Child Sexual Abuse- In Our Backyard

As a parent I cringe at the though of anyone ever abusing my child in any way. Unfortunately, for far too many children abuse is a reality.Even more shockingly most perpetrators are friends and even family.

I"m about to share a personal story so that you can understand the effects that sexual abuse causes to the child, family, and anyone they encounter later in life.

At the age of six my mother died from a drug overdose. Months later my father found out that my brother's (3 and 7) were being raped by my mother's uncle. We were living in his house and my father was barely making ends meet. We moved into my aunt's house. Our family was torn upside down. We had no home, no money, we lost our mom, and now this. After the sentencing my father became extremely physically abusive especially toward my older brother. He blamed him for what had happened. My father developed a gambling addiction. It was his way to escape the reality of what happened. For us it was a nightmare. We lived in a house were rats were crawling on us. We had little food in the house, and the money that my father had was lost the day he received his paycheck. When he lost, which felt like always, my father found reasons to smack us around. He specifically picked on my older brother because of what happened. He called him a "fag" and other horrific words. At the age of thirteen my father kicked my brother out of the house and he lived on the streets of Philadelphia. Our family looked at my brother as a future pedophile. My aunts accused him of being a peeping tom and wouldn't help him. He was teased school and dropped out before finishing middle school.

Some children will never escape this reality, grow up to repeat the pattern, and never live a normal life. 

 Children possess an innocence that is so pure. In America, we have laws to protect their innocence and yet we have outrageous numbers of cases and I can not fathom the amount of unreported or unfounded cases of child sexual abuse. 

Please view the video below:

This happened here in America. No justice for the child.

Here are a few headlines from multiple news sources:

Mother gets 24 years for selling child for production of porn  (Daughters were ages 3 and 5)

Mom Pleads Guilty To Trying To Sell 13-Year-Old Daughter's Virginity

Man Facing Murder Charges in Toddler's Rape, Death (Age 18 month)

Jury Weighs Death Penalty In Case Of N.C. Man Convicted In Rape And Murder Of Toddler (4)

This is happening in our backyards... Below you will find more information from the American Psychological Association from What Parents Need to Know. The Statistics are there but again, just imagine how many cases are unreported.

Who are the perpetrators of child sexual abuse?

• Most children are abused by someone they know and trust.
  
• An estimated 60% of perpetrators of sexual abuse are known to the child but are not family members, e.g., family friends, babysitters, childcare providers, neighbors.
  
• About 30% of perpetrators are family members, e.g., fathers, brothers, uncles, cousins.
  
• Just 10% of perpetrators are strangers to the child.
  
• In most cases, the perpetrator is male regardless of whether the victim is a boy or girl. Heterosexual and gay men are equally likely to sexually abuse children. A perception that most perpetrators are gay men is a myth and harmful stereotype.
  
• Some perpetrators are female -- It is estimated that women are the abusers in about 14% of cases reported among boys and 6% of cases reported among girls.
  
• Child pornographers and other abusers who are strangers may make contact with children via the Internet.
  
• Not all perpetrators are adults - an estimated 23% of reported cases of child sexual abuse are perpetrated by individuals under the age of 18.
  
• Other common characteristics of perpetrators include:
  
  • a history of abuse (either physical or sexual)
  • alcohol or drug abuse
  • little satisfaction with sexual relationships with adults
  • lack of control over their emotions
  • mental illness in some cases

How prevalent is child sexual abuse?

• Some CDC research has estimated that approximately 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18.
  
• Other governmental research has estimated that approximately 300,000 children are abused every year in the United States.
  
• However, accurate statistics on the prevalence of sexual abuse of children and adolescents are difficult to collect because it is vastly underreported and there are differing definitions of what constitutes sexual abuse.
  
• Boys (and later, men) tend not to report their victimization, which may affect statistics. Some men even feel societal pressure to be proud of early sexual activity regardless of whether it was unwanted.
  
• Boys are more likely than girls to be abused outside of the family.
  
• Most mental health and child protection professionals agree that child sexual abuse is not uncommon and is a serious problem in the United States.
  

What are the risk and protective factors?

Research is still evolving around what risk factors presage child sexual abuse due to the difficulty involved in getting data.
However, some general characteristics have been identified:
Age

• Older children tend to be at greater risk for sexual abuse
• 0-3 y/o: 10% of victims
• 4-7 y/o: 28.4% of victims
• 8-11 y/o: 25% of victims
• 12 and older: 35.9% of victims

Gender

• Girls tend to be at greater risk of sexual victimization than boys.
• However, boys are more likely to be victimized by a perpetrator outside the family than girls.

Disability

• Children with disabilities are at elevated risk of abuse, particularly, if the disability impairs their perceived credibility, e.g., blindness, deafness, and mental retardation.

Prior history of victimization

• Those with a prior history of sexual victimization are extremely likely to be revictimized. Some research estimates an increased risk of over 1000%.

Family characteristics

• Absence of one or both parents is a risk factor
  -- Some research found that children living with only one biological parent at twice the risk of sexual victimization.
  -- Children living without both biological parents were at three times the risk of sexual victimization.
  
• Older children from father-only families were also at increased risk of sexual victimization compared to other children.
  
• Presence of a stepfather in the home doubled the risk of sexual victimization for girls.
  

Parental characteristics associated with increased risk

• Researchers have found that parents with a history of childhood sexual victimization are at an estimated risk 10 times greater for having a sexually abused child
  
• Multiple caretakers for the child
  
• Caretaker or parent who has multiple sexual partners
  
• Drug and/or alcohol abuse
  
• Stress associated with poverty
  
• Social isolation and family secrecy
  
• Child with poor self-esteem or other vulnerable state
  
• History of abuse among other family members (e.g., siblings, cousins)
  
• Unsatisfactory marriage or intimate partner violence for the mother
  
• Parents leaving child at home alone without adequate supervision
    
  
  
  

"Child sexual abuse: What parents should know." http://www.apa.org. American Psychology Association, n.d. Web. 8 July 2014. <http://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/child-sexual-abuse.aspx>.

"DuPont Heir Gets No Jail Time For Raping Daughter." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 8 July 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUXnpHFEd1o>.