What Every Parent Should Know
Throughout most of human history, infectious diseases killed half of all children. With the advancements in technology, medicine and communal condition practices, we now worry about other things with regard to our children.
What Every Parent Should Know
It has been said that the times we live in have changed dramatically, and that is true. Gone are the days when most citizen in this country will send their child outside for the day with instructions to be back home by dinner. This is primarily because of the perception that the world is no longer a safe place for children and young people, with predators lurking nearby every corner. What does a child or young person easily need to be protected from, and what strategies are effective? If you are a parent, do you have a realistic view of the dangers that your child will probably face?
Denial is a great pastime for many parents. Denial is a comfortable place to be. It soothes some of the realities of life. However, if you cannot imagine some of the horrific things that can happen to children, you will never be able to protect against them. Volumes have been written on the topic of child safety. At attack Prevention, we dedicate a indispensable amount of time seeing at statistics and study in an exertion to decide what the actual risks are. We don't just look for statistical significance. We survey the details and methods behind indispensable events and think the potential consequences. We then apply practical solutions that will work in real-life under a collection of conditions.
One caveat of this description is that we chose to focus on risks that will be brought upon your children by perpetrators rather than self-induced dangers such as:
• The median age of the first use of alcohol is age 12.
• The median age of first marijuana use is age 14.
We wanted to find the greatest threats your child is likely to face while growing into adolescence and young adulthood. We identified those threats and gift them here. This does not mean the threats presented in this description are inclusive. For example, in one sample study it was determined that practically 25% of youth in the middle of birth and the age of 17 will touch a asset offense. This is a large, statistically relevant number, but the consequences are not life threatening nor are they commonly lifelong.
Additionally, we exertion to put these risks in context. For instance, although any death of a child is horrific, when you read that the 3rd foremost cause of death surrounded by toddlers is homicide, it may leave you with the perception that homicide surrounded by toddlers is a bigger question than it easily is. Put into allowable context, that "3rd foremost cause of death" represents 398 deaths of about 20 million toddlers.
Violent crime is defined as murder, rape & sexual assault, robbery and assault. Violent crime has the greatest potential for injury, death and victimization effects that are far-reaching. Teens and young adults in the middle of ages 12 and 19 touch the highest violent crime rates. But what about those kids under the age of twelve? Let's take a look at what the statistics tell us.
There are practically 310 million citizen in the United States. practically 77 million or about 25% of this citizen is in the middle of the ages of 0 and 19. There are a amount of organizations that accumulate and publish victimization statistics within this age group.
When we began to look at these dissimilar organizations, we discovered wide variances with some of the figures being published in reporting categories; like missing children. The explanation for some of the variances has to do with how some incidents are reported and how some statistics are categorized. For instance, most missing children are taken by relatives and recovered. That explanation is not always provided when "missing children" statistics are discussed. The term itself is scary to most parents but the fact is that some kids run away, some are taken within the context of domestic disputes and others just meander off somewhere to play for a while. If I tell you one million kids are reported missing each year with no context, you may be left with the impression that kids are being kidnapped at an alarming rate. Kids are taken each year and some are found dead. The issue of missing children needs to be taken seriously but put into allowable context.
After all, if organizations that accumulate statistics cannot agree, how is a parent supposed to know what to be wary of?
In an exertion to get to the lowest of this, we reviewed at a great amount of sources but focused on these.
1. Violence, Abuse, and Crime Exposure in a National Sample of Children and Youth by David Finkelhor, Heather Turner, Richard Ormrod, and Sherry L. Hamby; all PhD's.
• The stated objective: "The objective of this study was to accumulate national estimates of exposure to the full spectrum of the childhood violence, abuse, and crime victimizations relevant to both clinical institution and public-policy approaches to the problem."
• The stated method: "The study was based on a cross-sectional national telephone survey that involved a target sample of 4549 children aged 0 to 17 years."
2. The National Crime Victimization survey (Ncvs) series, previously called the National Crime survey (Ncs), has been collecting data on personal and household victimization since 1973. An ongoing survey of a nationally representative sample of residential addresses, the Ncvs is the primary source of information on the characteristics of criminal victimization and on the amount and types of crimes not reported to law enforcement authorities. It provides the largest national forum for victims to characterize the impact of crime and characteristics of violent offenders.
• Twice each year, data is obtained from a nationally representative sample of practically 49,000 households comprising about 100,000 persons on the frequency, characteristics, and consequences of criminal victimization in the United States. The survey is administered by the U.S. Census Bureau - under the U.S. Group of Commerce, on profit of the Bureau of Justice Statistics - under the U.S. Group of Justice.
3. The Child Welfare information Gateway is a aid of the Children's Bureau in the supervision for Children and Families, which is part of the Us Group of condition and Human Services.
• For 2006, more than one-half (56.3%) of all reports of alleged child abuse or neglect were made by professionals. The term pro means that the person had touch with the alleged child maltreatment victim as part of the description source's job. The remaining reports were made by nonprofessionals, together with friends, neighbors, sports coaches, and relatives. The three most base description sources were teachers (16.5%), lawyers or police officers (15.8%), and communal services staff (10.0%).
• In 86% of these cases the perpetrator was whether a parent or other relative.
4. The National center for Missing & Exploited Children (Ncmec) was established in 1984 as a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) assosication working in partnership with the U.S. Group of Justice to find missing children, reduce the incidence of child sexual exploitation and preclude child victimization. Ncmec is mandated by Congress to perform 20 definite tasks, one of which is described as follows:
• Based solely on reports received by the National center for Missing and Exploited Children (Ncmec), and not interesting any data collection by Ncmec other than the receipt of those reports, annually supply to the Group of Justice's Office of youthful Justice and Delinquency stoppage the amount of children nationwide who are reported to Ncmec as missing; the amount of children nationwide who are reported to Ncmec as victims of non-family abductions; the amount of children nationwide who are reported to Ncmec as victims of parental kidnappings and the amount of children recovered nationwide whose recovery was reported to Ncmec.
5. Other sources contain attack stoppage Llc, Gavin De Becker - Protecting The Gift, The National center for Victims of Crime, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Centers for Disease control & Prevention, Us Group of Justice, National center for youthful Justice, Us Group of condition & Human Resources & the Us Census Bureau.
After reviewing all these resources, we figured approximate composite averages for the victimizations listed below. These figures do not rehearse exact data, but they will put the relevant figures into some type of context and perspective. These numbers fluctuate to some degree depending on the source and the year the data was collected. Based on these differences, approximations were used. These figures, although not precise, rehearse a good summary of the problem.
Please note: Unintentional injury and emergency is the major contributor of all age groups and far outweighs the Adversary/ Predator risk. Statistically, unintentional injury and emergency is where your primary focus should be as a parent.
Definitions
• Homicide: The unlawful killing of an additional one without justification or excuse.
• Rape & Sexual Assault: Forcible sexual relations or sexual touch with an additional one against that person's will.
• Assault: an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in an additional one of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.
• Robbery: The taking of money or goods in the rights of another, from his or her person or immediate presence, by force or intimidation.
• Child Maltreatment, as defined by the Cdc: Any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.
• Acts of Commission are determined Child Abuse and contain words or overt actions that cause harm, potential harm, or threat of harm to a child. Acts of commission are deliberate and intentional. The following types of maltreatment involve acts of commission. Corporal abuse is abuse interesting touch intended to cause feelings of intimidation, pain, injury, or other Corporal suffering or Corporal harm. Sexual abuse is forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another, when that force falls short of being a sexual assault. Psychological abuse, also referred to as emotional abuse, is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing an additional one to behavior that is psychologically harmful.
• Acts of Omission are determined Child Neglect, which is defined as the failure to supply for a child's basic physical, emotional, or educational needs or to protect a child from harm or potential harm. The following types of maltreatment involve acts of omission. Corporal neglect is withholding, or failing to provide, adequate food, shelter, clothing, hygiene, curative care, education, and/or supervision, such that the child's physical, thinking or emotional condition is impaired or at imminent risk of being impaired. Emotional neglect occurs when a parent deliberately or ignorantly overlooks the signs that a child needs relax or concentration and includes withholding love, rejecting a child and ignoring a child's emotional needs.
Violent Crime & Children
Definitions
• Infants are up to one year.
• Toddlers are in the middle of the ages of 1 and 4.
• Kids are in the middle of the ages of 5 and 9.
• Young teens are in the middle of the ages of 10 and 14.
• Older teens are in the middle of the ages of 15 and 19.
• Young adults are in the middle of the ages of 20 and 24.
• Adults are in the middle of the ages of 25 and 29.
There are practically 20 million in each age group.
Weapons are used in practically 25% of violent crimes. In order of use, those weapons are firearms, knives and blunt objects.
Homicide
• Infants: Homicide is the 16th foremost cause of death for infants representing practically 300 infants per year and 1% of all infant deaths.
• Toddlers: Homicide is the 3rd foremost cause of death for toddlers representing practically 398 toddlers per year and 9% of all toddler deaths.
• Kids: Homicide is the 4th foremost cause of death for kids representing practically 133 kids per year and 4.6% of all kids' deaths.
• Young Teens: Homicide is the 3rd foremost cause of death for young teens representing practically 216 young teens per year and 5.2 % of all young teen deaths.
• Older Teens: Homicide is the 2nd foremost cause of death for older teens representing practically 1900 older teens per year and 14% of all older teen deaths.
• Young Adults: Homicide is the 2nd foremost cause of death for young adults representing practically 3500 young adults per year and 17.5% of all young adult deaths.
• Adults: Homicide is the 2nd foremost cause of death for this age group representing practically 2500 citizen in this age group per year and 14% of all deaths in this age group.
Rape & Sexual Assault
The statistics with regard to sexual abuse are difficult to determine.
One assosication found 6.1% of all ages description being sexually assaulted prior to age 17. These were anonymous reports from phone interviews with regard to lifetime experiences and exposure to violence.
Traditionally, it is widely recognized that 1 in 3 sexual assaults are not reported. If that is true, the officially reported numbers need to be tripled. Legal reporting indicates there are 3.8 victimizations reported per 1,000 citizen in the middle of the ages of 12-19, which is practically 45,600 incidents in the 12-14 age group and practically 83,600 incidents in the 15-19 age group, per year. If these figures need to be tripled, there are easily 11.4 victimizations per 1,000 citizen in the middle of the ages of 12-19, which is practically 136,800 incidents in the 12-14 age group and practically 250,800 incidents in the 15-19 age group; per year. These figures, if more accurate, still rehearse only 1.14% in these age groups.
Organizations estimate that in the middle of one in every 3-5 girls will be sexually assaulted before adulthood. The same organizations estimate that one in every 6-10 boys will be sexually assaulted before adulthood.
We are seeing at a range of 0.38% to 60% in the middle of all age groups depending on gender. How do you make sense of all this? You can't. What you can do is recognize that the long-term effects of sexual attack are potentially more damaging than an assault. Many citizen recover from being physically assaulted. There are long-term consequences that come with sexual assault.
About 90% of sex assaults are committed by perpetrators who are acquainted with the victim. Strangers are the least likely perpetrators of sexual attack against children. Nearly 100% of sexual abuse is committed by heterosexual males. The median child molester victimizes in the middle of 30 and 60 children before he is ever arrested. The most base age at which sexual abuse begins is three. The U.S. Group of Justice estimates that on average, there is one molester per square mile.
The typical signs of sexual abuse are:
• Sleep problems
• Behavioral changes
• Acting our sexually with other kids
• Drawing sexual pictures
• Hyperactivity
• Fear of being alone with clear people
• Unusual interest in the body
• Wearing excessive amounts of clothing
• Inappropriate affection toward strangers
• Stomach and digestive problems
• strangeness walking or sitting
• Torn, stained or bloody underwear
• Blood in urine or stool
• Unexplained genital contusions
• Std's
These signs must be taken in context. Determining sexual abuse in children is often like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
Assault
56.7% self-report being assaulted prior to age 17. There is no measurement as to whether these are stranger assaults or domestic assaults.
Official reporting indicates there are 65.2 victimizations per 1,000 citizen in the 12-19 age group, or practically 1,875,000 of the 30 million in this age group. This is 6.5%.
Here, we find an additional one great inconsistency in reporting. If 6.5% of the age 12-19 group gets assaulted, but 56.7% are assaulted before age 17, there are a great amount of assaults taking place on children under the age of 12.
Robbery
Official reporting indicates there are 10.3 victimizations per 1,000 in the 12-19 age group. There are practically 30 million citizen in this age group. This is 1%, or practically 309,000.
Missing
Official reporting indicates that practically 800,000 citizen are reported missing each year. 85-90% (720,000) of them are juveniles. Of that number, 150,000 of them are categorized as being "involuntary" or "endangered". 49% of these cases (73,500) are determined house kidnappings. 27% (40,500) are kidnapping by an acquaintance. 24% (36,000) are stranger abductions. Stranger abductions catalogue for 36,000 of practically 70 million children.
Andrea J. Sedlak, David Finkelhor, Heather Hammer, and Dana J. Schultz conducted some study into missing children. Their findings are published in; National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview.
They advise that when it comes to "missing children", there is more than meets the eye. A child can be missing for many reasons that are not necessarily reported or discussed as part of statistical reporting. They started by unifying information over four studies with regard to missing children and found that in one year, an estimated 1,315,600 children met the criteria for being classified as missing from their caretakers. About 797,500 met the further criterion for being classified as reported missing, whereby the caretaker contacted authorities. They further discovered that only a fraction of 1 percent of the children who were reported missing had not been recovered by the time they entered the study data.
Most children reported missing are recovered very quickly. Of those reported missing, practically 50% were determined to have run away and an additional one 28% had straightforward misunderstandings about where they were supposed to be. Of the legitimate abductions, most were abducted by house members. Ultimately, they found only 90 victims of stereotypical kidnappings.
Gavin De Becker says: "Parent's amount one fear is that a child would be kidnapped by a stranger. A child is more likely to have a heart attack. A child is 250 times more likely to be shot with a gun than kidnapped by a stranger. Every year, there are thousands of kids missing - most are runaways - and thousands of others taken by divorced parents."
Maltreatment
In one study, out of the 905,000 cases of substantiated child abuse and neglect, 1530 were whether murdered or resulted in death. 78% (1193) of those 1530 were under the age of four.
• 16% (145,000) were Corporal abuse.
• 8.8% (79,640) was sexual abuse.
• 6.6% (59,730) was psychological abuse.
• 64.1% (580,104) was some type of neglect.
Self-reporting indicated the following:
• 28.3% reported as having experienced Corporal abuse prior to age 17.
• 20.7% reported as having experienced sexual abuse prior to age 17.
• 10.6% reported as having experienced psychological abuse prior to age 17.
• 9.9% reported as having experienced Corporal neglect prior to age 17.
• 14.8% reported as having experienced emotional neglect prior to age 17.
On median about 16% are self-reporting some type abuse or neglect prior to age 17.
Parents who abuse will abuse again. Violent and abusive stepfathers are one hundred times more likely to kill a child than the biological father.
Online Predation
Sensational statistics like these are typically reported.
• 1 in 7 of all age groups will receive sexual solicitations.
• 1 in 3 is exposed to unwanted sexual material.
• 1 in 25 receives a request to meet person in real life that they met online.
Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell & Michele L. Ybarra looked beyond these reports and published their findings in Crimes against Children study center conclusion Online "Predators" and their Victims: Myths, Realities and Implications for stoppage and Treatment.
Their research, much like the study presented above with regard to Missing Children, revealed much about what lays behind these statistics. First, they retort prior study established in 2004 that the stereotype of the Internet "predator" that uses trickery and violence to attack children is largely inaccurate. They determined that most internet sex crimes are initiated by adult men who seduce young adolescents into non-forcible sexual operation that are too young to consent to sexual intercourse with adults. Many are charged with statutory rape, but these incidents catalogue for a small quantum of sex offenses committed against minors. They further discovered the most vulnerable group of youth includes boys who are questioning their sexual orientation, youth with sexual and Corporal abuse history, and kids who spend a lot of time in chat rooms. Also at risk are kids who engage in high-risk behavior offline. The offenders who take advantage of these youth contain very few pedophiles or violent and sadistic offenders.
The researchers noted that further context needs to be determined when seeing at frequently cited statistics.
• Not all online solicitations are from predators. Some are from other youth. Many were little to brief, rude or vulgar comments. Two-thirds of the recipients of unwanted sexual solicitations did not think them upsetting. In fact, most recipients ignored or blocked the messages. Very, very few youth were easily sexually victimized as a effect of online meetings.
• In reality, about 4% of youth received aggressive sexual solicitations that included attempts to meet offline. Out of that 4%, one-quarter came from citizen the youth knew in person.
• About 4% were asked to take sexual pictures of themselves.
• About 4% indicated they were upset as a effect of the unwanted solicitation.
• Arrests of online predators in 2006 constituted about 1% of all arrests for sex crimes committed against children and youth.
• Although arrests of online predators are increasing, especially arrests for soliciting undercover law enforcement, the facts do not advise that the Internet is facilitating an epidemic of sex crimes against youth. Rather, expanding arrests for online predation probably reflect expanding rates of youth Internet use, a migration of crime from offline to online venues, and the growth of law enforcement operation against online crimes.
• There was no evidence that online predators were stalking or abducting unsuspecting victims based on information they posted at communal networking sites.
• Few of those arrested for online predation were registered sex offenders (4%).
Programs like Dateline: To Catch a Predator, would leave the median parent thinking something far different.
Additional information gathered from the Njov Study, which collected information from a national sample of law enforcement agencies, reveals farranging sex crimes against children have dropped significantly in new years (around 50%) and arrests of online predators probably rehearse 1% of all arrests of sex crimes against children. Very few of these crimes (5%) involved violence. The dramatic farranging growth in online predator arrests (381%) is due to law enforcement agencies conducting enforcement and sting operations online, whereas prior, there was little, if any, enforcement at all. The facts from this study advise that the Internet is Not facilitating an epidemic of sex crimes against youth. There was no evidence found to advise that online predators are stalking victims based on information posted on communal networking sites.
The greatest Statistical Unintentional Risks
• Infants: Suffocation
• Toddlers: Motor car Traffic and Drowning
• Kids: Motor car Traffic
• Young Teens: Motor car Traffic
Note: Suicide is 3rd foremost cause of death in this age group.
• Older Teens: Motor car Traffic
Note: Suicide is 3rd foremost cause of death in this age group.
• Young Adults: Motor car Traffic
Note: Suicide is 3rd foremost cause of death in this age group.
• Adults: Motor car Traffic and Poisoning
Note: Suicide is 3rd foremost cause of death in this age group.
Intuition
Intuition is a hard-wired, genetic part of who we are. We are all born with it. It is the "sixth sense", gut feeling, "funny" feeling or instinct. Call it what you will, but it should not be ignored or rationalized away. It is there for a reason. It is always working, even when you are asleep. It is a survival gift.
The biggest enemies of intuition are justification, rationalization and denial. Example: I awaken at 3am and hear noise in my basement. My justification, rationalization or denial says: "It must be the furnace making noise", when easily it is a burglar rummaging through the house.
Victims, in post-crime interviews, often refer to a moment when their intuition was trying to tell them something and they justified it, rationalized it or denied it away.
Dr. Christine Northrup is a bestselling author, host of television specials, editor, clinical instructor and join together clinical professor. She has terminated ground-breaking work with women's condition and wellness. She says intuition is "the direct perception of truth or fact independent of any thinking process. The more schooling we get in this culture, the less we trust our natural intuition. Because our society glorifies only logical, rational, left-brain thinking, we are taught to reduction other forms of knowing as primitive or ignorant." Dr. Northrup contends that the solar plexus is a primitive brain. This is where we commonly feel a gut reaction. "It's the part of our body that lets us know whether we are safe and whether we are being lied to."
A Note About Strangers
Another observation that is practically universally proper is that children are taught to avoid strangers completely, as if there is potential danger lying within every person we may not personally know. This is problematic. When person is in trouble or feels threatened - we should be encouraging that person to seek out a stranger for help. The odds of them randomly picking out a predator for help is unlikely. However, waiting for help increases their odds of being selected by a predator as a good victim. Statistically, a person is much great off approaching a stranger. We need to form most strangers are not dangerous. Violent criminals look for victims who exhibit clear traits. They use these con-games to rate if a person will make a "good" victim. A stranger approaching you may have a legitimate speculate to coming you, or may be a sex offender who wants to decide if you will be a good victim. Violent criminals often "scout" their victims. Let's put a small twist on this. Let's say you do need help, and you seek out a stranger for help. What are the chances that you will randomly pick a predator, assailant, robber or sex offender - as the person you approached for help? If you need help, go find it - don't wait for it.
The Best Defense
• Accidents are the foremost cause of death in all of these age groups.
• Motor car traffic is a big one. Enroll your kids in a good driver schooling course and thereafter, a bi-annual defensive driving course that will serve as a refresher.
• For infants, toddlers and small children make sure you child-proof the home. There are many online resources which supply checklists of considerations.
• Teach your children to be assertive, even with adults.
• Teach them to say No.
• Teach them to seek out help if they are frightened or need help.
• Teach them it is okay to hit person to protect themselves or others and that you will support them if they do that.
• Teach them to yell, scream and fight if person tries to take or touch them against their will.
• Teach them about their bodies.
• originate an environment in which they can talk to you about anything.
• Enroll them in a decent martial arts or self defense course or seminar. If they are junior high or older, buy them this course; attack stoppage Course.
• Have them tour in pairs. The greater the numbers, the greater the risk of violence is reduced.
• Teach your children to trust their intuition.
If you are concerned about the qualifications of those adults working with your children, the Us Group of Justice suggests that the following screening tools be used by organizations who hire adults to work with children. Feel free to ask about these when enrolling your child into any type of schedule or getting them involved with any organization.
• Employment reference checks.
• Personal reference checks.
• Personal interviews.
• Confirmation of education.
• Written application.
• On-the-job observation.
• Local criminal description check.
• State criminal description check.
• Fbi criminal description check.
• State central child/dependent adult abuse registry check.
• State sex offender registry check.
• Nurse's aide registry description check.
• Motor car description check.
• pro disciplinary board background check.
• Alcohol/drug testing.
• Psychological testing.
• thinking illness/psychiatric history check.
• Home visits.
Also, decide what their policies are with regard to any weapons, violence and misconduct.
Summary
Ultimately, you can shape the ability of your child to ward off threats and risks they will likely encounter growing up. It starts with parents arming themselves with realistic information about the risks their children will face, and then educating themselves towards strategies that will minimize those risks in the real world. Thereafter, the kids need to be taught to do the same. The world does not, nor should it, be a scary place to grow up in. Effective strategies, once integrated into daily routines will become second-nature. This is one good thing every parent can pass on to their children.
© 2010 Terry Hipp
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