Usually when you read about childhood traumas in the United States, you read about extreme cases.
Although these extreme cases are substantial and should be reported on, a lot of Americans miss the point when it comes to what an overwhelming amount of kids are actually dealing with when it comes to neglect.
According to the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth, the number of child abuse and/or neglect reports in 2017 in Oklahoma was 79,310. Of those reports, 62,828 were investigated and 15,289 were confirmed. About 24 percent.
Of those substantiated cases, 2,756, or 9 percent, are physical abuse cases and 1,046 cases, 3 percent, are sexual abuse cases. So what is the major issue?
Neglect.
Neglect makes up 26,896, or 87 percent, of cases in Oklahoma. Yet, a majority of these neglect cases are not ever heard about.
The Department of Human Services, or DHS, spend the majority of their time working neglect cases because more children die from neglect than physical abuse, according to the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth. The majority of these children who die from neglect are under the age of 2, and 84 percent of substantiated cases involved children under the age of 7.
Most of these children are abused by their biological parents. In fact, according to the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth, 46 percent of abusers are mothers, 35 percent are fathers, 10 percent have no relation and 3 percent are grandparents.
More girls are involved in substantiated cases than boys, yet boys are more likely to be killed by abuse than girls.
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