Every
d l i h c deserves a chance
Chances are, there’s a child living somewhere near you who is hurting or in need tonight. Down the street there could be a young boy who cries himself to sleep after suffering another beating from his mother’s boyfriend. He cries not only because of the painful bruises, but because his mom has never protected him. Across town, there’s a young girl who lives in fear of her stepfather. On more than one occasion he has snuck into her room after everyone has gone to bed, making her feel embarrassed, ashamed and worthless. May 2013
When you open the paper in the morning, there may be yet another tragic story from a neighboring town where a 3-month-old infant has been killed because her teenage parent couldn’t handle the baby’s crying and violently shook her to make her stop. Sadly, these are not rare occurrences in Kentucky. Statistics show they happen in every type of neighborhood and in each of Kentucky’s 120 counties. No race nor economic class is immune to child abuse and neglect, and last year in Kentucky, 22 children actually died as a result.
While the number of fatalities across the state actually declined in 2012, the number of abuse reports and substantiated abuse cases increased. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services reported it investigated more than 34,700 reports of abuse and neglect in Kentucky involving more than 47,000 children. Of those reports investigated, 9,935 were confirmed, involving 15,699 children. In addition to the 22 fatalities, there were 33 nearfatal incidents of abuse and neglect in Kentucky during that same time span. April is Child Abuse Prevention 5