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| Editorial: Stop the abuse | |
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April 5, 1999 With news that crime rates have fallen, many of us have become more comfortable in our daily lives and in our neighborhoods. But people whose business is the improvement of quality of life for children aren’t as calm. That’s because, according to the Chicago-based Prevent Child Abuse America group (formerly the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse), child abuse and neglect, even in these good times, seem to be on the rise, climbing 4 per cent nationally between 1993 and 1997. Michigan’s statistics were more appalling, with complaints rising 10 per cent and "substantiated cases’’ by 9.5 per cent, according to the Michigan Children’s Trust Fund in Lansing. Another analysis showed reported cases up, but substantiated cases in decline. Ohio statistics, provided by the Chicago group’s affiliate, the Columbus-based Center for Child Abuse Prevention, paint a slightly improved picture here. They show reported cases falling 3.5 per cent during the same period and substantiated cases down 4.1 per cent from 1993 through 1996. Figures weren’t available for 1997. That modest improvement, however, still represents 19,687 substantiated abuse cases in this state in 1996, a number exceeding the entire population of Sylvania, and one far too large by anybody’s measure. Statistical alarm bells do heighten awareness and signal greater public willingness to protect children by reporting suspected cases. There were 90,241 such reports filed in Ohio in 1997, suggesting not only increased understanding of what is or might be abuse, but also a determination to do something about it. Unmasking the abuse of innocents isn’t enough. The key to eliminating it lies in prevention of the sort that teaches new parents, married or not, what to expect of their children as they grow, and how to behave more maturely than their offspring in handling frustration. A rural Michigan judge has begun an outreach program under which trained workers talk to new parents about their finances and family support systems. If a potential for abuse exists, they visit homes weekly to coach novice moms and dads in proper parenting. These and other avenues must be more fully developed so that we have zero tolerance of child abuse. It is a plague we must curb and cure because it is contagious. Abusers usually have histories of abuse, and they don’t always keep it in the family. © Copyright 1999 The Blade. All rights reserved. |
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