Economy Issues?

As the economy worsens, financial pressures on families increase, which in turn puts many children at increased risk of being abused or neglected. In 2008, the medical university at Syracuse, New York, treated 19 children shaken or beaten so badly they required medical treatment; four of them died.  Their average age was 7 months.  Dr. Ann Botash, head of the Child Abuse Referral and Evaluation Program at the State University of New York-Syracuse, describes “a lot more stress” in society right now and it’s being passed along to the children in the form of physical violence or neglect.