The definition of child abuse can vary by state but, a general definition provided by Childhelp is:  “Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. There are many forms of child maltreatment, including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and emotional abuse.” Because of the emotional and distressing nature of the problem, many individuals don’t like learning about child abuse but, we need understand it so we can help raise awareness and work toward prevention.

How big is the problem of child abuse? How do we know if is really impacting our communities? The short answers are yes, it’s a big problem and yes, it is impacting your community. Page ii of the Child Maltreatment 2017 report provides key findings that outline the scope of the problem at the national level:

• The number of children in the US who received child protective services investigation or alternative response increased 10% from 2013 (3,184,000) to 2017 (3,501,000).
• The number of victims has increased 2.7% from 2013 (656,000) to 2017 (674,000).
• In 2017, 74.9% of the victims were neglected, 18.3% were physically abused, and 8.6% were sexually abused but victims may suffer from several types of abuse.
• In 2017, 1,720 children, died from abuse and neglect.

Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services 2017 Annual Report provides a very granular look at child abuse in Pennsylvania including a county-by-county breakdown of the statistics. It is well worth reading this report to get a better idea of how child abuse impacts Pennsylvania’s communities. The Executive Summary on page 4 makes overall statements which differ significantly (and distressingly) from the national statistics:

• In 2017, substantiated reports of child abuse increased from 1.6 per thousand to 1.8 per thousand.
• In 2017, 40 children died and 88 were near-fatalities.
• Sexual abuse is the largest category of abuse, followed by physical abuse (contrary to the national statistics showing the reverse).
• Parents continue to be the persons most likely perpetrate the abuse.
• Notably, the amendments to the Child Protective Services Law, effective December 2014, increased the rate of child abuse reporting because additional mandated reporters were identified in the amendments as well as adding persons who could be identified as perpetrators. (The charts on page 4 show a clear distinction between the number of reports and the number of substantiated reports and a further breakdown of these statistics is provided on page 6.)

What can we do to prevent child abuse? We need to talk about it. Raising awareness about child abuse is a front-line tactic toward reducing child abuse through training and intervention. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and the theme for 2019 is “Strong and Thriving Families”. The national site encourages communities to increase awareness and provide education and support for families to prevent child abuse. They provide outreach materials to help organizations get started as well as educational materials to support awareness activities. In particular, the 2019 Resource Guide provides a step-by-step framework for developing prevention strategies and includes tip sheets and other resources.

In addition, Penn State also provides many resources to aid in the awareness and understanding of child abuse with the goal of reducing and eliminating child abuse. The Child Abuse and Neglect research guide pulls together dozens of sources on child abuse including databases, books, government resources, legal resources, statistics, and links to Penn State Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, the Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, and the Penn State Child Study Center.

To report child abuse, call ChildLine at 1-800-932-0313. More information about mandated reporters and child abuse clearances can be found at www.KeepKidsSafe.pa.gov