Child abuse and neglect: The myth of classlessness.

Abstract

Bureau of Research, New Jersey Division of Youth and Family ServicesIncreasingly, professional and public media are promulgating the belief that the problems of child abuse and neglect are broadly distributed throughout society, suggesting that their frequency and severity are unrelated to socioeconomic class. This paper argues that this belief is not supported by the evidence, and that its perpetuation serves to divert attention from the nature of the problems.Child abuse is not a black problem, a brown problem, or a white problem. Child abusers are found in the ranks of the unemployed, the blue-collar worker, the white-collar worker and the professional. They are Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Baptist and atheist.' . . . [Clhild abuse and neglect occur among families from all socioeconomic levels, religious groups, races and nationalities.16The problem of child abuse is not limited to any particular economic, social, or intellectual level, race or religion.6 . . . [Clhild abuse and child neglect afflict all communities, regardless of race, religion or economic status.* hile such oft-repeated statements w are true, they are only half-true.Child abuse and neglect have indeed been found among all socioeconomic classes, and within all of the othcr groupings mentioned. But these statements seem to imply that child abuse and neglect occur without regard to socioeconomic class, or are distributed proportionately among the total population. The impression that these problems are democratically distributed throughout society is increasingly being conveyed by professionals writing in academic journals, and to the public through the news media, despite clear evidence to the contrary. This paper will be concerned primarily with three issues: 1) the extent and nature of the evidence associating child abuse and neglect with social class;

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychosocial Well-Being of Women Who Were in Foster Care as Children

“…[43][44][45] Family preservation is an official priority of child protection services in the US and many other countries, yet foster care is a predominant social service used to protect children at risk, and it supersedes alternative social services to preserve and strengthen the family unit. 29,43,[46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55] Although some children may benefit from foster care services, research reveals that young adults with a history of foster care placement experienced disproportionate rates of psychiatric problems associated with cumulative adversities such as maltreatment, numerous foster care placements, and interpersonal losses. 56 Researchers noted that the rate of posttraumatic stress disorder was higher in this population compared with the general population and close to twice the rate of US war veterans.…”

Decisions with Good Intentions: Substance Use Allegations and Child Protective Services Screening Decisions

“…Other potentially biasing factors have been suggested in the literature. Institutional biases and ideologies (Karanda, 2004), community standards and expectations (Korbin et al, 2000), personal beliefs regarding parental behavior (Smith & Donovan, 2003), racism (Barth, 2005;Derezotes, Poertner, & Testa, 2005) and socioeconomic status (Drake & Zuravin, 1998;Pelton, 1978) may affect decision-making in CPS.…”

Definition, Incidence and Psychopathological Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect

“…It is a mistaken belief to think that child maltreatment is only a question of educational or economic deficiencies. The data shows that child abuse and neglect exists in all countries and, although it is not distributed proportionally, it occurs in all social classes [56,41].…”