Stats on types of abuse in Iowa

What do the numbers really say?

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Stitchwitch D
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Stats on types of abuse in Iowa

Postby Stitchwitch D » Thu May 31, 2007 6:47 pm

I found these stats at this site
"According to DHS records, approximately 9,640 children, on average, suffered abuse annually from 1994 through 1999. In 2000, these figures began a steep climb, going from 10,822 abused children in 2000 to 12,793 abused children in 2001, 12,295 children in 2002, 14,936 children in 2003, 14,499
children in 2004, and 15,060 in 2005."

Another stat on the same site: The percentage of "Denial of Critical Care" cases went from 67.3(5787 kids) in 2001 to 77.3 in 2006 (10,854). That's almost DOUBLED, in 5 years. So, there's a few possibilities: more parents were neglecting their children, more parents were getting caught neglecting their children, or the standards for what was considered neglect changed.

Subtracting the "Denial of Critical Care" cases from the raw totals, I got 5035 abused children in 2001, and 3088 in 2006. The number of physical abuse cases went down from 3,165 in 2001 to 2,037 in 2006. Sexual abuse went from 1,328 cases in 2001 to 839 in 2006, the lowest in 20 years.

So, the actual numbers of kids who are being beaten or molested is plummeting. The number of drug-exposed babies is up a bit, but not enough to make up for the drop in physical and sexual abuse. Even adding a catagory for kids living in meth labs only adds another 100 or so cases a year.

I can just imagine CPS workers panicking that not enough children were being abused and that they might LOSE THEIR JOBS. So, in interest of funding/job security, they started getting more vigilent about what was considered "denial of critical care". Doing minimal housekeeping when you aren't expecting visitors? Denial of Critical Care! Living in a rundown dump of a home because you can't afford better and the waiting list for Section 8 housing is 3 years long? Denial of Critical Care! Taking your eyes off a preschooler for 3 minutes? That's WAY too long, Denial of Critical Care! That way, "child abuse" numbers keep going up, and everyone keeps their jobs!

I'm going to start checking for other states to see if this is just Iowa, or a nation-wide trend.
Last edited by Stitchwitch D on Thu May 31, 2007 7:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Marina
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Postby Marina » Thu May 31, 2007 6:58 pm

.

Do they include detailed statistics for children in foster care and adopted children?

.

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Stitchwitch D
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Postby Stitchwitch D » Thu May 31, 2007 8:00 pm

Marina wrote:.

Do they include detailed statistics for children in foster care and adopted children?

.


No, these are the stats on why children are put into foster care. Children are NEVER abused or neglected after being put in foster care- putting them in foster care RESCUES them from being abused and neglected. Just look at the case of little Isaac Lethbridge- his birth mother was terribly neglectful, the house was frequently a mess, she didn't even bother to clean spilled food off the floor until after the meal was over! So CPS rescued him to a safe place where he was taken well-care of by being being brutally murdered. Obviously, kids are MUCH better off in foster care.

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Stitchwitch D
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Postby Stitchwitch D » Thu May 31, 2007 11:00 pm

I found the stats for Vermont!
Abuse is down, neglect is down, and they have a pdf about what has worked to deal with the problem of mistreated children, and it wasn't snatching kids for every possible nitpicky thing.

I think I want to move to Vermont if I can ever get my kids out of the clutches of Iowa CPS!

I'm going to keep searching other states.[/url]


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