Youngest children at greatest risk of child abuse

The Senate Health. Education, Labor, and Pensions Children and Families Subcommittee held a hearing on the reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA). Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Chairman of the Subcommittee, said that the Act provides grants to programs to prevent and treat child abuse, among many other things. He said that rates of physical abuse of children in the past few years have gone down, while rates of neglect have remained high. He added that half of child abuses cases involve domestic violence and that the very youngest children are the most abused and neglected.

Cheryl Boyce, chief of the National Institute of Mental Health’s Child Abuse and Neglect Program, emphasized the prevalence of neglect in child abuse cases. She said that child abuse leads to serious problems later in life, including depression and alcohol abuse.

A parent from Columbus, Ohio, Tanya Long, provided testimony of someone who has used a CAPTA-funded program to prevent child abuse. She used Parents Anonymous, an abuse prevention organization, to lift herself out of drug addiction and learn to provide a safe and healthy home for her children. Dodd said that he expects strong bipartisan support for the renewal of the Act.