Child abuse

“ Not all child abuse is a crime. The great frustration of these cases is the fact that you are often convinced that something traumatic happened to the victim, but do not know with any degree of certainty exactly what happened, when it happened, or who did it. ”

“ This year, National Child Abuse Prevention Month focuses on the simple truth, "The more you help, the less they hurt." The goal is to teach all Americans how they can help end the cycle of abuse and neglect that tears at the very fabric of our families, our communities, and our country. Because the effects of child abuse are felt by whole communities, the search for solutions must be a community-wide effort-and every citizen must get involved. ”

“ Child abuse and child neglect continue to threaten the lives and health of over a million of our Nation's children. Their physical suffering and emotional anguish challenge us, as parents, neighbors, and citizens, to increase our attention to their protection and intensify our efforts to prevent their maltreatment. ”

“ The tragedy of child abuse may afflict American children in different ways. Abuse may occur physically, sexually, and emotionally. Child neglect, another form of child maltreatment, may occur physically and emotionally. Understanding the forms of child abuse is critical to preventing and responding to maltreatment. A well-informed and strong family is the surest defense against child abuse. To help educate and strengthen families, community members can offer their time and counsel to parents and children who may need assistance. ”

“ We live in a Nation blessed with liberty and prosperity. Yet, many of our children still suffer the horrors of child abuse and neglect, knowing no happiness, and sometimes even losing their lives. And, it is a problem that grows worse. Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that an estimated 3 million American children were abused or neglected, twice as many as 5 years earlier. Almost half a million of our children were seriously injured because of this mistreatment, quadruple the number from the previous report. ”

“ As a caring society that cherishes our children, we must work together to protect these little ones who cannot protect themselves.
Two of our greatest resources in the crusade against child abuse and neglect are knowledge and compassion. We must raise public awareness that these cases, while often hidden, can occur in any family and community in America. As responsible adults, we must learn more about the signs of child abuse so that we may report suspected incidents as soon as possible. ”

“ I commend the efforts of the dedicated and compassionate men and women who assist families in crisis and enable these families to prevent child abuse. Without the commitment, knowledge, and skill of these men and women, many more children would find themselves the victims of abuse and the lives of many children who are abused and neglected would never improve. With their involvement, the lives of our most vulnerable children are immeasurably enriched. This month reminds us that every child is entitled to live his or her life to its fullest, free from fear and want. ”

“ Child abuse is a tragedy that can and must be prevented. Yearly estimates of the number of children who are suspected victims of child abuse or neglect run into the millions. Each year, maltreatment kills several thousand children and inflicts long-term physical, mental, and emotional harm on many others. Much remains to be done if we are to guarantee all American youngsters the safe and happy upbringing due every child granted to us. ”

“ During National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and throughout the entire year, it is imperative that we join together as one Nation to combat child abuse in all of its forms—through neglect, mistreatment, or physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. ”

“ Every child deserves to live in a safe, permanent, and caring family. Regrettably, abuse and neglect continue to threaten the well- being of many young Americans. Each year, more than 800,000 confirmed incidents of maltreatment of children and more than 1,000 abuse-related child fatalities plague our country. ”

“ By 1962, national awareness of child abuse had increased dramatically with the revelation of the "battered child syndrome." Dr. C. Henry Kempe reported hundreds of cases where injured children had been brought to hospitals with the parents' explanations inconsistent with clinical diagnoses. C. Henry Kemp, et al., The Battered Child Syndrome, 181 J. Am. Med. Ass'n 17 (1962) . The study provided guidance to physicians on how to recognize abused children, encouraging physicians to intervene. Id. Reports of child abuse and neglect increased rapidly as awareness of the problem spread. ”

“ Children who are abused and neglected often carry the effects of their experiences into adulthood. They are much more likely to experience problems with substance abuse, depression, learning disabilities, and to engage in criminal activities and violence against others, including abuse of their own children. The societal effects of child abuse include the need for increased child welfare services, special education resources, physical and emotional health care services, and juvenile justice facilities. ”

“ If the guilty are to be successfully prosecuted, if the innocent are to be exonerated, and if the victims are to be protected and treated, better methods to evaluate and explain allegations of "ritual" child abuse must be developed or identified. Until this is done, the controversy will continue to cast a shadow over and fuel the backlash against the validity and reality of child sexual abuse. ”

“ Most instances of child abuse and child neglect are not caused by inhuman, hateful intent but by the accumulation of stresses experienced by parents attempting to meet their responsibilities. If parents can get help in coping with the pressures in their lives and if communities support preventive programs to assist parents and others responsible for the care of their children, young lives can be saved and suffering prevented. ”

“ Children in homes where the father is absent are more likely to be suspended from school or to drop out, be treated for an emotional or behavioral problem, become suicidal as adolescents, or become victims of child abuse or neglect. ”

“ It may be a misunderstood part of sexual ritual. The ritualistic activity may be incidental to any real abuse. The offender may be involved in ritualistic activity with a child and also may be abusing a child, but one may have little or nothing to do with the other.
The offender may be deliberately engaging in ritualistic activity with a child as part of child abuse and exploitation. The motivation, however, may be not to indoctrinate the child into a belief system, but to lower the inhibitions of, control, manipulate, and/or confuse the child. ”

“ That means preventing destructive conduct from shattering the secure and protective environments in which our children deserve to live, learn, and thrive. We must all be aware of the signs of child maltreatment and take appropriate steps to safeguard children by reporting concerns and connecting families with the help they may need. ”

“ I encourage communities across the country to join together to raise awareness of the tragedy of child abuse, to learn more about what we can do to help end such abuse, and to strengthen efforts to support children and their families before the cycle of abuse can begin. ”

“ It may be that we should anticipate that individuals severely abused as very young children by multiple offenders with fear as the primary controlling tactic will distort and embellish their victimization. ”

“ There is another myth that is still with us and is far less likely to be discussed. This is the myth of the child victim as a completely innocent little girl walking down the street minding her own business. ”

“ Only recently has society begun to deal openly with a critical piece in the puzzle of child sexual abuse--acquaintance molestation. This seems to be the most difficult aspect of the problem for us to face. People seem more willing to accept a father or stepfather, particularly one from another socio-economic group, as a child molester than a parish priest, a next-door neighbor, a police officer, a pediatrician, an FBI agent, or a scout leader. ”

“ If one could not deny the existence of child sexual abuse, one described victimization in simplistic terms of good and evil. The "stranger danger" approach to preventing child sexual abuse is clear-cut. We immediately know who the good guys and bad guys are and what they look like. ”

“ This problem is particularly important in cases stemming from custody/visitation disputes involving at least one child under the age of seven. It is my opinion that most suggestive, leading questioning of children by intervenors is inadvertently done as part of a good-faith effort to learn the truth. Not all intervenors are in equal positions to potentially influence victim allegations. Parents and relatives especially are in a position to subtly influence their young children to describe their victimization in a certain way. ”

“ Child victims can be boys as well as girls and not all victims are little "angels."
Society seems to have a problem dealing with any sexual abuse case in which the offender is not completely bad or the victim is not completely "good." ”

“ Keeping children safe is a community responsibility, and prevention must be a community task. Every segment of society must be involved, including health and law enforcement professionals, schools, businesses, the media, government agencies, community and faith organizations, and especially parents themselves. Teachers and physicians need to recognize the symptoms of child abuse; parents need to ask for help in overcoming addictions or controlling violent behavior; communities must be willing to fund programs and services to protect children from abuse ”

“ We must always remember that today's children will be tomorrow's leaders, educators, and parents, and we must help them to look forward with hope and enthusiasm to the future.
My Administration is working hard to make this country a better place for all our children. Although domestic violence and child abuse are primarily matters for State and local authorities, we have taken significant steps at the Federal level to prevent the conditions that can lead to abuse. ”

“ It is important for professionals dealing with child sexual abuse to recognize and learn to manage this denial of a serious problem. Professionals must overcome the denial and encourage society to deal with, report, and prevent sexual victimization of children. ”

“ Where even the child itself can tell the difference is with physical and sexual abuse. Here is a co-operative effort at concealment, strong emotions of shame and guilt, repressed to the point of producing anxiety and "neurosis". Sometimes the child perceives even the injustice of the situation, though it rarely dares to express its views, lest it be abandoned by its abusers. ”

“ The sexual abuse of a child is a most serious crime and an act repugnant to the moral instincts of a decent people. In its legislative findings, Congress recognized that there are subcultures of persons who harbor illicit desires for children and commit criminal acts to gratify the impulses. ”

“ In the last fifteen years of this tireless battle for the safety of the State the intervention of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has been invoked for 138,891 little ones; it has thrown its protection around more than twenty-five thousand helpless children, and has convicted nearly sixteen thousand wretches of child-beating and abuse. ”

“ Society's attitude about child sexual abuse and exploitation can be summed up in one word: denial. Most people do not want to hear about it and would prefer to pretend that child sexual victimization just does not occur. Today, however, it is difficult to pretend that it does not happen. Stories and reports about child sexual victimization are daily occurrences. ”

“ Juvenile court jurisdiction should be established on the sole basis that the children have witnessed domestic violence only if the evidence demonstrates that they suffered significant emotional harm from that witnessing and that the caretaker or non-abusing parent is unable to protect them from that emotional abuse even with the assistance of social and child protection services. ”

“ Vernon stated to me and another lady that if he ever saw us giving our children a dummy (or pacifier as they are known in the United States) that he would kill the children by smashing them against a wall."
3. Circumstantial Evidence of Ongoing Abuse During the Standoff As noted above, there was no direct evidence establishing that any children were being either sexually or physically abused during the February 28 through April 19 time period. ”

“ An investigator must maintain ongoing communication with the parents of victims in these abuse cases. Not all parents react the same way to the alleged abuse of their children. Some are very supportive and cooperative. Others overreact and some even deny the victimization. Sometimes there is animosity and mistrust among parents with different reactions. Once the parents lose faith in the police or prosecutor and begin to interrogate their own children and conduct their own investigation, the case may be lost forever. ”

“ Many of those who accept the stories of organized ritual abuse of children and human sacrifice will tell you that the best evidence they now have is the consistency of stories from all over America. It sounds like a powerful argument. ”

“ Control through fear may be the overriding characteristic of these cases. Control is maintained by frightening the children. A very young child might not be able to understand the significance of much of the sexual activity but certainly understands fear. The stories that the victims tell may be their perceived versions of severe traumatic memories. They may be the victims of a severely traumatized childhood in which being sexually abused was just one of the many negative events affecting their lives. ”