Awareness

Awareness

“If you want to turn around the lives of children at risk, give them an ear and someone to talk to, so they don’t feel responsible for what’s going on in their home. At the same time, find something that makes them feel special, something they are naturally adept at that allows them to excel. That’s what builds a strong sense of self.”

"Judge Judy" Sheindlin, Keynote speaker
at the Cherish the Child Luncheon
Palm Springs Life, April 2009

Child Abuse Prevention

Counseling and Preventing Child Abuse

What is Child Abuse?

  • Physical abuse: Includes beating, burning or punching a child.
  • Emotional abuse: May involve criticizing, insulting, rejecting or withholding love from a child.
  • Sexual abuse: Includes rape, touching/fondling or involving a child in pornography.
  • Neglect: Includes failure to provide for a child’s basic physical, emotional or educational needs. (Leaving a young child home alone or failing to provide needed medical care may be considered neglect.)

Facts About Child Abuse

  • More than two million children in the United States will be reported abused each year. Thousands will die as a result of the abuse.
  • As many as one in four girls and one in 10 boys are sexually abused by age 18. Girls are three times as likely as boys to experience childhood sexual assault.
  • Almost one-half of the women in the United States jails and prisons said they had been sexually abused before their imprisonment.
  • Nearly all juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker; and about two-thirds of the abusers are family members.