Child Abuse And Neglect Statistics: Case Study

People are appalled when they hear about a child who died at the hands of their parents, yet they turn a blind eye to the signs leading up to their death. In today 's society, there are currently quite a few flaws with how the safety and protection of children is handled. For far too many children, their physical abuse goes unreported due to factors such as wanting to avoid getting involved, while emotional abuse goes unnoticed. Consequently, studies show that currently three times as many children are abused than are reported to CPS agencies (“Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics”). CPS which stands for child protective services is an American organization responsible for investigating the abuse of minors, though they are unable to investigate

While all teachers and doctors are mandated reporters, everyone else in society is not, which means it is at their discretion whether or not to report child abuse and most people choose not to. When it comes down to whether or not non-mandated reporters will take action against what they have witnessed, studies show that they are responsible for reporting less than 38 percent of cases each year (“Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics”). There are many reasons why one might choose to ignore the abuse around him and a common reason is wanting to avoid getting involved. People who have witnessed child abuse tend to feel as though it is not their place to get involved with how someone else parents their children. They also worry that the abuser will know it was them who contacted authorities and will pursue them out of anger. Another reason that greatly contributes to the lack of reporting is the obscurity surrounding what classifies as child abuse. The definition of child abuse changes with each person due to how they themselves were raised or what society around them views as acceptable. Most people agree that severe neglect and physical abuse are detrimental to the health of the children it is inflicted on but what they believe qualifies as physical abuse varies among them. This variation leads people to not know when they should make a report so they do not make one at all. However when these people fail to report child abuse they witness, they put children at risk for further harm and potentially even death. In 2005 roughly 1,500 children in the United States died as a result of unreported child abuse (“Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics”). With the use of child abuse screening, schools would be removing the need for others to decide whether or not to report child abuse because they would be detecting abuse