Child Abuse Cases on The Rise for Stressed-out Parents

This week the journal Pediatrics released the findings from a survey looking at serious injuries due to child abuse cases.  The results were both remarkable and disheartening.  In 2006, 4,569 children were hospitalized due to serious abuse and 300 of these children died.  The majority of these kids were under the age of 1.  The percentage of kids who died from abuse is higher than for any other injury or illness coming into the hospital.
Even more telling, from 2007 – 2009, during the worst of the economic crisis, the rate of abusive head trauma among kids when up in three areas of the country in which the unemployment was the highest. While the researchers can’t draw a definitive correlation between unemployment and child abuse cases, it just takes common sense to realize that stressed-out parents and caregivers have a shorter fuse when dealing with their kids.
On any given day, you can Google “baby and head trauma” or “shaken baby syndrome” and one or two child abuse cases will come up.  Statistics have also shown that overwhelmingly the abuse is caused by a father, step-father or male caregiver.
Let’s face it – parenting is tough and at times our patience is tested.  But it’s at those times we need to ask for help or literally lock ourselves in a room until we can calm down to prevent child abuse.  Many single moms don’t have a choice but to leave their kids with a nanny or care taker while they go off to work.  Community organizations must provide affordable and quality care to keep babies safe.  I can’t imagine having to leave my child to work wondering whether he or she is safe.  I also feel that this is where neighbors need to come together and help each other.  It does take a village to raise our kids.
One of the most difficult but necessary decisions a woman has to make is to leave her partner if she suspects he is violent with her kids.  If there has been an incident where he has hit the kids or abused them in anyway, it will happen again.  Seek help from a neighbor or learn how to stop child abuse at the local Domestic Violence organization.

Related Articles:
National Child Abuse Prevention Month
Protecting Your Kids from Sex Abuse
Nanny Cams – What Every Parent Needs To Know  

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