Child Abuse in America - Essay Example

Many states have insufficient finances to carry out effective protection of child rights. The increase in child abuse cases since 2007 can be attributed to the 2008 economic crisis (Spencer, 2009). Child abuse cases are under-recorded in the United States because of the federal government’s definition of abuse deaths. The federal government treats fatal cases of child abuse as negligence of the caregiver rather than maltreatment. Most cases, which involve the abuse of children, go unrecorded in government statistics due to this technicality.

The undercounting of the abused children is another clear indication that cases of child abuse are rising in America (ECM 2010). In the United States, there are restrictive confidentiality laws. These laws have shielded access to information on child abuse cases. Elected officials or journalists cannot access or cover the stories of particular child abuses because of the restrictive laws. These restrictive laws were initially meant to protect the privacy of abused children. These laws have, therefore, contributed significantly to the under-recording of child abuse cases (ECM 2010).

References Every Child Matters. (2010). We can do better: Child abuse and neglect deaths in America. ECM. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://www.everychildmatters.org/storage/documents/pdf/reports/wcdbv2.pdf National Child Help. (n.d). National Child Abuse Statistics. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics Spencer, N. (2009, October 28). Child deaths from abuse and neglect rise in the US. WSWS. Retrieved May 6, 2014, from https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2009/10/chld-o28.html