Child abuse on the rise as economy sours

[UpInArms]

Source: South Coast Massachusetts Today news

As the economy worsens, financial pressures on families increase, which in turn puts many children at increased risk of being abused or neglected, local and state agencies say.

"We're beginning to see children being harmed as a result of the stress that families are feeling," said Mary McGeown, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

The state's Department of Children and Families, the agency charged with protecting children from abuse and neglect, has seen a 13 percent increase in reports of child abuse over the past two years, and the agency is expecting its caseload to grow an additional 3-to-5 percent next year, according to budget testimony.

<snip>

Unemployment or other financial stress is not, in and of itself, a cause of child abuse, Lovett and others cautioned, but if it's layered on top of a family that already has risk factors for abuse, it can be the last straw.

"It's as if you had a little flame going on the ground, and then you poured gasoline on it," said MacLeod-Lima.

Read more: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090405/NEWS/904050337

[Deja Q]

1. Well, we can put a stop to it or let it continue.

Which is it going to be?

[Happyhippychick]

2. My next cause is to make sure that spanking is illegal in every state. Flame away, I don't care.

Hitting a child is wrong. It may not always be abuse but it is always wrong.

[glowing]

4. I've done the hand pat away, scoot away thing.. Dad does the spanking.

I hate it. It doesn't teach the child a damn thing... he knows at 4 when he's doing wrong and hangs his head in shame for disappointing us. I think that is more of a lesson than a spanking. I notice though, it happens more when my husband's mother is around.. guess he still wants her to think he's being a good child in parenting. I hate it.

[pattmarty]

3. Look what just happened in Washington state, 5 kids killed by their father.

[GCP]

5. As always, the weakest suffer

This is so sad, and I feel so helpless about it.

[ensho]

6. what with sexual/physical abuse the kids don't stand a chance

nt