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Child Abuse

Unfortunately, children's safety and health is at risk because of a perverse element in our society. The problem of child molestation is a sad problem that extends well beyond the scandal with the Catholic Church. It can happen when children are left unsupervised with the wrong adults. To get an idea of how serious the problem is, see the sad facts below."

Facts & Statistics on Child Sexual Abuse & Maltreatment

• In most U.S. states, the legal definition of child molestation is: an act of a person, adult, or child, who forces, coerces, or threatens a child to have any form of sexual contact, or to engage in any type of sexual activity at the perpetrator’s direction.
• Nationally, in 1995, 12.6% of confirmed or substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect investigated by public child protection services were sexual abuse cases.
• Every thirty minutes, a child is the victim of abuse in Georgia.

National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) – Project of the National Center of Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN): U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 1997.

• In 2001, there were 73,787 reports of child abuse and neglect in Georgia.
• Of the total reports of child abuse and neglect in 2001, 54,543 cases were investigated. 19,943 of those cases were substantiated.
• In DeKalb County, 1,932 total cases of abuse and neglect were investigated in 2001. 708 of those cases were substantiated.

Child Abuse Central Registry: 2001 Annual Report, Division of Family and Children Services, Georgia Department of Human Resources, 2002.

• In 1998, nearly 3 children died each day as a result of physical abuse or neglect. More than 3.15 million children were reported to be alleged victims of child maltreatment that year, an increase of 30% since 1988.
• Of the children who died in 1998 due to child abuse or neglect, 79% of the victims were under the age of five and 39% were less than a year old.
• Before the age of 18, one in four girls and one in six boys will experience some form of sexual abuse.