It has been reported that Texas has the highest number of child abuse fatalities in America and nearly every week on this blog a story about child abuse, child neglect, or child exploitation is discussed.
In the face of statistics like these, it is heartening to see a federal defending childhood initiative that is aiming to tackle violence against children. It is called the Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence and it was launched towards the end of 2011.
The inititive is composed of leading experts from different fields that will look at the nature of childhood exposure to violence and try to craft policies to counter the crisis.
Recently, the United States Attorney General, Eric Holder, wrote a description about the childhood violence prevention program, reports The Justice Blog of the USDOJ.
Some of the child abuse statistics Holder mentions are damning:
We learned that the majority of our kids - more than 60 percent - have been exposed to crime, abuse, and violence -- many in their own homes. Ten percent of children in the United States have suffered some form of abuse or neglect; one in sixteen has been victimized sexually.
Thus far Texas has been trying to tackle its violence against children on its own. One of the statutes that covers child abuse in Texas is Family Code 261.101(b). This law requires teachers, nurses, doctors, day-care employees, employees of a clinic or health care facility that provides reproductive services, juvenile probation officers, and juvenile detention or correctional officers to report any suspected child abuse. The aim of the law is to use the community help recognize, reduce and eradicate child abuse in Texas.
Now it is nice to see that there are more federal programs trying to help states like Texas stem the tide of abuse and neglect.
Related Resources:
- Find a Houston Family Law attorney (FindLaw)
- Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse (FindLaw)
- False Child Abuse Allegation (FindLaw)
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