St. Louis Mom Encourages Toddlers to Fight in Video Posted on Facebook: Should Child Welfare Officials Get Involved?

table ii-3. characteristics of child maltreatment victims, 2009*
number of States (n)
reporting
range across States median across States
age of children at time of maltreatment report

Not yet 1 year old 52 2.2%–18.2% 12.3%

At least 1 year old but not yet 6 years old 52 20.8–41.7 33.3

At least 6 years old but not yet 11 years old 52 22.5–29.7 26.2

At least 11 years old but not yet 16 years old 52 15.6–35.4 21.1

At least 16 years old 52 3.6–15.6 6.0
type of maltreatment Experienced

Neglect** 52 3.7–92.2 70.6

Physical abuse 52 6.5–47.8 17.6

Psychological/emotional abuse 51 0.1–47.8 1.3

Sexual abuse 52 2.1–61.5 7.4

Medical neglect 43 0.0–7.3 2.1

Other 52 0.0–91.9 0.0

children’s race/Ethnicity***

Alaska Native/American Indian 51 0.0–48.9 0.3

Asian 51 0.0–11.8 0.4

Black 51 0.0–59.6 15.3

Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 51 0.0–17.2 0.1

Hispanic (of any race) 51 0.4–100.0 8.4

White 51 0.0–96.1 50.4
Two or more races 51 0.0–40.7 3.2
*The data in this table represent duplicate counts of child victims (the same child may be reported as a victim more than once).

**Some States include medical neglect in this category.

***All races exclude children of Hispanic origin.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/progra...

Violence
Family violence, gun violence and community violence threaten children’s sense of security, hope
and vision for the future. They push children deeper into the prison pipeline.
Child Abuse and Neglect and Foster Care
• Black children have the highest rates of abuse and neglect. In 2009, nearly 30 percent of
deaths from child maltreatment were Black children.

• More than one in five victims of child abuse and neglect in 2009 were Black.

• Nationally the percent of Black children in foster care is twice their proportion in the child
population.

Gun Violence
• While the annual number of firearm deaths of White children and teens decreased by
54 percent between 1979 and 2007, the deaths of Black children and teens increased by
61 percent.

• More than half of the males 15 to 19 killed by firearms in 2007 were Black. Black males
were more than five times as likely as White youth and more than twice as likely as Hispanic
youth to be killed by a firearm.

• Nearly 90 percent of firearm deaths of Black children and teens in 2007 were homicides
(1,334) and six percent were suicides; among White children and teens just over half of all
firearm deaths in 2007 were homicides (784) and 38 percent were suicides.

• The number of Black children and teens killed by gunfire since 1979 is more than 10 times
the number of Black men, women and children of all ages lynched in American history.

Black Children’s Exposure to Violence
• When parents were surveyed about their children’s exposure to violence, Black children
compared to White children were:
• Two times more likely to witness domestic violence.
• Three times more likely to be exposed to shooting, bombs, and riots.
• Twenty times more likely to witness a murder

http://www.childrensdefense.org