My heart breaks for these innocent lives that are being abused and taken at a most precious of all times. It seems our country has taken God out of schools, and learning and the value of life of all ages is slipping past some Americans…what can be done?

I hate seeing animals being abused – let alone something that should be as treasured as a baby!!

May God help us all!!!

What I am always curious about in these types of studies is the facts behind where the majority of the child abuse and neglect is happening. When you include countries such as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico the numbers I imagine will go dramatically up. And why did they only do the study in 45 states instead of 50 states? Did they leave out states where there are significantly less cases so as to make it seem far more serious than it is? How many of these children are in single parent homes? Does the study actually go into that sort of detail or did they not bother to tally that information because again they wanted it to be generalized so that every case was more serious than it actually was? Don’t get me wrong. Child abuse of any kind is unacceptable no matter what state or country it’s happening in but I just wish these researchers would be more thorough when they do studies like this.

Pamela your comment about how God has been taken out of our schools is not relevant to this kind of situation. God being taken out of our schools is a good thing based on the fact that it makes every student there an equal when it comes to what they do or do not beleive in religiously. I have no problem with any religion but when you have religion in schools someone at some point is going to disagree and then that creates problems. Having our schools concentrate on the learning aspects of life is much better then trying to tell someone that if they don’t beleive in God that they will not be accepted.

In closing I feel that any child who is being abused or neglected needs to have the proper authorities step in and either take the steps to fix the situation or remove the child from the parent(s) and put with a more adequate family. The chances of that child having a full and healthy life with a better family is always much better then to try fix the parent who in my opinion will no doubt be right back where they started with the problems.

I agree Pamela. This country has gone into decline since we took God out of schools and everywhere else.

I pray for strength everytime I read articles like these; especially if an infant or child has died from the circumstances. I have a toddler and newborn and I see their faces when I read articles like these. I cannot fathom why anyone would neglect or abuse an innocent child. There has to be pure evil in these people.

The violent act of abortion has led inevitably to more violence within American families. Our nation’s acceptance of abortion — 50 million dead babies since the Roe v. Wade decision in January 1973 — contributes greatly to abuse against newborns (and older children). If, as our abortion culture claims, a baby has no intrinsic value or rights before birth, it’s not surprising that so many parents find it easy to pretend that the same child has little or no worth after birth. Some sources claim that abortion is now the most common medical procedure in this country; without a doubt, the most vulnerable members of our society pay the highest price for it.

As a Mother, Foster parent & Daycare Provider I think the biggest thing is EDUCATION…..I have seen lack of intrest and lack of ability as being factors in neglect & abuse cases involving infants, However in part even seasoned parents sometimes DO NOT understand the basics!
Baths, Clean clothes, scheduled meal times, naps & bedtimes, and clean utensils are a VERY important part of a daily routine.
I do believe that there should be some sort of “FOLLOW-UPS” parenting classes for both new and seasoned parents offered by hospitals…
Teaching these parents how to care for their child(ren) is important for both the household and the infant…..You’ll have a much happier infant if you do the essential things in life with your child early on, PLUS it promotes good lifelong habits!
Lack of information & skill is an issue also with ALL kinds of parents!
Make information on services and advice on caring for your child included in a “GOING HOME” package from the local hospital, thus parents have resources to fall back on when all else fails.
Maybe setting up a “MOMMY2MOMMY” hotline would be helpful as well?

I find this very hard to believe. We hear of studies everyday claiming outrageous things. One of the first things a college freshman learns how to do in Humanities 101 is how to skew a study to a desired outcome. For me to believe something like this I would have to study the data myself. No doubt they chose a high risk section of the population to base their study on.

It sickens me to know this statistic!! I am a new Mom of a 6 month old and I cannot even imagine how someone could harm their own children or even other infants! Once the abuse is proven, something should be done to these people the FIRST time there is even a complaint filed! There’s obviously something wrong with our judicial system, nevermind the people that cause the harm. Shame on the families first, then the courts. How can these people get help?? I never thought I’d want to bring harm to people that have “mental issues”, but having their reproductive organs surgically removed would be an appropriate “community service”. God forgive me for sounding cruel. GOD BLESS all those poor babies!!

This information is so sad. I don’t know how anyone can hurt a child. Something must be done to protect these innocent children. My suggestion; you hurt a child, your rights to have more children are taken away by mandated sterlization. Does this sound harsh? Ask the babies and children that are being beaten, straved, negleted and raped.

Yes, child abuse is awful and indefensible. Not so defensible are endless “studies” that one day claim to have the unvarnished truth about a given situation and a while later release another study that contradicts the original one. for example, see this week’s study debunking the “8 glasses of water a day” recommendation for optimal health. A similar kind of study makes outrageous claims that 60% or so of college-age women are raped or victims of sexual abuse. This man now happily ignores all self-important “studies” and testimony of “experts,” especially when coming out of any government agency or academic institution. Sorry, they all have agendas and axes to grind. For me, having been a student of trends in American culture for decades, I’ll keep a healthy skepticism over any overheated study claiming to have found the exact, irrefutable truth about anything.

Again, child abuse: bad!

Hyper-fearful study: generally hogwash.

Child abuse has always been an issue. i am surprised that the government finally aknowleges it. do you realize how many children are removed from a home and put into foster care? In the last 13 months, the state of California has settled or paid claims of more than $3.5 million on behalf of children harmed or killed by their foster parents, state documents show. (Mareva Brown
Bee Staff Writer, Published Nov. 14, 1999). Considering that is just the state of California 8 years ago, and that doesnt include the cost of medical treatments that many of these children have to endure to be able to lead somewhat normal lives. Do you know how much it costs to have some one surgically sterilized? The initial cost of a tubal ligation can be expensive, ranging between $1,000 and $3,000 for a woman, and for a man, typically, the actual cost will be in the range of $500 to $1,000, depending on geographic location, the surgical technique used by the doctor and other variables. But there may be little or no out-of-pocket cost to you, because health insurance programs often cover this procedure.
Incase you arent following where this is leading, let me put it this way, ABUSIVE PARENTS SHOULD BE STERILIZED. The child protective offices will never be honest and tell you, but from what little investigation i have done, i found several people who have had their children removed from the home and yet they go and have another one, just to have that new child removed later. once a parent has been found guilty of serious child abuse, for god sakes, sterilize them. Please.

It is a telling sad state when you have a society that can harm the most innocent. It shows the true decline and state of mind that we are in. I HOPE that is not the case but I would argue that if you can hurt the most innocent then you have NO conscience and you are capable of anything. There is no defending yourself at that age, you can’t even use your own voice for assistance, they are truely helpless! I am so sadden by this report. We all need to do our part where we can.

Instead of making people take childbirth classes, there should be classes to take AFTER having a child as to what to expect,i.e., crying, illnesses, etc., to train this people to become parents. Anyone can deliver (have) a child, but it’s how child is cared for and raised that matters. I work in a school, so we see alot of bad parenting coming out through the children! It is very heart wrenching.
Thank you.

Kevin said: ” How many of these children are in single parent homes? Does the study actually go into that sort of detail or did they not bother to tally that information because again they wanted it to be generalized so that every case was more serious than it actually was?”
Are you insinuating that single parents are more likely to abuse? If that is where you were going with that statement, that is pretty assinine. I am a single mom of a 5 month old son and would NEVER neglect or abuse my child in any way. If you read any of the MANY, HORRIBLE stories lately of infants dying at the hands of their own parents; most of those homes are a 2 parent home.
I believe this study 100%. Im amazed it has taken this long to shed light on it, but that’s because most people cant believe something like this could be happening. We need to become more aware of the treatment that our most vulnerable are being subjected to.
I agree with the comments about our lack of God and our acceptance of abortion. Murder is the number 1 cause of death of pregnant women in America. When are we going to respect life again? We live in such a disposable society: Dont want your baby, just drop it off at the hospital. Even with programs like that, young mother are still murdering their brand new babies! Read the story about the girl who drowned her newborn while trying to flush it down the toilet! Read the story of to 10 WEEK old infant who was murdered at the hands of his parents after suffering 38 FRACTURES! Read about the baby found on the side of the road in Pennsylvania who’s own father “stomped” on his head before throwing his lifeless body out of the car window. We have lost respect for life in this country and without respect, you dont have much

This breaks my heart….I read a story earlier where a 14 year old girl gave birth in her school’s restroom and killed the baby by trying to flush it down the toilet. Last month I read a story about a couple that let their baby starve to death in it’s carseat. If you don’t want your baby, give it up for adoption. Let someone that wants desperatly to have a baby adopt it. Geez people….

Who really cares if the study is skewed. The basic fact is infants and children are being neglected. There is a least one article a day that I read that states it. That’s one too many in my opinion. I agree with CH that basic things, such as daily baths, clean clothes, scheduled meals and naps our extremely essential. Education is a huge part in this. Before I became a mother, I did research on my own in order to be the best parent I could be. My children have been a dream to raise and I give a lot of the credit to my own research.

I still stand by my comment on God not being allowed in schools anymore. No one said that ANY student had to be held to the beliefs, but just having reference to Him plays a big factor in morals. Love and tolerance is not taught in schools. If it was, why is there a raise in violence?

Mary, I differ in your conclusion that BECAUSE of Roe vs. Wade, there are more neglect and abuse cases within a family. My feeling is that those in situations who feel abortion is the only answer (rape, incest, etc), and with state laws being made to stop or make it harder to have an abortion (by men for the mostpart), a woman might feel ‘railroaded’ into birthing a child. THEN, she might neglect or abuse that child. We don’t often have visuals in this country of our own babies like this, but take a look at the children in Africa so thin and dying. Is it better to be born and starve to death or perhaps physically abused? Clinics that help in planned parenthood are being denied funding because it is assumed they perform abortions. Most, in fact, use the funding to provide birth control for low income women. I am a grandmother who would not have considered abortion, who loves her five children and eight grandchildren, but I believe a woman’s body is her own in this particular matter. It is horrible to even imagine sweet beautiful babies being physically abused or going hungry.

I would suspect that it is even more prolific then this, but the state and federal standards for child abuse and neglect are so limited that many more children of all age groups are abused or neglected and it consistantly stays under the radar. The standards need to be raised and the courts should stop being afraid to act on the laws that exist. No new laws are needed, just a judiciary with backbone.

Kudo’s Cassandra!

As someone who advocates professionally for abused and neglected children, I am not shocked by this study. I have several children on my caseload who have suffered physical and medical neglect at the hands of their birth parents. I must tell you that over 80% of the cases I have involve drugs and alcohol on the part of the parents. We have devalued human life so much in this Country it is no wonder parents have no regard for their children. God help them!

This is just sad!! What will be done is even saddier NOTHING!! We will continue to read about abused and killed infants. While good people who want to adopt are left out in the cold. JUST SICK!!

Death penalty for any intentional child abuse! Not a lifetime on death row either!

I have to agree with Kevin’s comment. I would like to know what the percentages of abuse were in Puerto Rico, DC and New Mexico because I am sure those three areas drove up the numbers. Let’s do a study of the whole US and not just 45 states DC and a commonwealth.

I would also like to see a study to discern how many of those children had a single mother.

The study is intentially skewed. It created the desired reaction. It was intended to get readers to read the article and therefore see the ads. There are so many forms of “abuse” that could qualify.

They are not saying physical or verbal abuse. There are many parents that quick go into the gas station that don’t have a creit card to pay at the pump. Unless they take the baby out of the car seat and bring the baby in, that is neglect. No throw in the mix that the parent is running late and will be fired if they are late. The parent also needs to provide for the child. Parents should not do this, but it happens. Forgetting just once to make sure your kid is buckled up could be considered abuse by neglect, since it is child endangerment. Things like this need happen only once to count for that individual child to be considered abused. Do you have that much faith in the court system to recommend Nazi Germany sterilization? Does 1 mistake quailfy for sterilization?

For actual real physical and especially repetitive physical abuse, I have no issue with sterilization.

But this study did not qualify that. And and all “abuse” qualifies with only 1 instance.

A mother screams, “Shut up!” to her screaming kids. Is that abuse? This study might call it abuse.

They counted Peurto Rico. So what 4 states did they not count? I would expect Alaska and Hawaii to not be counted. But not if Peurto Rico is counted. I think Peurto Rico helped support the article, where Alaska did not, and Hawaii may have been cost prohibitive.

This article is not about God not being in school or abortion. Most people wish the little old church lady’s would stay out of politics, but for some reason they always feel a need to impose their self declared “superior” morals on others. Leave others alone and quit preaching.

In response to an earlier comment…”something should be done to these people the FIRST time a complaint is even filed…” or very close to that–

A while ago, I had a somewhat emotionally unstable neighbor get mad at me and report me to DCFS for neglect of my two children. When the worker came to my door to tell me why she was there, I literally laughed. I thought it was a joke. My children are my life. I refuse to leave them to work, or to even send my daughter to our public school because I have investigated our local system and find it unsatisfactory. The case took less than a week to be proven totally unfounded. The case-worker actually apologized to me on the phone and asked if I wanted to file a malicious reporting claim.

All that to say, just because you are reported does not mean you are guilty. SO…maybe you should say, the first time a report has been proved founded on something, there should be harsher penalties/consequences etc.

Respectfully, God has nothing to do with this. Babies and children were abused long before God was taken out of the schools. Let’s be real here. Many people who abuse children claim to have God in their lives. What’s up with that?? This has nothing to do with religion. The laws need to change and people need to get involved if they suspect something. That is everyone’s responsibility. Don’t turn your head. Do something. I say abuse a child; go before the judge then straight to the hospital in your handcuffs and have your tubes tied or a vasectomy.

In response to F.G. Morris, while I totally respect your and everyone’s opinions (which is a must in order to have a civilized conversation), I have to comment on what you said about being “railroaded” into having a child then abusing/neglecting it. Isn’t it already abuse (ie murder) and neglect (not having the child’s well being in mind) to have an abortion in the first place? If you have to kill something for it’s well being…. isn’t that an oxymoron?? hmmm… I have a feeling this response has nothing to do with the original blog topic which was abuse in BORN children (which is also just as horrible and disgusting). I also agree with sterilization of abusive parents. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to sterilize instead of spending money on Social services, litigation, etc? And decrease the number of abuse cases??

People – this is not about religion, parenting classes, single parent households, rich people, poor people, etc. This is about people having kids who should not have them. How about providing safe, inexpensive birth control? How about making a legal, safe abortion available to each and every female in our country? Women need to know that they do not have to give birth if they are not ready. There are alternatives. Also, what about postpartum depression? Unless you’ve experienced it you will never understand and it gets worse with each child. That was probably the worst time in my life. Ladies, only you should have control over your bodies; not your husband or boyfriend.

Not mine. Not ever. I love my 3 obsessively.

This MOST CERTAINLY does have to do with RvW and removing God from society! The entire country/world has become de-sensitized to murder and all kinds of other evils; turned away from everything that is good and decent and embraced a “do it if it feels good” mentality. People won’t sacrifice, struggle, overcome, or do whatever it takes to be good, honest people. Raise and love your children, work hard to provide for them. We have created generations of lazy, heartless, selfish people. Not to mention, time after time of letting these killers off easy. Women are constantly labeled as “insane” if they kill their children–”she was just too overwhelmed the poor dear”, “She’s not a monster”, etc., etc. It’s “in vogue” to throw your kids off of bridges, drown them, flush them away, starve them, hang them—etc, etc. Then calmly call the police to tell them what happened. This is NOT the definition of insanity! This is EVIL pure and simple. When will we as a human race begin to identify EVIL and quit trying to provide a scientific/mathematical answer to everything? Sometimes it’s just evil unleashed.

Wake up people, and quit sympathyzing with these men and women for being “overwhelmed/insane/hopless”. They sure didn’t seem this way when they were making the poor child!!! Ugh.

1 in 50 Baby’s neglected or abused. Isn’t that shocking. I thought that abortion was supposed to make every child a wanted child. Abortion was supposed to end child abuse and neglect. What a bunch of lies we have been fed and are still being fed today. Child abuse and neglect is more rampant today than before legalizing abortion on demand. Why? Children and their welfare has been cheapened in today’s society. If it is OK to abort a child in the third trimester than I guess it can’t be that valuable a few weeks later. Child abuse and neglect isn’t really an offense that gets punished in the extend that assault and other offense against adults get. Locally an adult student killed her baby upon birth and received 2 years jail time. Go figure!

comment to Kevin…the District of Columbia (DC) is not a country. It is our nations capitol. I believe you are confusing yourself with the country of Columbia. DC should be included in this study, as it is part of the US. I do question however including Puerto Rico. I’m sure this scewed the numbers quite a bit.

Comment to Pamela, the stats were equal to those in Canada, which is considered by most to be a “peace loving” nation. Whenever some horrible stat is quoted about the US, you can always count on the bible thumpers to say that America has no morals.

Not to make light of the study, as most have put it, abuse of any kind is horrific, especially to children. It would be interesting, however, to see how we stack up to other countries where human rights aren’t nearly as important.

Regardless, you can count on the fact that the data in this report was scewed for effect.

Study, Smudy – One neglected or abused baby is too many. When caring, qualified people have to go out of country to adopt, and unwanted babies are left in wretched situations, the absurdity of it all causes me heartbreak.

I was abused phyiscally and sexually. When I was baby! an a little boy and adolescent! I’ve been in therapy on and off since I was in my middle twenties. Its only has been over the past couple of years that know, that I am in my forties that I can for give and put some of the things, of past in place. Once you been, abused as a baby or little child, you can never really put those demons in place. Unless you face your fears! Of the abuse that happened to me! But even know as a adult I have to deal with the daily pain of phyiscal abuse that was inflicted on me, as a infant! Any little baby or child should be placed in a loving environment so they can start the process of healing. The abuser! should be keep away! permanmently!

I agree with Mary Alan. Life is no longer viewed as “precious.” Instead, a human life can be deemed an “inconvenience” and can summarily be dispose of. Or likened to an STD as a “punishment” in the recent words of Obama. Is it any wonder the innocents are abused? I also whole-heartedly agree that more post-birth education is needed. I have a post grad degree, grew up in a large family and still found bringing a newborn home to be quite a daunting task. My prayers are with these poor little souls and I pray for a change of heart of the abusers.

The article clearly states that 1/3 of these babies are from abandonment or drug addicted within a week of birth. Drugs in all likelihood play a role in most of the rest. Unless and until that problem is conquered, the stats can only rise.

This terrible abuse of infants is a direct result of the past 35 years of legalized abortion on demand. When our society is taught that life is cheap and that unborn children may be mutilated and torn apart in abortion, the next step is infanticide and the abuse of infants. Turn back Roe-V-Wade and this revolting abuse of infants is going to be turned back too.

The irony of it all is the pro-abortion mantra “Every child a wanted child”. I guess that didn’t work out it Planned Parenthood?

I have a problem with the fact that the areas most are considering as being where a high concentration of these cases happen are predominantly minority areas. The implication that these areas would drive up the numbers seems racist. Would it be surprising if we learned that most of these were in suburban areas? I live in a predominantly white town and 90% of the cases that are featured on the news and in the papers are white people. So what does the area of the abuse have to do with anything? Children being abused is horrific whether it happened in Rhode Island or Puerto Rico.

I am sickened by statistics, no matter how accurate, as any abuse or neglect is unthinkable. As a teacher, I would encourage those of you who follow matters of education to consider these statistics (or those you feel are more accurate) and apply them to the school system. If 1 in 50 children are abused as infants and that abuse continues, worsens, or even subsides with age, then our schools are full of children who are suffering mental, physical, and emotional trauma. These children are in our schools begging for help from teachers, crying out in their pain, finding attention in misbehavior, standing in the corner afraid to come close, defying the ones who abuse them – adults, unable to concentrate or sleep at night… The list goes on and on…

My concern as an educator is that despite statistics that alarm and frighten us, despite the fact that we teach abused and abandoned children everyday, despite the fact that we have children in our classrooms that originate from the elite to the “street”- despite all of these things, we, as teachers, are being required by our federal government and the No Child Left Behind act to educate all of these children to the same standard. We are expected to help a child learn who was, is, or always will be, abused. We are expected to somehow cause these same children to care about their assessment test scores when they don’t know if they will be safe or warm or fed that night. We are expected to create an equal playing field in the classroom from a world that we all know is anything but equal. We are expected to make these abusive parents care whether or not their child is at school and whether or not they complete their assignments. These expectations are unrealistic and I would challenge more people in our country to see the needs of the abused child and adult, not just the abused baby. The need doesn’t go away. The child doesn’t “just deal with it” and our schools can’t “just deal with it”. Our prison system is who will eventually be forced to “deal with it” as the cycle of violence never stops for many. We need more help in our schools and communities for the long term abused person, not just more tests that quantify knowledge with a score on a test. More time, money, and resources should be spent rehabilitating and assisting those from abusive situations instead of on tests, tests, and more tests. School is the only safe place for many of our students, and we are now making it a place of failure and frustration for them.

Visit a school near you, become informed on what the educational debates and laws are requiring of teachers and schools, talk with those involved in education and education yourself on what the expectations are on our youth. The stress and mental anguish that some of these children go through in school because they can’t perform at a high enough level to satisfy their teachers, administrators, or government, is causing that cycle of violence to perpetuate. A boy in our school had to be removed from the testing session by police because the stress was just too much for him. He is from an abusive, unstable home. He is only one of many who act out in their rebellion to education due to their home environment.

To address the connection between God and schools – their is no separation between God and anything alive, anything with a heart, anything with a soul, anything with the sweet, warm, loving arms hugging our school teachers everyday. Children are a gift from God and we must treat them, and each other, as such. Our country is in dire need of God in our schools, in our communities, in our jails, in our hospitals, and in our homes. We, who do believe in God, can find the only hope their is for these children – God’s saving grace through our prayers for them.

These statistics are alarming.

We, as a people, have become barbaric toward are very young innocent defenseless people.
In my state a father sexually assaulted his daughter under the age of 6 months more than once.

The story has had minimum media coverage.

For all of you who want to analyze or know more about this study. What the heck!!!!! Children are being abused. So instead of wasting your time on how the study might have done, take that time and do something positive about abused children.

Abused animals get more attention than abused children……this is where we are people.

Extremely disappointing and just done right DISGUSTING!

Ellen, you do have control over your body.

You are the ONLY one that has control over YOUR body.

RESPECT YOURSELF AND YOU WILL RESPECT YOUR BODY.

If you can’t say no to sex, are on drugs or under the influence of alcohal you have no respect for your body or yourself. Find out why and stop.

If you want to have the physical act of “sex” then use a reliable form of birth control.

When you mature you will realize making “love” with the man of your choice, one who respects YOU, will be so much more rewarding and will be the really true experience.

Cassandra, while I respect you for doing what you beleive is caring for your child. I have no doubt you do a good job. But while this next comment might significantly anger some people. Studies have shown that children who are raised in a 2 parent family are far more likely to become successful. In my mind there is no way anyone can convince me that when I was growing up, my lack of a father was not a factor in how I was raised. If you’re a single parent and your raising your child you are neglecting that child on some level of being without one parent. Granted I understand there are situations where an accident takes one parent away. But in the situation of the father or father who simply make that choice not to be a part of that child’s life. That to me would be neglect. I really don’t want to piss anyone off so I am done commenting on this study.

Imc, yes I was a bit confused about that. I was assuming that considering that DC is part of the USA they wouldnt list it seperately. That I think is what threw me off!

Was no one else utterly in shock of the reference to “but the statistics didn’t include struggling with breastfeeding” as though having trouble with nursing somehow bordered on abuse or neglect? Almost all new mothers have difficulty figuring out how to nurse their baby, but providing breastmilk is the best possible thing a mother can do for her child. Simply a poor choice of words perhaps, but more likely just another symptom of a bottlefeeding culture that is too ignorant to achieve the high breastfeeding rates that the government is supposed to be aiming for.