If we are going to claim to be “pro-life,” then let’s be pro-LIFE. Don’t abuse, neglect, or abandon your children. That’s not pro-life; that’s pro-birth.
The children in our country are abused and neglected at alarming rates – where is the outcry for that?
Every year, Americans make more than 4 million referrals to child protection agencies involving more than 4.3 million children (a referral can include multiple children).
A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds in the United States. The United States has the worst record of industrialized nations – losing five children daily to abuse-related deaths.
Maybe you think child abuse doesn’t affect you or your life. Think again. Child abuse impacts us all – if you take a moment to consider the costs, the societal woes it creates, and the ripples that come from the source of both the abuser and the abused, you will realize that child abuse is everybody’s problem.
In the US, nearly 1 in 5 of our children suffer sexual abuse before their 18th birthday – roughly 6 in EVERY classroom.
Consider that 9 out of 10 child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator somehow, and family is responsible for 7 out of 10 of these crimes.
Most children with Adverse Childhood Experiences become abuse and neglect victims at 18 months or younger.
Eight out of ten 21-year-olds abused as children met the criteria for at least one psychological disorder.
As adults, abused and neglected children are 11 times more likely to engage in criminal behavior; and the cycle repeats itself.
We can do better. But how?
Prevention, intervention, recovery, and being pro-life, not just pro-birth.
Peace.
Do you know your score?
Answer ten questions and
understand your future health.
Laura Fogarty
Editor, Ask Lala
Laura Fogarty writes “Ask Lala” for the Stop Abuse Campaign. She is a mother, an advocate and the author of two children’s abuse prevention books: I’M THE BOSS OF ME! and WE ARE JUST ALIKE!