Incidence and prevalence of child abuse in New York State and the United States Abuse affects children of all economic levels, ethnicities, cultures, religions, and educational backgrounds. Child abuse is never the fault of the child. The majority of adults who abuse children count on their ability to persuade
and quality adjusted life years) $2 trillion (Peterson et al., 2018). ● Perpetrator Demographics : ○ Age : 83.2% were between the ages of 18 and 44 years old. ○ Sex : 52% were women, 47.1% were men, and 0.9% were of other or unknown sex. ○ Race and ethnicity : The three largest percentages were White (48.4%), African American (20.8%), and Hispanic (20.1%); remaining race and ethnicity categories were responsible for 10.7% of abuse. ● Relationship to the child: 77.2% were a parent to the victim, 6.6% are a nonparent relative, 4.2% were in multiple relationships to the child, and 3.8% were the unmarried partner to a parent. In New York State, the Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and the Office of Children and Family Services (2019) have provided the following statistical information about child abuse: ● In 2019, 101 children died because of abuse or neglect in New York State. ● In 2020, there were 70,754 cases of abuse, with a rate of 16.8 per 1,000 reports of child abuse in New York State. These numbers are suspected to be artificially deflated due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, which significantly reduced mandated reporters’ access to children. Child abuse occurs among people of all socioeconomic levels, cultures, and ethnicities and at all levels of education. It is important to note that many cases of child abuse are unrecognized or unreported, and some may be recognized but do not get reported.
children to be silent or to lie about the abuse by convincing them that the abuse is their fault or that they “deserved it.” Abusers may also tell the abused children that if they tell someone about the abuse, they will be punished even more harshly (Joyful Heart Foundation, 2019). New York State describes abuse as the most serious harm committed against a child. It defines an abused child as a child “whose parent or other person legally responsible for his/her care inflicts upon the child serious physical injury, creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury, or commits an act of sex abuse against the child. Not only can a person be abusive to a child if they perpetrate any of these actions against a child in their care; they can [also] be guilty of abusing a child if they allow someone else to do these things to that child” (New York State Consolidated Laws, Social Services Law-SOS§412). The following are statistics on child abuse in the United States: ● Figures : In 2020, an estimated 618,000 children were abused, with 76.1% of victims neglected, 16.5% physically abused, and 9.4% sexually abused (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2022). ● Fatalities : There were 1,750 fatalities in children, with 68% being younger than 3 years of age. ● Economic Impact : In 2015, the estimated cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States overall was (actual healthcare dollars
CHILD PROTECTION LAWS IN NEW YORK
In 1973, New York passed the first child protective services act. This act mandated reporting of suspected child abuse. It also created a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week registry to receive reports. The most recent update to the child abuse and prevention law was in 2011, when an expanded list of mandatory reporters was enacted (New York State Governor’s Office,
2011). A new law titled Child Victims Act, which provides avenues for victims of child abuse (especially sexual abuse), was enacted to allow for civil charges against the perpetrators (New York State Governor’s Office, 2019). The laws that guide New York Child Protective Services today are Article 6, Title 6 of Social Services Article 10 of the Family Court Act.
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