According to a new report, about 905,000 American children were victims of maltreatment, 91,278 of them were infants – these figures refer to registered cases by CPS (Child Protective Services) agencies for the period October 2005 to September 2006. About 19% of all child maltreatment deaths happened to babies under the age of one year. According to official figures, an infant’s greatest risk of death from maltreatment is during his/her first week of life.
(An infant is a child in the earliest period of life, especially before he or she can walk. In this article it means a child who is aged one year or less)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says maltreatment of children that does not end in death has never been examined before at a nationwide level. To find out what these figures might be the CDC and the ACF (Administration for Children and Families) examined data collected in the 2006 fiscal year (October 2005 to September 2006) – the most recent dates available from NCANDS (National Child Abuse and Neglect Data Systems).
NCANDS was created in response to the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. It is a national data and collection analysis system – the data have been collected each year since 1993. States submit case-level data as child-specific records for each report of alleged child maltreatment for which a completed investigation or assessment by a CPS agency has been made during the reporting period.
Specific details on Infants (babies no more than one year of age) –
— 91,278 infants (23.2 per 1,000 infants) experienced non-fatal maltreatment
— 29,881 of them were under one week old
— 35,455 were under one month old
— 68.5% of the maltreated infants aged less than one week were classed as ‘neglect’ maltreatment. NCANDS did not allow further elaboration on what this neglect constituted.
— 51.6% of victims were male, 48.4% were female
— 43.6% were white, 25.2% were black or African American, 19.3% were Hispanic, 1.3% were American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.6% were Asian
What does physical abuse mean?
According to the CDC and NCANDS, physical abuse means the intentional use of physical force by a parent/caregiver/guardian that results in, or may result in physical injury. This includes kicking, biting, burning, shaking, or otherwise harming a child. The act is intentional, but the consequence may or may not be intentional.
SBS (shaken baby syndrome) is one type of abuse that can have serious and fatal consequences. In the USA approximately 1 infant per 100,000 is affected by SBS, a total of around 21 to 32 infants per year.
The CDC informs that a more details study of contextual information is required to determine the causes of physical abuse in infants reported to NCANDS, before developing further prevention strategies.
Written by – Christian Nordqvist