UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion
Boz Tchividjian | Apr 10, 2015
As you may know, April is designated as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. What does this mean for us? More importantly, what does this mean for children? I have little doubt that most reading this post acknowledge the evil of this offense and would be overjoyed if no more children were ever abused or neglected. Unfortunately, taking a few minutes during one month of the year to give thought to this evil with the hope that it will end is simply not enough. I am convinced that in order to prevent child abuse, the world community (that means you and I!) is going to have to become much more aware of its prevalence and its destruction. An awareness that will hopefully become the fuel to action. An action not limited to thoughts and hopes. I plead with you to be aware:
Be aware that in 2013, over 3.5 million children were reported as abused or neglected involving over 6 million children.
Be aware that a report of child abuse in the United States is made every 10 seconds.
Be aware that in 2013, approximately one-fifth of every child abuse report was found to be “substantiated”. This means that almost 700,000 children were confirmed abused or neglected. For every 1000 children, 9 of them were victims of abuse or neglect. Keep in mind, this doesn’t include the vast majority of child abuse that never gets reported or investigated.
Be aware that child sexual abuse is 75x more common than pediatric cancer.
Be aware that there is at least one child molester per square mile in the United States.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.