What is child abuse? According to childwelfare.gov child abuse is condsidered any reccent act or failure to act on the part of the parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or explotation. These terrible doings are happening every single day all over the world. In 2001, the National Child Abuse and National Data Systems (NCANDS) found that children under the age of one accounted for 40.9% of maltreatment fatalities. Fourteen thousand children died in one year from abuse. If you do the math, that’s a child killed every six hours. These statistics don’t even account for the children that are abused but lived.

More than four children die each day due to maltreatment. More than 70% of the children that die from abuse are under the age of 4. This is a very preventable statistic. Abuse towards children happens every single day to some who may not even be able to speak yet. My question is who in their right mind can look at an innocent child and harm them in any way? In 70% of child abuse situations, there was substance abuse found.

In 2011, nearly 681,000 children reported maltreatment. All of these victims were under the age of 18. Of these children 109,619 were under the age of 6. By reporting this the children went to authorities or a trusted adult. This is an act done by a human being done onto another human being. In our society people are still doing this every single day. The consequences need to be greater for these people. Sabrina Smith and Brain Amis were arrested after a call was made to the Child Protective Services about their three-year old daughter. The toddler was found alive, but covered in scars, scabs, and bruises weighing only 19 pounds. Though the couple faces felony charges on child abuse, they have been released from jail. They beat a child and have been released from jail. This is not right! They can now do it again knowing they can get out of jail even when they neglect and abuse children.

Adverse Childhood Experience data found that roughly 54 percent of depression cases and 58 percent of suicide attempts in women were connected to adverse childhood experience. The long term effects of child abuse can lead into psychiatric disorders that interfere with daily life.
What causes these statistics to be so high? There is no single cause to any child maltreatment. In some cases the parents do not have a good relationship and take out their aggression on the children. Families with financial issues may have a higher risk of abusing their child, especially if the child has a costly disability. Even not knowing how to help your child can lead to frustration with the kid, such as if the baby is crying it may annoy the parents and they do not know what to do.

To stop these terrible effects from happening, I came up with some solutions. Child abuse can easily be prevented. If you are pregnant, don’t keep the baby if you don’t think you can handle caring for a child. Substance abuse can be a very hard addiction to overcome. Some tips to overcome this situation are to list the pros and cons of stopping your addiction, remove reminders of your addiction from your home or workplace, set achieveable goals for yourself.In schools we should have speakers come in and talk about how to get out of an abusive situation. Be patient with the child. Go to parenting classes if you are struggling. If abusers are found, they should have serious consequences. In the community we can create more resources for people dealing with child abuse to go to, such as counselors and social service agents.

If a lot of people come together and help others in this situation, the child abuse rates can go down. Stronger families can lead to good relationships and healthier futures.