car accident Thursday afternoon. Upon arrival, officers found Colleen Ludlow holding her 2-year-old daughter and spotted an empty bottle of Skol Vodka and two empty beer bottles in her car. Ludlow said that her child was secured in a child restraint seat at the time of the accident and officials say there was a child restraint seat in the back of the car.

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Authorities say they have arrested a Joplin, Missouri woman trying to sell a baby on Craigslist. Upon further investigation officials learned Alice H. Sims, 29, of Joplin, was in fact not pregnant and was scamming potential buyers. Sims is in custody and has been charged.

ROANOKE, Va. — A 12-year-old girl who had been missing for a week was found unharmed Friday after she and the man accused in her abduction were recognized in a store in San Francisco, police said. Brittany Mae Smith has since been in touch with her family in Virginia, while Jeffrey Scott Easley, 32, was in police custody in San Francisco, Roanoke County Police Chief Ray Lavinder said at a news conference. The two hadn’t been seen since Dec. 3, when they were captured on store surveillance video at a Walmart in Salem, about five miles from Roanoke.

ORANGE, Calif. ( KTLA) — A 48-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly molesting the children of a family friend. Santa Ana police were called to a church in Orange after a 13-year-old girl told a counselor that Gary Gruber had been molesting her for the last three years. He was arrested on suspicion of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, sexual penetration by threat of retaliation and continuous sexual abuse of a child, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Family violence is expected to peak over the Christmas holiday season, with police statistics showing that almost 10 per cent of incidents of abuse reported last year occurred in December. Of the 35,720 family incidents reported to Victoria Police in 2009, 3566 happened in the final month of the year. Since 2003 there have been 686 reported incidents on Christmas Day, with 975 reported incidents on New Year’s Day since 2004. In Bendigo, more than 30 women sought help because of domestic violence during the five days from Christmas Day.

Some children are battling far worse this time of year than just missing out on presents from Santa. “Child abuse is growing,” Yvonne Tallent, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with an office near S.H. 249 and Louetta, said. “There’s evidence that shows that it is much worse.” According to data from the Child Maltreatment 2008 analysis by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), a total of 3.3 million cases of child abuse and neglect were reported to state and local child protective services (CPS) in 2008. The study also found that in that same year 1,740 fatalities, for children younger than 18, were linked to abuse and neglect. Child abuse knows no gender, race or creed.

OAKLAND, Calif. — An Oakland man was charged Friday with felony child abuse for the suffocation death of his 4-month-old son, according to Alameda County District Attorney spokeswoman Teresa Drenick. William Thunderhawk, 26, initially was charged with child abuse last week after his infant son, Wambli Thunderhawk, was hospitalized with suspicious injuries in late November. Wambli died from his injuries on Sunday. Oakland police had sought Wednesday to have the charges upgraded to murder because an autopsy determined that he had injuries consistent with suffocation and also revealed that he had three fractured ribs, police spokeswoman Holly Joshi said.