A community matter: Child abuse results in human toll and economic burden to society
The roar of 15 motorcycles could be heard down every street in the small town of Monticello one cold December afternoon in 2009. An armada of herculean riders clad in leather made heads turn in curiosity, but Dawn felt instant comfort knowing the bikers had come to keep her and her family safe.
Dawn's four daughters had been molested by a family friend and the Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) volunteered to stand and shield the girls during the man's trial.
Severe child abuse increased as the U.S. housing crisis worsened during the 2000s, according to a recent study published online in the Journal of Pediatrics. Researchers found that for every 1 percent increase in the 90-day mortgage delinquency rate, the number of child abuse-related admissions to hospitals increased 3 percent. Knowing how to respond to and help prevent incidents of child abuse allows families and community members to stand together to reduce abuse, experts say.
In 2008, child protective services at the federal, state and local levels had 3.3 million reports of child abuse or neglect, with 772,000 confirmations of children being abused, a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control this year found. More than 10 percent of the child population was in some way abused — physically, psychologically, or sexually.
"Child abuse is happening at epidemic proportions," Suzanne Leonelli, Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse Utah, told the Deseret News. "It is associated with adverse health and mental health outcomes in children and families, with impacts that can last a lifetime. We must position ourselves to prevent it."
A community matter
In addition to the horror of the abuse itself, children who have been abused have a higher propensity for health problems, mental health problems, substance abuse problems, delinquency problems, academic issues at school and even criminal problems, James Hmurovich, president of Child Abuse America, told the Deseret News. "When we don't stop abuse from occurring, there is a higher probability that a child will fall into two or three of those cases. And it is costing us."
"Those children can become bullies," Hmurovich added, " those children can disrupt the learning cycle in the classroom, those children are the ones who push other children on the playground."
"People need to pull their heads out of the sand, wake up and realize that everybody is impacted by child abuse," Dawn told the Deseret News. Her name has been changed to protect the identity of her victimized children.
While the effects of child abuse result in an obvious human toll, there are also monetary losses. An estimated $80 billion is spent each year to remediate the effect of maltreatment when it is not prevented, according to a study conducted by Prevent Child Abuse America this year.
The lifetime cost for a victim of child abuse and neglect is an estimated $210,000 this year, according to research conducted at the Centers for Disease Control.
Child maltreatment in the U.S. poses an economic burden upon the whole of society, Hmurovich said. "It's overly simple. The best prevention strategy is to stop abuse and neglect from ever occurring, as a nation."
Signs and symptoms
The first step in stopping abuse and neglect is recognizing early signs. The presence of one sign is not a sure indication that child abuse is occurring in a family, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advised on childwelfare.gov. "A closer look at the situation may be warranted when these signs appear repeatedly or in combination."
Sudden changes in behavior or school performance, difficulty concentrating and arriving early to school or other activities or staying late, with a reluctance to go home, can be signs of abuse, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services noted. Watch for a child that is overly compliant, passive or withdrawn, or lacks adult supervision.
A parent who shows little concern for the child, denies the existence of — or asserts blame upon the child for — the child's problems in school or at home, can be a sign of neglect or abuse. Look for a parent who sees the child as worthless or entirely bad, asks other caregivers to use harsh discipline if the child misbehaves, or demands a level of physical or academic performance the child cannot achieve.
Unexplained burns, bites, bruises or broken bones can be indications of physical abuse. Frequent absence from school, insufficient clothing for the weather, abuse of alcohol or other drugs or a lack of needed medical or dental care, immunizations or glasses can be signs of neglect. Difficulty walking or sitting, a refusal to change for gym or participate in physical activities or a demonstration of bizarre, sophisticated or unusual sexual knowledge or behavior can be signs of sexual abuse.
The first line of defense is to contact your local child protective services agency or police department, Hmurovich told the Deseret News. "It can be difficult to make that call for fear of getting a relative in trouble, but the interest of the child should always take precedence."
These reports can be anonymous but require specific information, such as the who, what happened and when.
Hmurovich suggests notifying another responsible adult, such as a minister, a school teacher, a close relative, even a next door neighbor.
The support of BACA, a body of bikers that lends physical and emotional support to wounded children, was pivotal in the long road to recovery, said Dawn, the mother of those four girls back in Monticello. flip this opening of the sentence around so that it starts here with the support of BACA: that will quickly create the arc
"They came down within less than a week," Dawn said. "If my kids couldn't sleep at night, they would sit on their bikes in the driveway and guard the house. If they had a hard time at school, they would go with them to school. And every time my kids went to court, they had one of them around them. They were our angels."
Dawn said she hopes to see communities, not just organizations, encompass this mode of response to children who have been abused.
We cannot put the responsibility on children to protect themselves, for that's not their burden to bear, Tracey Tabet, director of Utah's Children's Justice Center Program, told the Deseret News.
In conjunction with the nationwide rollout of the One With Courage campaign, initiated by the National Children's Alliance last year, the Children's Justice Center is working with the division of Child and Family Services to launch a statewide awareness campaign that empowers and encourages adults to report child abuse when suspected, Tabet said.
Plans to develop a website are underway, Tabet told the Deseret News. The website will contain helpful information, dispel common myths and provide medical information linked to child abuse.
"The community can play a huge role in being the eyes and ears and protectors of children if they know what to look for and if they're willing to make the call," Tabet said. "It's not enough just to know what to look for, you have to be willing to act."
Everyone has a role to play in preventing abuse and neglect, Hmurovich said. "We ought to be volunteering. We ought to be participating in town hall meetings and contributing a voice to community projects. We ought to be encouraging businesses to create family friendly policies, and we ought to be questioning public leaders and social policies that impact children and families."
Child abuse: A community matter
:30 Commercial Developed in 2006 by Freestyle Marketing Group, A full service advertising agency located in Salt Lake City for Prevent Child Abuse Utah. The ad was generated as a part of a Child Abuse Prevention Community Awareness Campaign.This campaign received the American Advertising Federation's Gold "ADDY" award.
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