Where are the “Child Saviors”

We have to ask. Where is the outcry, where are the “child saviors,” why are politicians and the media not telling you about all the child neglect and fatality statistics?

 

What is truly amazing is that NO ONE and I mean NO ONE is screaming about the 2,600 some odd children that are killed each year as a result of firearm accidents. The fact that the United States leads the industrialized nations in the number of childhood deaths caused by accidents with over 7,453 per year, in front of Mexico with 5,949 per year ⁽¹⁾ seems to be totally ignored by the mainstream media. Nor do I see anyone clamoring about the 2,223 deaths of teenagers in 2004 due to teenage drunk driving ⁽²⁾, or that in 2003, 2,136 children under 14 died as a result of drunk drivers ⁽³⁾.

 

The Child Welfare Information Gateway web site gives this summary of child abuse in 2004. “According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System’s most current report, Child Maltreatment 2004, of the approximately 872,000 child abuse and neglect victims in 2004, the largest percentage of perpetrators (78.5 percent) were parents. Other relatives accounted for an additional 6.5 percent, residential facility staff for 0.2 percent, and childcare providers for 0.7 percent. Unmarried partners of parents accounted for 4.1 percent of perpetrators, while legal guardians accounted for 0.2 percent and foster parents accounted for 0.4 percent.

 

In 2004, 57.8 percent of child abuse and neglect perpetrators were females and 42.2 percent were males. For the most part, female perpetrators were younger than male perpetrators; of the women who were perpetrators, 44.4 percent of females were younger than 30 years of age, compared to 34.1 percent of males.

 

More than one-half (57.9%) of all perpetrators were found to have neglected one or more children in 2004. Slightly more than 10 percent (10.3%) of perpetrators physically abused children, and 6.9 percent sexually abused children. Fifteen percent (15.5%) of all perpetrators were associated with more than one type of maltreatment.

 

There were variations in these overall patterns when the relationship of perpetrator to the child victim was considered. Of the parents who maltreated children in 2004, 2.6 percent committed sexual abuse, while 62.9 percent committed neglect. Of the perpetrators who were friends or neighbors, nearly three-quarters committed sexual abuse while 9.9 percent committed neglect.”⁽⁴⁾

Again, empirical evidence that in at least 90% of the cases, the child knew his or her perpetrator, be it a family member, friend, neighbor, or someone trusted by the child.

 

While these and other statistics are truly shocking, we should not be surprised that there is absolutely no coverage in the mainstream media. Our media has found it is easier to target sex offenders. We are in denial about the real problem of child abuse in America. At the end of the day, we are either the most ignorant people on the planet, or the most self-centered, or the least compassionate or all of the above.

 

 

(1) UNICEF

(2) MADD

(3) NHTSA

(4) CWIG Web Site