How to help deaf children protect themselves from abuse.

I just read another article- how many articles are there now- probably in thousands if not in millions- of a child dead by abuse. A lot of you know that I strongly encourage awareness of domestic violence and child abuse.

What I found of Child Abuse Statistics and it's very frightening and should be a concern to many. PER WEEK, child protective services agencies in US get over 50,000 reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. 67% of those reports had prompted an investigation, resulting in findings of children being victims of abuse or neglect which came up to average of 2450 children PER day. Do the math... 2450 children PER day for a year- that would be less than 90,000 a year.

Now- think about deaths of children by abuse. According to this site, " An average of nearly four children die every day as a result of child abuse or neglect (1,400 in 2002)." I shudder to think how many died last year (2007).

You know, I have been reading "Mental Health and Deafness" edited by Peter Hindley and Nick Hitson. There is a chapter there about physical and sexual abuse of deaf children. It says that in general, due to less/lack of communication/understanding between the deaf children and parents/caregivers, abuse have been 'silent'; in other words, limited education was given to children how to recognize abuse or how to protect themselves. Also, from the program "The Center for Abuse Prevention and Education for deaf/hard of hearing children" CAPE-DHH was set up after research showed, "The incidence of sexual abuse of deaf/hard of hearing children is estimated to be about 65% to 90% as compared to 10% for hearing boys and 25% for hearing girls."

Also from "Facts on Trauma and Deaf Children" one will find that children with communication disorders are more likely to be harmed/neglected compared to children without those disorders. Facts on Trauma and deaf Children

Not to despair- there IS help for deaf children if one looks. A lot of agencies that work with domestic violence survivors also have resources for children of child abuse and neglect. I found some agencies- there may be more out there that I don't know about. If one knows other agencies- feel free to add the info about them in the comments. DOVE in CO, Advocacy Council for Abused Deaf Children (Los Angeles, CA), Rochester, New York Advocacy Services for Abused Deaf Victims (NY), Oregon's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Family & Children Services (San Jose,CA), Utah Community Center of Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and so on.

I found this site, in which I hope to order a copy. There is a DVD in sign language in which brave children tell of their experiences of physical or sexual abuse and the interventions to take them out of the danger. Here is the link, Kids against child abuse . The DVD title is "Do? Tell! Kids against child abuse" Kudos to Aetna Foundation Children’s Center, the Children’s Advocacy Center in Hartford, Connecticut!

Again- child abuse is not something to dismiss. It can happen anywhere. Keep it in mind that only a little percentage of predators are strangers; that means main numbers of predators/abusers are within the family (father, mother, sibling, aunt/uncle, grandparents, partners, cousins) and caregivers/school (teachers, busdrivers, teacher assistants, residental houseparents). I am not saying all this to scare you off; I am doing this to help you become aware of the risks that deaf children may encounter as they grow through their childhood. Let us preserve their childhood and innocence.