This is a dangerous time to be an abused child in America. Slash and burn politics and religious organizations are dismantling a large percentage of government and non governmental agencies keeping children safe.
The COVID lockdown kept defenseless children in horrific circumstances without access to safety or healing for two years. Services before COVID and these ugly anti child, anti family politics were not keeping up with the 7.8 million children being reported annually to Child Protective Services (CPS).
Nothing is ever reported about the invisible abuse that goes unseen and unreported. These are big numbers. The CDC estimates that 1 in 6 children (13 million) in the U.S. experience abuse or neglect each year, and 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys experience child sexual abuse during childhood12. Childhood trauma lasts forever. Untreated, it turns broken children into broken adults.
Throughout the world, child violence against children is a crime regardless of who commits it.
In the U.S, only in rare instances is child abuse a crime.
Most of the children murdered by their caregivers while in CPS are babies and toddlers. Parents in 34 states have religious exemptions in civil child abuse/neglect laws32. and at least 6 states have religious exemptions to manslaughter or similar criminal charges354.
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Underreporting and secrecy: Faith healing communities often do not report deaths to authorities, and some states allow private burials without official investigation, making many cases invisible to public health and child welfare systems34.
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Lack of uniform laws and reporting requirements: There is no federal mandate for states to track or report deaths and near deaths specifically associated with religious medical neglect. State laws and practices vary widely, and some states do not require investigation if religious exemption laws are invoked3.
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Difficulty in identification: Death certificates and child fatality reviews may not document the role of religious beliefs or withheld medical care unless specifically investigated, leading to further gaps in the data34.
- CPS is not transparent and many important metrics concerning the critical elements of life in child protection are simply not tracked or reported. In this recent study of children dying at the hands of their parents while in child protection in Minnesota, 4 counties refused to participate and no county provided any information that was not already public. At the same time, near death and child suicides were not included in the report. The report was funded by a MN Supreme Court Chief Justice.
Because the U.S. is the only nation in the world to not ratify the United Nation’s Rights of the Child Treaty of the 1980’s, children have no rights (or standing in court). This is largely a function of the religious right and parental rights groups aiming to make sure children remain property of the parents.
The international Rights of the Child Treaty provide children the rights to education, safety and wellbeing. This means children cannot be made into soldiers, enslaved and importantly, children will have standing in court). Standing in court means allot. It means that you cannot divorce an abusive husband unless you are 18 and have standing in court.
27 states allow young girls to marry & four U.S. states—California, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Oklahoma—have no statutory minimum marriage age, meaning that, with the right combination of parental consent and/or judicial approval, very young girls (even 11 year-olds) can legally be married in those states1234.
This former CASA Guardian ad Litem believes children suffer terribly because so little is known by the general public and the lawmakers that represent them. Take a moment and consider lending your voice to an abused child and share this information with your State Representative. If enough of us do this it will educate the people that need to know just how dangerous it is to be an at-risk child in America today.
All Adults Are the Protectors of All Children
SHARE THIS POST WITH YOUR STATE REP
(They make a big difference in the lives of abused children)
INVISIBLECHILDREN – KARA (KIDS AT RISK ACTION
“What we do to our children, they will do to our society”
(Pliny the Elder, 2000 years ago)
UPDATES: Republican candidate Fuqua endorses death penalty for rebellious children – Arkansas Times
Remember former Republican legislator Charlie Fuqua, running again for legislature with financial support from the Arkansas Republican Party and U.S. Reps. Tim Griffin and Steve Womack, among others? We’ve mentioned some excerpts from his book, “God’s Law: The Only Political Solution.”
I have more for you today. To save space, I’ve omitted the Biblical citation for Fuqua’s endorsement of the death penalty for rebellious children. Fuqua doesn’t think execution would have to be used often on children who defied their parents, but suggests the deterrent effect of its legality would be beneficial. Verbatim, from the writing of Charlie Fuqua, a former lawyer for the Arkansas Department of Human Services:
The maintenance of civil order in society rests on the foundation of family discipline. Therefore, a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellioius children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deut 21:18-21:
