Excerpt from Forgotten Children
Category:Child Advocacy,child maltreatment,Foster Care,MemoirsGlobally, the statistics are staggering.
In Canada, there are over 3,573 municipalities. In Ontario, where I lived for many years, collected data in 2018 indicated there were 148,356 child maltreatment investigations in just one year. Just THINK about that.
ONE province alone reported over 140,000 cases. And another disturbing note — especially in light of today’s headlines, was that in 2018, “Indigenous children were identified as a key group to examine because of concerns regarding the overrepresentation of these children. Indigenous children are approximately two and a half times more likely to be substantiated than non-Indigenous children (38.03 per 1,000 Indigenous versus 15.15 per 1,000 non-Indigenous)” (Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect, 2018).
The scary part here, though? Child maltreatment is a disturbingly equal-opportunity offense. Yes, Indigenous and other minority children are disproportionately targeted, but make no mistake, this cruelty seems determined to cross every race, culture, and color, leaving no child truly safe.
The reports and data I’ve collected from the U.S. are just as frightening, with even larger numbers spread across a wider area. But the path seems the same: “Let’s just do another report.”
We have known about child maltreatment for decades. Just like we’ve known about elder abuse and racism.
So the question is: why haven’t we done more? And why is it still occurring?
Maybe the whispers need to become a roar.
Forgotten Children – Judith Mallard – Writer, Blogger – for the full Article please click here.