Serious child abuse is on the rise!

While many reports about child abuse show that it has declined over time, one recent study looked at serious child abuse…abuse where there are fractures and brain injuries and found that there was a slight increase of about 5%.

Before you think or say 5% is not such a major increase – ANY increase in child abuse is too much!

And the study also found that

Hospitalizations among children less than 1 year old increased 10.9 percent….

[The data used was from between 1997 and 2009 – so we do not have more recent similar statistics.]

In the past I worked in the field of Child Abuse and Neglect, both as a Psychologist and as an Attorney,  and it is not a pleasant field and one where all those who worked in it, fervently wished ourselves out of business…..

Seeing infants hurt by parents and caretakers – often for what most would consider trivial reason is not pleasant.

My happiest moments came when parents gave up the rights to their abused children and they were adopted by loving families.

This abuse is an issue we all need to be aware of and work at stopping!!

Thoughts? Comments? Thank you….