Document 74: "Child Abuse," in Susanna Downie, Decade of Achievement: 1977-1987: A Report on a Survey Based on the National Plan of Action for Women (Washington, D.C.: National Women's Conference Committee, 1988), pp. 20-21.

p. 20

CHILD ABUSE

NATIONAL PLAN GOALS:

•mobilize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974 •establish state-funded child-abuse prevention, reporting, counseling and intervention programs •"child abuse" includes pornographic exploitation, sexual abuse, battering and neglect •programs should provide 24-hr. protective services, counselling, public awareness programs in schools, accurate data collection, and efforts to ensure prompt, sensitive attention by police, courts, and social services.

We now know the true scope of the problem…

   It is not clear that child abuse has actually increased since 1974 or 1977. What is clear is that the campaign carried out mostly by the organizations listed under "Resources" (below) has been very successful in greatly increasing the reporting of child abuse. All states now have compulsory reporting laws. Reports of child abuse went from 669,000 nationwide in 1976 to over 2,000,000 in 1986. The American Humane Association has had a Federal contract since 1976 to conduct annual surveys to keep track of this figure. A scholarly survey in 1976, based on a national sample of over 2000 homes, estimated that 1.7 million children were abused that year, three times more than were reported, but about the same as the number currently being reported.

   The number of reported child deaths due to maltreatment increased 30% between 1984 and 1986, when at least 1200 children died as a result of maltreatment. Somewhere between 25% and 50% of these cases has been reported at least once prior to the child's death.

   An NCPCA report says that 14% of all child abuse reports involve sexual abuse. In 1984, less than 1.5% of reported child sexual abuse involved child care providers or babysitters. The vast majority of child sexual abuse occurs in the home, inflicted by a parent, relative or family friend.

Now that we know, let's fund prevention.

   Since 1980, reports of child abuse and/or neglect have increased by 51%, but funds allotted to child protective services at federal, state and local levels have increased only 2% in real dollars. The result is a vast overload of services, with as many as 50% of reports (in some areas) going uninvestigated or unconfirmed. Nevertheless, the first step — arousing public awareness and securing cooperation in reporting — has been taken, and we now have a much clearer idea of the scope of the problem. As the 1976 survey suggests, we may now (in 1987) have reached the point where most cases of child abuse are actually being reported, sooner or later, and we can realistically design a national campaign to begin to lower the number of actual cases. The organization which has set this as its goal is NCPCA.

The National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse

When Donna Stone founded the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse in Chicago, in 1972, a psychiatrist said to her "Donna, it's crazy to think child abuse can be prevented". The common view then was that "Like poor people, child abuse will always be with us." Under Stone's leadership, the NCPCA defined its goal precisely as prevention and became a leader in the movement to arouse public awareness and institute effective prevention measures.

   In 1976-7 they launched the first national media campaign, and local chapters began to form, the first one in Kansas in 1976. They now have 67 chapters, in all 50 states. At the end of the 1978 campaign, NCPCA estimated that over $30 million had been donated by print, radio and TV outlets, and this generosity has continued in subsequent years. By 1978, other countries in Europe, plus Japan and Australia, were picking up on the possibility of preventing child abuse and were using the NCPCA campaign materials to launch their own campaigns.

   In 1980, NCPCA launched a national campaign to establish a Children's Trust Fund in every state. As of mid-1987, 41 states have enacted CTF legislation, which uses tax on marriage licences or other sources to set aside dollars for the specific purpose of providing child abuse prevention services.

   It is worth noting that Child Abuse seems to be an area of the Plan that has attracted a lot of men. When asked about the ration of men to women working on this issue, the women I talked to at each of several offices seemed puzzled by the question, said there were many men on the Board or doing research or involved as volunteers. But no one had asked the question before, so there were no figures available.

Identifying risk factors is key to prevention.

   In 1980 and the years since, a great deal of research has begun to identify risk factors for child abuse. Dr. Susan O'Connell, in Nashville in 1980, did a pioneering study which linked birthing procedures at hospitals to child abuse. The study

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found a much lower rate of abuse among mothers who had been in a "rooming in" situation, where they had lots of contact with the newborn immediately after birth and as often as they liked thereafter. Mothers who suffered hospital routine, with baby removed for days, and only brief contact at feeding time, had a much higher rate of reported child abuse later. But the sample in this study was small, the results were difficult to replicate, and subsequent work points to a more general family-centered childbirth model, rather than simple increased physical contact, as the variable that makes a difference.

   Home Visiting, where the new mother is visited once a week by a nurse or paraprofessional, and Parenting Education, which usually involves weekly classes for up to a year after the birth of the child, are two other strategies that have been tried, with good results. Low income teenage parents are one of the higher risk groups, as are parents who are socially isolated.

   And "family violence' experts agree that child abuse is correlated with spouse abuse 30-40% of the time. Put another way, the abuser in a family, more often than not the father, abuses everyone, not just his wife. Peer support groups and life skills training, as well as programs for abused children to help break the cycle so that they dont grow up to become abusive parents, are all part of a rounded prevention program that NCPCA is organizing through its local and regional affiliates.

Goal: 20% less Child Abuse by 1990.

NCPCA has set as their goal to bring about the end of 1990, a 20% reduction in child abuse. A catalogue of a wide variety of studies and organizing materials is free upon request.

Another good resource for materials and information is the Child Welfare League of America. CWL started in the 1920's; it is a membership organization of over 500 social service agencies. Their main work is lobbying for progressive public policy and child welfare legislation. CWL publishes The Child Welfare Journal which reports on clinical research.

   The National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect has annotated bibliographies on: Parenting Education, Reporting of Child Abuse, Model Programs, Prevention Programs (evaluation studies), and Treatment Outcomes (program evaluation).

— with major help from: Heidi Swarts, and information from Debora
Daro NCPCA, Katie Bond of AHA, and Karen Malm at Child Welfare League.

RESOURCES:

•The National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA) 332 S. Michigan Ave. Suite 950, Chicago IL 60604-4357. (312) 663-3520.

•The Child Welfare League of American, 440 First St. Suite 310 NW Washington DC 20001. (202) 638-2952. Child Welfare Journal (quarterly)

•Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, PO Box 1182 Washington DC 20013. (703) 821-2086. Catalogue of publications.

•American Humane Association, National Resource Center for Child Abuse and Neglect, 9725 East Hampden Ave Denver CO. 80231, 800-227-5242.

•Children's Defense Fund, 122 C St. NW Ste. 400 Washington DC 20001 (202) 628-8787.

   

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