Welcome to Part 10 of 10 in our series on child abuse and neglect. After completing the original nine-part series on child abuse and neglect, I began to search online for sample policies to link to for additional resources. I found quite a few. Many were very similar, and rather than reproduce them all here, I have compiled one singular sample policy which includes elements of many of the policies reviewed.  

Before getting to the specific sample policy on reporting suspected neglect and abuse, I wanted to share other sections included in many of the general safety and security policies that I reviewed. They included:

• Required Screening for Volunteers
• Monitoring/Supervision
• Rules Regarding Transportation of Children
• Rules Regarding Overnight Activities
• How the Church should Respond to Allegations of Abuse Within the Church

If you are compiling a comprehensive policy manual, you will likely want to include these sections in addition to the sample policy on reporting below. Continue reading

Welcome to Part 9 of 10 in our series on child abuse and neglect. Today, we will be laying out some additional sources of information on child abuse and neglect used throughout this report. 

Most of the information in this article was garnered from the following sources. While I have not attempted to site individual sources for each piece of information presented, I am grateful to these resources for providing the information that comprises this article. I hope that the accumulation and synthesis of the information from these numerous sources will help those who work with kids, and particularly those who work with kids in a church setting, to be better equipped to understand the risks and types of child maltreatment, recognize the signs of maltreatment and develop a plan for responding to suspected maltreatment.

What Is Child Abuse and Neglect? (April 2008), Department of Health and Human Services: The Child Welfare Information Gateway of the U.S.(https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/whatiscan/)

Child Maltreatment Surveillance: Uniform Definitions for Public Health and Recommended Data Elements, Version 1.0 (January 2008), Department of Health and Human Services: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/CM_Surveillance-a.pdf)

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Welcome to Part 8 of 10 in our series on child abuse and neglect. Today, we will be examining how to report suspected abuse or neglect. 

Where to Report Suspected Child Maltreatment

To find out who to call in your state, visit the State Child Abuse Reporting Numbers page at the Child Welfare Information Gateway. The Child Welfare Information Gateway also includes a listing of Toll-Free Crisis Hotline Numbers that you should keep on file.

You can also contact Childhelp®. Childhelp® is a national organization providing crisis assistance and other counseling and referral services. The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with professional crisis counselors who have access to a database of 55,000 emergency, social service, and support resources. All calls are anonymous. Contact them at 1.800.4.A.CHILD (1.800.422.4453).

Who is Required to Report Suspected Abuse?

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Welcome to part 7 of 10 in our series on child abuse and neglect. Today, we will be exploring how to talk to a child you know has been abused or neglected.

If you find out for certain that a child is being abused, or if a child comes right out and tells you, it can be an uncomfortable situation, and it is often difficult to find the “right thing” to say to them. Many times there is no “right thing” to say, but you can be prepared by knowing how to handle the situation. Here are some suggestions.

Avoid Denial and remain calm. If your actions, tone or words reveal a sense of denial or shock or disgust, the child may react by shutting down. You need to remain as calm and as reassuring as you possibly can. Don’t be afraid to talk about it. If children sense that you are afraid to talk, they will not bring it up and they will definitely not open up. Remember, children don’t benefit from “not thinking about it” or “putting things out of their mind.” They benefit from talking about their emotions and working through what they have experienced.

Listen to what they have to say and empathize with them. So many times, our natural inclination is to want to jump straight to problem solving or solution mode. A child who has been abused or neglected, and is willing to talk to you about it, is crying out to be listened to. Be a person that they can talk to, cry with and mourn with. Remember that empathy is not the same thing as feeling sorry for them.

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Welcome to part 6 of our 10 part series on child abuse and neglect. Today, we will be discussing what you should do if you suspect potential abuse or neglect.  

General Goals

Before we jump into the specifics about what to do when you suspect abuse or neglect, there are some overarching goals, or guiding principles, which we should all have when it comes to abuse and neglect, particularly the church. These include:

• Protecting the child from any further harm
• Stopping the offender’s abuse
• Healing the victim’s brokenness
• Restoring the family (or helping victims to mourn the loss of relationship where this is not possible)

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Welcome to part 5 of our 10 part series on child abuse and neglect. Today, we will be looking at signs to look for indicating potential abuse or neglect. 

RECOGNIZING SIGNS OF POTENTIAL ABUSE AND NEGLECT

As those who work with children, and those interested in ministering to at risk kids, it is important that we understand the warning signs of potential abuse and neglect. This section includes some general guidance as well as specific things to look for in both children and their parents for the different types of abuse and neglect. I have gathered this information from the various sources listed at the end of this article. Accordingly, I have not endeavored to cite a source on each individual sign. The single best source I have found, and the starting point for many of the items in these lists, is the publication What is Child Abuse and Neglect? Recognizing Signs and Symptoms from The Child Welfare Information Gateway of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The signs listed in this section may be indicators of abuse and neglect. The existence of one sign or even the prolonged existence of one sign does not necessarily prove the existence of abuse of neglect and may be related to other factors. While we must be on the lookout for potential signs of abuse and neglect, we must also proceed with caution in concluding that abuse or neglect is present based only on these signs. We will talk more later in this article about what to do when you suspect abuse, but it is important to remember that false accusations of abuse or neglect can harm not only the accused by the child you are trying to protect in the first place. In the end, the best way to assess a situation is to have a personal relationship with the child that you have developed beforehand that will allow you to discern what is going on. Of course, this is not always possible.

Each section includes potential signs of abuse to look for in the children and to look for in parents. The section of general signs also includes things to look for specifically related to the relationship between the child and the parent. Continue reading

Welcome to part 4 of our 10 part series on child abuse and neglect. Today, we will be exploring the increased risks of child abuse and neglect for children of divorce, cohabiting households and single parent families. 

One of the portions of the NIS-4 report that struck us was the increased risk of abuse and neglect for children of divorce, children living in cohabiting relationships and children living in single parent families. Throughout this discussion of different charts and statistics below, you will note that one thing is absolutely consistent; the least risk of child maltreatment is for those children living with married biological parents. Let’s have a look.

This first chart looks at all instances of harm standard maltreatment as well as specific rates of abuse and neglect by family structure. By far, the largest risk of maltreatment to kids is when they are in a living situation with one parent and that parent’s cohabiting partner with 57.2 children per thousand in this living arrangement suffering maltreatment. That is 8.4 times higher than the rate for children living with married biological parents (6.8 per thousand). Cohabiting married parents and other married parents, such as step families, have the next lowest rates at 23.5 and 24.4 per thousand respectively. Children in single parent families are maltreated at a rate of 28.4 per thousand.

The rates for abuse follow a similar pattern with the exception of the fact that kids living in other married parents and cohabiting biological parent homes are more likely to be abused than those living in single parent families. Neglect follows the same pattern as all maltreatment except for the fact that kids in a home with cohabiting biological parents are slightly more likely to be neglected than those from homes classified as “other married parents.”

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Welcome to part 3 of our 10 part series on child abuse and neglect. Today, we will be introducing the national survey that served as the basis for the statistics included in this article. 

Before we jump right in to the alarming statistics regarding child maltreatment, some background on the source of the information used for this article and a definition of terms would be helpful. For purposes of the statistics cited in this report, we have utilized the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4).

What is the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse?

In January 2010, a report entitled “Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4) was released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That report is referred to herein as NIS-4. The National Incidence Study is a periodically mandated effort of the United States Department of Health and Human Services to report on the level of child abuse and neglect in the United States. NIS-4 was mandated by Congress in 2003. Data was collected during 2005 and 2006, and the report was issued in 2010. Prior NIS reports, also mandated by Law were done in 1979 & 1980 (NIS-1), 1986 (NIS-2) and 1993 (NIS-3).

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Welcome to Part 2 of our 10 part series on child abuse and neglect. Today, we will be exploring the various types of child abuse and neglect. 

Abuse and neglect are difficult words to define as we will see later in this article when we start to examine the many different kinds of abuse. Let’s look first at what abuse and neglect are according to federal law. In a pamphlet entitled, What Is Child Abuse and Neglect?, the Child Welfare Information Gateway of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services explains that:

“Federal legislation lays the groundwork for State by identifying a minimum set of acts or behaviors that define child abuse and neglect.”

Most laws at the federal and state level cover abuse and neglect inflicted by parents and other child caregivers and do not extend to harm caused by other people which are covered under other statutes. The minimum standards set by federal law define child abuse and neglect as: Continue reading

A recent report which enumerated the risks associated with kids whose parents are cohabiting rather than married showed that one of the significant risks for children in those living arrangement was an increased chance of suffering abuse or neglect. In reviewing the statistics set forth in that report, it became evident that the risk of abuse and neglect is a very real risk for children in cohabiting households, children from single parent families and children of divorce. In this article, we will define child abuse and neglect, examine some of the statistics regarding the level of abuse and neglect for children in different living situations, list potential warning signs of abuse and neglect and discuss what to do in the event that you suspect a child is being abused.

Introduction to the Magnitude of Child Abuse and Neglect

We will get to much more detailed statistics on the prevalence of abuse and types of living arrangement which are more prone to abuse and neglect later in this article. However, I think it is important to have some grasp of the magnitude of the problem and why it should be important to anyone who works with kids on a regular basis. According to the January 2010 report entitled “Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (referred to herein as NIS-4), over 1.2 million children suffer harm from child abuse or neglect per year. That equates to 17.1 children per 1,000 or approximately 1 in every 58 children. When children who are endangered by abuse or neglect are added to those figures, the numbers rise to over 2.9 million kids or 39.5 per thousand. That equates to one in every 25 children. The reach and magnitude of abuse and neglect are as varied as the forms of abuse and the types of children who experience it.

In the article “When The Bough Breaks,” Martin Johnson wrote: Continue reading