Why We Turn a Blind Eye to Child Abuse

In Australia, where I live and work with homeless persons, the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) reports that while almost 33,000 Australian children suffered some form of abuse last year, more than half the population would turn a blind eye when confronted with the signs.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that 32,641 children were abused in the 2008-2009 reporting period. This is an increase of 1.7 percent over the previous year. (The population of Australia, as a reference point, is between 21 and 22 million.)

In the most populated state in Australia, New South Wales (including its capital of Sydney), the most common types of abuse were: emotional abuse (34.8 percent of cases), neglect (29.5 percent), physical abuse (19.6 percent) and sexual abuse (16.1 percent). Victims are most commonly four-years-old or younger.

It's hard to look at those numbers and then hear that in a survey of 22,000 people by NAPCAN, less than 50 percent of respondents said they would report physical abuse to a child (pdf). Even more unbelievable, only 34 percent of respondents said they would contact police if a child disclosed sexual abuse.

While most of the people surveyed agreed that child abuse was a serious issue, these are their reasons for not wanting to report abuse to authorities who could intervene: they might be wrong, they did not think it was their business, they did not know what to do and they did not want to admit that abuse happened.

National Child Protection Week is this week in Australia. A backdrop to this important awareness-raising campaign is the fact that the vast majority (70 percent) of violent assaults committed against children living in New South Wales were committed by people known to the child.

Child abuse is a significant precursor to youth homelessness in many countries, including Australia.

Personally I'm surprised and disappointed by the results of this survey (pdf). However, it does well to highlight the need for education in the community on how to identify child abuse and how to report it to those who can make a proper assessment of the situation and intervene to protect the child where needed.

While I am surprised, at the same time I would assume the stats for countries like the U.S. and UK reflect similar reasons for not reporting child abuse — and a similar need to educate the public before any more children are hurt.

Photo credit: ampletouch