statistics

Statistics and Facts About Child Abuse in the U.S.

As ECM, a non-profit, (Every Child Matters Education Fund) President Michael Petit wrote in a news essay published by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

“Over the past 10 years, more than 20,000 American children are believed to have been killed in their own homes by family members. That is nearly four times the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The child maltreatment death rate in the US is triple Canada’s and 11 times that of Italy. Millions of children are reported as abused and neglected every year.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15193530.

The most recent figures from the 2014 Children’s Defense Fund’s Annual State of America’s Children reportt that 1,825 children are abused or neglected each day in the U.S.

National estimates of child deaths from abuse and neglect in the U.S. totaled 1,640 for 2012 (although this number is likely much higher due to varying definitions and underreporting by states.) This amounts to at least four child maltreatment fatalities per day.

It is worth noting that definitions of child abuse and neglect vary by state, which is one of the problems in reporting and preventing child maltreatment. The Center for Disease Control has proposed more uniform definitions.

Behind each statistic is a human life. As incidents of child cruelty mount, one by one, these personal horror stories accumulate to give us statistics.

We can focus on the numbers, like the 1,700+ American children killed each year because of cruelty, or the survivors of abuse, neglect and cruelty that require billions of dollars in mental health counseling, or we can focus in on the individual stories, as gut wrenching as they may be.

Statistics can be depressing, but the individual stories—however painful or even unbearable—associated with these statistics demand both action and hope.

National Child Abuse Statistics

Child Abuse in America

Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. Every year more than 3 million reports of child maltreatment are made to state and local agencies in the United States involving more than 6 million children (reports can include multiple children). The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations – losing on average between four and seven children every day to child abuse and neglect. 2, 3

Graph Showing Child Deaths from Maltreatment:
Child-Abuse-Graph-Child-Deaths-From-Maltreatment

General Statistics

  • Every hour, 77 cases of child abuse are made.1
  • Each Year, there are 679,000 child victims of abuse and neglect.1
    (That is a rate of 9.1 victims per 1,000 children in the U.S.)
  • More than four children die every day as a result of child abuse.2
  • An estimated 1,520 children die of abuse and neglect in the U.S. per year. 1
    (Approx. 2.04 children per 100,000 die of abuse and neglect per year.)
  • Three-quarters (73.9%) of all child fatalities were younger than 3 years.1
  • It is estimated that between 50-60% of child fatalities due to maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates 4
  • The highest rates of child abuse occur under age one (23.1 per 1,000 children).1
  • More than one-quarter (27.3%) of victims were younger than 3 years.1
  • Almost 70% of children that are victims of child abuse are under the age of four.2
  • More than 90% of juvenile sexual abuse victims know their perpetrator.5
  • Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.1
  • 80% of victims were neglected.1
  • 18% were physically abused.1
  • 9% were sexually abused.1
  • 8.7% were psychologically maltreated.1

Child Abuse & Criminal Behavior

  • 14% of all men in prison and 36% of women in prison in the USA were abused as children, about twice the frequency seen in the general population. 7
  • Children who experience child abuse & neglect are about 9 times more likely to become involved in criminal activity. 5

Child Abuse Consequences

  • Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy.5
  • Abused teens are more likely to engage in sexual risk taking, putting them at greater risk for STDs.5
  • About 30% of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.6
  • In at least one study, about 80% of 21 year olds that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.14
  • The estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2008 is $124 billion.7

Child Abuse & Substance Abuse

  • 1/3 to 2/3 of child maltreatment cases involve substance use to some degree.11
  • In one study, children whose parents abuse alcohol and other drugs were three times more likely to be abused and more than four times more likely to be neglected than children from non-abusing families.11
  • As many as two-thirds of the people in treatment for drug abuse reported being abused or neglected as children.9
  • More than a third of adolescents with a report of abuse or neglect will have a substance use disorder before their 18th birthday, three times as likely as those without a report of abuse or neglect.12

Information Courtesy of Childhelp USA, Dept of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, and more. References listed below.

Study Articles
SHAME ON U.S. Failings by All Three Branches of Our Federal Government Leave Abused and Neglected Children Vulnerable to Further Harm

Study Articles
Children’s Bureau Child Maltreatment Report 2013 (Jan 2015)

Study Articles
Child Welfare Fatality Fact Sheets

Study Articles
Childrens Defense Fund | 2014-State of America’s Children

REFERENCES & SOURCES

Sources & References

  1. Child Maltreatment 2013. Published: January 15, 2015. An office of the Administration for Children & Families, a division of U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. This report presents national data about child abuse and neglect known to child protective services agencies in the United States during federal fiscal year 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/cm2013.pdf
  2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2013). Child Maltreatment 2012. Available from: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/child-maltreatment
  3. United States Government Accountability Office, 2011. Child maltreatment: strengthening national data on child fatalities could aid in prevention (GAO-11-599). Retrieved from: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11599.pdf
  4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children’s Bureau. Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities 2011: Statistics and Interventions. Retrieved from: http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/fatality.pdf
  5. Snyder, Howard, N. (2000, July). Sexual assault of young children as reported to law enforcement: victim, incident, and offender characteristics. Retrieved from: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/saycrle.pdf
  6. Long – Term Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect. Child Welfare Information Gateway. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/long_term_consequences.cfm
  7. Fang, X., et al. The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States and implications for prevention. Child Abuse & Neglect (2012), doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.10.006 Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213411003140
  8. Harlow, C. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. (1999).Prior abuse reported by inmates and probationers (NCJ 172879) Retrieved from: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/parip.pdf
  9. National Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence. Parental Substance Abuse A Major Factor In Child Abuse And Neglect. Retrieved from: http://www.nccafv.org/parentalsubstanceabuse.htm
  10. Swan, N. (1998). Exploring the role of child abuse on later drug abuse: Researchers face broad gaps in information. NIDA Notes, 13(2). Retrieved from the National Institute on Drug Abuse website: www.nida.nih.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol13N2/exploring.html
  11. Every Child Matters Education Fund. (2012). We can do better: Child abuse deaths in America (3rd ed.). Retrieved from: http://www.everychildmatters.org/storage/documents/pdf/reports/can_report_august2012_final.pdf
  12. Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Children’s Bureau. Goldman, J., Salus, M. K., Wolcott, D., Kennedy, K. Y. (2003) A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice, Chapter 5, retrieved from: https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/foundation/foundatione.cfm
  13. Wilson, E., Dolan, M., Smith, K., Casanueva, C., & Ringeisen, H. (2012). NSCAW Child Well-Being Spotlight: Adolescents with a History of Maltreatment Have Unique Service Needs That May Affect Their Transition to Adulthood. OPRE Report #2012-49, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/youth_spotlight_v7.pdf
  14. Amy B. Silverman, Helen Z. Reinherz, Rose M. Giaconia, The long-term sequelae of child and adolescent abuse: A longitudinal community study, Child Abuse & Neglect, Volume 20, Issue 8, August 1996, Pages 709-723. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0145213496000592
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