Protecting Maryland’s Most Vulnerable: Local Agencies Use Education, Advocacy to Head off Child Abuse and Neglect
Our country has the worst child abuse record in the industrialized world. In 2009, a reported 1,770 children in the United States were killed as a result of abuse. In other words, more than five children die in the United States every day as a result of child abuse and neglect. An estimated 80 percent of those deaths are children under the age of four.
Child abuse and neglect happens across all socioeconomic levels of our society, regardless of education, race, or religion. It’s a problem that is entrenched, pervasive, and according to some reports, growing in magnitude.
Victims of child abuse and neglect often suffer throughout their lives. Child abuse is linked to higher rates of substance abuse, teen pregnancy, criminal activity, and mental illness in its victims. A CDC-sponsored study has shown that abuse in childhood is also directly related to increased rates of major illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Researchers now know that the effects of trauma do not lessen over time; socially, psychologically, and physically, victims of child abuse are likely to suffer disproportionately for many years after the actual abuse has ended.
