Many poor people manage to keep their homes clean, without pet poop all over the place. They manage to feed their children, usually with some help from Caritas, SNAP, school food programs, WIC, etc. They do not leave them alone to fend for themselves and go partying. The kind of neglect I referred to is severe, and bespeaks a lack of caring, education, etc., more than just poverty.

Yes, as "a friend" pointed out, neglect is probably a far greater problem which is precipitated in large part, in my opinion, by poverty.

".. may get slammed for this but I hope it will be taken in the manner it is intended. I am a social worker and I worked with abused children..." You're right. Social Workers who actually Think are rare and tend to get slammed alot. Having you around is a good thing though. A rational approach allows you to be an effective advocate for the victims and also give you the ability to prevent or undo some of the damage that more reactive social workers frequently cause. One local one, for reasons unknown, reported that a child had "clamidia related pneumonia." It developed that neither the child nor its parents had either clamidia or pneumonia and, as far as anybody could learn, there is no such thing as clamidia related pneumonia even on the ain't-it-awful-made-for-tv movies that provoke a lot of these reports. A Thinking Social Worker saw through this report and gave it the proper disposition but the family is probably still traumatized over it.

".. may get slammed for this but I hope it will be taken in the manner it is intended. I am a social worker and I worked with abused children..." You're right. Social Workers who actually Think are rare and tend to get slammed alot. Having you around is a good thing though. A rational approach allows you to be an effective advocate for the victims and also give you the ability to prevent or undo some of the damage that more reactive social workers frequently cause. One local one, for reasons unknown, reported that a child had "clamidia related pneumonia." It developed that neither the child nor its parents had either clamidia or pneumonia and, as far as anybody could learn, there is no such thing as clamidia related pneumonia even on the ain't-it-awful-made-for-tv movies that provoke a lot of these reports. A Thinking Social Worker saw through this report and gave it the proper disposition but the family is probably still traumatized over it.

I may get slammed for this but I hope it will be taken in the manner it is intended. I am a social worker and I worked with abused children. Most kids who are abused are abused by someone they know, so yes, education is important. Kids are afraid to tell and there is good reason. If abuse can't be substantiated they go back into the abusive home. If substantiated they often go back anyway, eventually. Or they go to a foster home where they frequently get abused. I don't see an easy fix for this. But unfortunately what I have seen is the fear mongering around child abuse have a reverse and negative affect. I've seen Mom's do everything they can to try to prove a dad or ex guilty of abuse when I firmly believe non existed (just spite). I've seen young men go to jail because they impregnated their younger girlfriend even when he wanted and intended to support the girlfriend and child. Guess who pays the bill for the imprisonment and for the child's expenses. And this young man will forever be labeled a sex offender. A majority of labeled sex offenders are not the stereotypical "pedophile" that most fear. This is actually a rare occasion that a total stranger waits at parks/school grounds for children. And this incidence has actually decreased since the 1960s but we don't know that because it gets overreported and dramatized by the media. Yes, I believe child abuse is a major problem in our society but erring on the side of the child has ruined many innocent person's lives. We need to find better ways to deal with this unfortunate problem.

Thanks for blogging this topic. Child abuse is way too easy to ignore. Our awareness that it's going on starts out as a hunch...the hardest kind of information to know what to do with.

Thank you, Kay. Severe neglect is a more common issue, I think. So far this year, I have encountered multiple cases of children living in homes with inadequate facilities (e.g., no toilet or running water), with pet feces all over the home, with no or inadequate food supplies, etc. One case involved four children, Mom, and "boyfriend" (john?) living in a room in the motel at 17th and Columbus Avenue that the Austin Ave. neighborhood association voted to preserve.