Child Abuse

GROWING CONCERNS: A childrearing question-and-answer column with Martha Erickson of the University of Minnesota.

Did you know that over 800,000 children are abused each year in the United States? And those are just the cases that are reported to and confirmed by children's protective services, never mind countless incidents of maltreatment that go unreported. A recent study supported by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation calculated the cost of child abuse to be 258 million dollars per day. But no dollar amount can begin to reflect the personal cost to the children who suffer such pain and betrayal at the hands of adults who ought to care for them. Since April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, I've decided to use this week's column to tell you some things every American should know about this tragedy that touches so many lives.

*Although "stranger danger" gets much public attention, most child abuse is perpetrated by parents or other familiar adults. There are effective strategies for helping parents and other caregivers learn to care well for children, but we have not had the societal will to even begin to reach those who need such services.

*Neglect is the most common form of maltreatment. Although neglect may not leave the visible wounds of overt abuse, the emotional scars are lasting. Longitudinal research, including studies I've done with colleagues at the University of Minnesota, demonstrate that even very subtle emotional neglect - especially in the early years of life - has devastating consequences for children's longterm development. In its most extreme forms, emotional neglect of an infant leads to a condition called "failure to thrive," which is often fatal.

*Most adults who abuse children were maltreated in their own childhood. However, abuse does not have to be passed on from one generation to the next. Research on individuals who break the intergenerational cycle of abuse points to important protective factors that can make the difference. These include: 1) the presence of at least one caring adult in the child's life; and 2) coming to grips with the pain and trauma of abuse, usually through therapy or a support group.

*The hopeful message from this research is that how you treat your child is not so much a function of how you were treated in childhood, but how you have come to think about that experience. This means facing the pain you experienced (not sweeping it under the rug), choosing what you want to carry forward from the way you were parented and what you want to leave behind, then mustering all available support to help you act on that choice.

If you are a parent looking for support to help you give your own child the best possible care (even if you were abused as a child), contact Family Support Roundtable (312-663-3520) for information or help in finding a support group in your area. And, whether or not you are a parent, if you want to know how you can help prevent child abuse, contact Prevent Child Abuse America (1-800-CHILDREN). Preventing child abuse is everyone's business.

Editor's Note: Dr. Martha Farrell Erickson, director of the University of Minnesota's Children, Youth and Family Consortium, invites your questions on child rearing for possible inclusion in this column. E-mail to mferick@tc.umn.edu or write to Growing Concerns, University of Minnesota News Service, 6 Morrill Hall, 100 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455.

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