Abuse on children

Children is one of the most common victims in abusing

Child abuse first attracted national attention in the United States in the 1950s, when a Denver pediatrician named C. Henry Kempe began publishing his findings regarding x-ray evidence of intentional injuries to small children. Kempe’s research followed by numerous investigations of other signs of child abuse and neglect; including learning disorders, malnutrition, failure to thrive, conduct disorders, emotional retardation, and sexually transmitted diseases in very young children.

Statistics from the mid-1990s indicate that although child abuse is found at all levels of income and educational achievement in the United States, children born into poor families are 12 times as likely to be abused as the children of middle-class or wealthy families, without regard to race or ethnic background. About a quarter of children who are abused or neglected are younger than two years of age. Both sexes are equally affected. As of 2000, between 1,000 and 1,200 children die each year in the United States as the result of physical abuse. Of those who survive, 20 per cent suffer permanent physical injury. Children who suffer from birth defects, developmental delays, or chronic illnesses have a higher risk of being abused by parents or other caregivers.

Source: The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders, Ellen Thackery and Madeline Harris, 2002