Saturday, August 13, 2011

By the Numbers...

Hello Readers,

     The following is an item taken from Be The Voice facebook page. It gives some great information on the numbers involving Child Abuse. Feel free to visit the page for a State by State look as well. The info is listed in the Notes section.


In the United States:
A child is abused or neglected every 42 seconds.
A child dies before his or her first birthday every 18 minutes.
A child or teen is killed by gunfire every 3 hours.

Child Poverty in United States
Number of poor children (and percent poor) 14,656,962 (18.97%)
Number of children living in extreme poverty (and percent in extreme poverty) 6,484,069 (8.5%)
Number of adults and children receiving cash assistance from Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 4,250,934

Child Health in United States
Number of children without health insurance (and percent uninsured) 8,300,000 (10.4%)
Number of children enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) 7,717,317
Number of children enrolled in Medicaid 28,716,633
Children as a percent of total Medicaid enrollment 49.1%
Medicaid and CHIP participation rate 81.8%
Medicaid expenditures on children as a percent of total Medicaid expenditures 25.4%
Percent of two-year-olds not fully immunized 30.1%

Child Hunger in United States
Number of children who receive food stamps 13,470,941
Percent of eligible persons who receive food stamps 66%
Number of children in the School Lunch Program (free and reduced price only) 18,187,514
Number of children in the Summer Food Service Program 2,125,820
Number of women and children receiving WIC (Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants, and Children) 8,483,618

Early Childhood Development in United States
Percent of children under age 6 with all parents in the labor force 64.4%
Number of children served by Head Start 1,056,789
Number of children served by the Child Care Development Fund/CCDBG 1,619,100
Percent of 3-year-olds enrolled in state pre-k, Head Start, or special
education programs 13.8%
Percent of 4-year-olds enrolled in state pre-k, Head Start, or special
education programs 38.9%

Education in United States
Annual expenditure per prisoner $24,354
Annual expenditure per public school pupil $9,154
Percent of public school fourth graders:
unable to read at grade level 68%
unable to do math at grade level 62%
Percent of public school eighth graders:
unable to read at grade level 70%
unable to do math at grade level 67%
Number of high school students who drop out of school annually 1,053,234

Child Welfare in United States
Number of children who are victims of abuse and neglect 751,049
Number of children in foster care 418,422
Number of children adopted from foster care 57,264
Number of grandparents raising grandchildren 2,541,364

Youth at Risk in United States
Percent of 16- to 19-year-olds not enrolled in school and not high
school graduates 6.0%
Averaged freshman high school graduation rate 74.9%
Percent of 16- to 19-year-olds unemployed 24.3%
Number of juvenile arrests 1,621,391
Number of children and teens in juvenile residential facilities 86,814
Ratio of cost per prisoner to cost per public school pupil 2.7
Number of children and teens killed by firearms: 3,042
2,161 homicides; 683 suicides; 138 accidents; and 60 undetermined
Compiled from the most up-to-date data available as of January 2011. For data sources, please visit
www.childrensdefense.org/cits
*According to the Childrens Defense Fund

Children in the United States
As of January 2011:

74,548,215 children live in the United States:
951,329 are American Indian/Alaska Native
2,491,422 are two or more races
3,480,257 are Asian/Pacific Islander
11,280,366 are Black
16,750,075 are Hispanic
41,225,410 are White, non-Hispanic

Those are some pretty staggering numbers. But the sad part is... 90% of the abuse is preventable.
Won't you speak out against the violence? Will you Be The Voice?

Warmest,
LaVonda

What is Child Abuse?

Hello Readers,     
     I am often asked, "what IS the definition of child abuse?"  Such a taboo topic for so many people in the world today. "I mind my business and stay out of others" is often said by at least one person when the issue arises. But what about the child? Does he or she have a say in how they are raised? Can anyone be strong enough to meddle in the affairs of others for the sake of the child? Is it OK to 'look the other way' because that child wasn't born of you?

     We should first be aware of the public knowledge of child abuse. The first formal descriptions of inflicted injuries as such only appeared in the medical literature in 1946 and the phenomenon was not considered a significant problem until the 1960s.  However, our four-legged creatures had protection laws even in the times before Christ. You can read Triptolemus BCE-476 for more information. For the next 14 years, child abuse was seen, but remained unresolved. It wasn't until 1974,when Congress enacted the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (P.L. 93-247), establishing the legal framework for current federal efforts which focus on data collection and technical assistance to states.
    
    Statistics show that one out of every 10 ER visits treated were the result of abuse. But what is abuse? There several different forms of abuse.
The most prevalent forms are:
  1. Physical   
  2. Sexual
  3. Child Neglect and Abandonment
  4. Educational Neglect
  5. Psychological Abuse
  6. Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
     The first is common in identifying abuse. The physical characteristics of abuse include but are not limited to Skin brusing and burns, bites, hair loss, bones, brain injuries, intra-abdominal injuries, and mouth injuries. 

     The second is harder to identify. On part of the victim because they may be scared or may have been threatened that harm would come to them if they told. On the otherhand, they may be told that it is ok to do those things, but not aware they were being lied to. On part of the perpetrator because they can perform certain things on the child that can not be detected through testing.  It has been estimated that as many as one in four girls and one in ten boys will be victims of sexual abuse by the time they become adults. The most common ways to determine if sexual abuse has occurred is:

The Fight



Your Writer, Mrs. LaVonda Kelley-Evans
Thank you all for stopping by. I want to take a moment to tell you that I am truly grateful to any and all who can take a moment to read a story or two on this blog... But I'm more grateful for those who will share the message:
"End the Violence of Child Abuse 
 Be The Voice"

My name is LaVonda Kelley-Evans. I am a 31 year old, married mother of four. One daughter and three sons. I have been married for nearly 10 years to the most wonderful husband on the face of the earth. In December of 2010, I graduated Black River Technical College with an Associates of Applied Science Degree in Criminal Justice. I was the recipient of the Departmental Award in Criminal Justice and I was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, which is the only nationally recognized Honor Society among two-year colleges. I'm am still in college, working towards my Bachelors in Criminology and a minor in Psychology. I currently have a 4.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and I love filling my brain with knowledge.  

My fight is going to be a hard one. Why? Because all too often, we hear about something tragic happening in another town, in another city or even another state or country. But we aren't guaranteed it will not happen in our own backyard. I'm talking about Child Abuse. That one taboo subject that has been silent for decades. The one issue I want to bring to every one's eyes and ears... and it will be the one subject that causes people to go blind and deaf.

The subject is scary, frightening, and disgusting. The images are real. The scars, the battered souls, the broken spirits, all worn out and hanging on by a thread. Some too weak to fight were called to Heaven before they had even lived.

This blog is not an easy one, but I will not remain silent. I hope you can't either. The attention that we give to the major leagues, to television and Hollywood, to cars and i-pads and social networking sites -- this one can save a life. Can the others?

I don't want money. I don't expect feedback. I just want you to open your eyes. Listen. Watch. Report. Take control of a situation that for years now has gotten out of control. Do not let another life be placed in peril because you choose to look the other way. I beg you... Be a voice for a child that can't speak. Be a guardian angel for those who need one.

The next few posts will be some basic information before I begin sharing stores from our Face book page. I want you to know that I do not take these cases lightly, however, I do not have time to research each and every piece of information for complete validity. Should you have concerns or questions about any post, feel free to contact the included web link on that particular post, which will take you to the original web page the information was found on.

This blog is not intended to harm any person/family, but to share their stories of heartbreak and tragedy and to end the silence. I hope you will join me in strengthening our voices so we can together Be The Voice!

Be sure to book mark these two pages for easy returns and be sure to forward to all your friends. If you can be a voice for a child, why can't they?


Warmest,
LaVonda