Prevention Of Child Abuse Needs To Be A Conscious Community Effort

By Tanjua Damon

National data indicates that in 2001, each week there were 50,000 referrals to Child Protective Services. Two-thirds were accepted for assessment and 903,000 were substantiated victims, while 1,300 children died.

Jack S.C. Fong presented “Child Maltreatment Prevention: A National Imperative” during the fifth annual Child Abuse Conference at Danbury Hospital in May. Dr Fong is the chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at the hospital.

“It is not a simple matter,” Dr Fong said. “Prevention is the cornerstone of pediatrics. If you can prevent it, not only is it a measure of how we care about children, but how well society is and how we value our future.”

Dr Fong said that one in five children were abused in 2001, the most recent year for which national data is available. Once a child is maltreated, the chance of it happening again is high, almost double, according to Dr Fong.

“Maltreatment coincides with September 11 and the economic times,” he said. “This is not a surprise. History is the whole cornerstone for recurrence.”

Abuse happens in a variety of ways. Neglect is the most common, according to Dr Fong. With physical, sexual, psychological, and medical neglect following.

The cost of maltreatment of children is staggering. It costs $24.384 billion directly to deal with the issue and $69.693 billion indirectly, according to Dr Fong. It is approximately $94,000 per substantiated victim.

“These children grow up to have problems with depression, substance abuse, marriage problems, and suicide,” Dr Fong said.

Dr Fong explained that it is important to research what types of children are being abused by looking at their home environment and outside environment to see what triggers maltreatment.

“It is important to understand what the victim is like,” Dr Fong said. “If we understand what the victims are like we will have a higher degree of suspicions.”

Older children are less likely to be abused, Dr Fong said. More than 27 percent of those that are abused are under age 4. Of children who are maltreated, more than 50 percent are white, some 39 percent are black and Hispanic, two percent are Native American, and just over one percent are Asian. Boys make up 48 percent of the maltreated, while girls make up more than 51 percent. Girls are sexually abused four times as often as boys.

Children who are easily irritable or have disabilities are more likely to be abused.

“Children with disabilities are more likely to be maltreated. It is important to deal with these situations appropriately,” Dr Fong said. “These are not socially accepted behaviors. The disability issue is an important one.”

The rate of child abuse changes as various factors in families lives change. Families who have a higher poverty rate or lack of education and deal with high crime, infant mortality, minority and crowding will have a higher risk of committing an act of abuse, while people with a higher or steadier income and education have a lower risk of maltreatment.

Perpetrators can be anyone: a parent, an unmarried partner of a parent, a child care provider, a foster parent, a legal guardian, or staff of a residential facility.

“Most perpetrators are parents,” Dr Fong said. “More than 45 percent of the maltreatment cases occur by one of the child’s two parents.”

Dr Fong explained that prevention of maltreatment has taken place in various ways throughout the years with tertiary — the management of victims and secondary prevention — targeting programs and policies as well as at risk population. He said more needs to be done in primary prevention in terms of the community and nation tackling the issue as a while in “a broad stroke.”

“Managing the victim, identifying them and picking up the pieces has already occurred,” Dr Fong said. “Primary prevention is the most effective to prevent maltreatment. That’s where the prevention process has to take place.”

Dr Fong explained that life can be stressful and parents need to be guided on what is appropriate discipline and what constitutes abuse.

“We can no longer take for granted that being parents is instinctive. Some have that and some don’t,” Dr Fong said. “We need to take the data and learn something from it for our work and/or community. No one should ever induce physical or mental maltreatment on their child. I think discipline is necessary, but before you do anything, make sure you don’t do something you’ll regret.”

Dr Fong encouraged people to talk about maltreatment because if people do not raise the issue it will not be an issue people feel they need to deal with. But maltreatment of children is community issue.

“It’s a never-ending mission. Not just in terms of the need for advocates, but for the community in prevention,” Dr Fong said. “What you have done today and what you will do in the future will have an importance in the life of a child.”