Topic > Types of child maltreatment, the statistics behind it, and the role of child welfare practices in combating it

Many things struck me as I read this report, but one of the most shocking things in my opinion was that children those under one year of age are most likely to be maltreated or at risk of maltreatment. According to chapter three, page 22, it states: “The rate of victimization was highest for children under one year of age (23.1 per 1,000 children in the same age population)” (Administration for Children and families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the Office of Children, Youth and Families, 2013). Before reading this report, I thought that children between the ages of 8 and 14 were the most likely to be abused in one way or another, I thought they were at that age where their parents had them too scared to speak out and ask for help. I also had a feeling that around that age the child could be easily manipulated or bullied into thinking that no one would care for him and if he told anyone he would have no one there for him if he was removed from the environment. I guess looking at the statistics it makes sense that a child under one year old. At the age of one you can't even talk, so those who are violent have no worries that the one year old will tell someone or run away. They actually don't have to stress out or be so careful about what they do as long as they keep strangers away from their children. Now, this in no way justifies what they are doing, but after thinking about it I suppose I understand why it might be higher for younger children. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Reading this report I learned two main points: there are multiple subcategories that fall under maltreatment (not just neglect), and not all neglect is intentional (neglect and abuse are slightly different). When I hear the word mistreatment I think of malnutrition so I automatically link negligence to it, but it is much more than that. Maltreatment is also the aspect of abuse; More things are considered abuse than I thought. When I hear the word abuse I immediately think of physical abuse; very violent, deliberate abuse unfortunately seems common. I thought about punching, kicking, hitting someone with something, throwing them against something, just beating their bodies leaving bruises, bruises, broken bones and maybe blood loss. I never thought that sexual violence, psychological abuse and abandonment were abuse. I just looked at them as individual things. In chapter three on page 23 we read: “Four-fifths (79.5%) of victims were neglected, 18.0% were physically abused, and 9.0% were sexually abused” (Administration for Children and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children and Families, Office of Children, Youth and Families, 2013). I was shocked to discover that the rate at which people (especially children) are neglected is almost five times higher than the rate of physical abuse. Which brings up the next thing I noticed which is that the main problem may not even be done intentionally. Since neglect is our biggest problem among the 7 types of abuse, it seems like this is what we should be spending our time on. and the effort to change or at least understand why this is happening so often. Growing up I was lucky enough to always have clothes to wear for school and food to eat but not everyone is as lucky as.