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Abuse, neglect can be difficult to detect

Jim Camden  •  Staff writer
Published April 8, 2008

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Child abuse and child neglect occur frequently in America today as families struggle with poverty, substance abuse, inadequate education and mental health problems.

But even people concerned about those problems might not recognize that abuse and neglect are happening to children around them.

That's one conclusion to draw from one response in the recent Our Kids: Our Business surveys of Spokane and Kootenai counties, conducted in late March for The Spokesman- Review, KSPS, KHQ and KXLY.

Although a significant majority of respondents called child abuse and neglect a serious problem for their community, only about one in 10 surveyed by the national polling firm Research 2000 said they suspect a child among their family, friends, neighbors or acquaintances is being abused or neglected.

Women contacted were slightly more likely than men to say they believe or suspect a child they know is being abused, as were those under 45 and those with minor children in the home.

That's not a bad level of recognition for the problem, although the actual number of children at risk in any community is probably higher, said Joan Sharp, executive director of the Children's Trust Fund of Washington. Some estimates say 20 percent of children may be abused or neglected, although true numbers are difficult to nail down.

"There is a denial factor," Sharp said.

Mary Ann Murphy, of the Spokane Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Council, said it is sometimes difficult to get people to move from the abstract issue of child abuse to a specific case of an abused or neglected child touching their lives.

"People think it is very serious, but it doesn't affect them or their family or friends," Murphy said.

It also may depend on the definition of child abuse and child neglect in the mind of the person being surveyed, said Roy Harrington, of Washington State University-Spokane's Area Health Education Center. Some cases of violence against children are clear cut; others are open to interpretation.

"The system is organized to notice the most visible forms of physical maltreatment," said Harrington, who spent decades in the child welfare system. "There's a lot of what kids experience that goes way unnoticed."

Victims of child abuse and neglect rarely are subjected to only a single incident, he said. Rather, they are usually vicctimized by what he calls "a constellation of factors" that can include violence to themselves or others in their family, untreated mental illness, bad parenting skills, and drug or alcohol abuse.

"The vast majority of child maltreatment or violence – perhaps 75 percent of the families who experience these issues – are never known to the system," Harrington said. "The first time it comes to the attention of the (child welfare) system . . . that's pretty late in the game."