Altruism in Society
University of Phoenix
PSY
400

Altruism in Society
Child abuse is more than cuts and bruises. Abuse also involves emotional abuse and child neglect. Along with the physical scars left behind by an abusive parent or individual, a child abused physically and emotionally will have long-lasting emotional scars. Out of the thousands of child abuse cases reported each year, more than half of these victims were age one and under. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention reported more than half of abused children are girls. Child neglect cases accounted for about 30% of child deaths and more than half of those fatalities were children under age four ("Child Maltreatment," 2010). Of the child abuse cases reported, more than 70% were cases of child neglect, 15% were cases of physical abuse, 10% were sexual abuse cases, and 10% were cases of mental abuse ("Child Maltreatment," 2010).
History and Nature of Child Abuse
The history of Child Protection in America generally divides into three separate eras: Colonial times until 1875, 1875 until 1962, and 1962 until modern day (Myers, 2008). The second era of child protection was the awakening and growth through nongovernmental societies, whereas the third era established itself as the era of government sponsored Child Protective Services (CPS) (Myers, 2008). Before the sweep of nongovernmental CPS in 1875, attempts to intervene in situations of abused children were sporadic (Myers, 2008).
The New York Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children was the first organization entirely devoted to child protection established in 1875 (Myers, 2008). The sixties were witness to the explosion of interest in child abuse and physicians played a key role. It was not until the sixties that medical schools began providing training to identify child abuse in the home (Myers, 2008). Once laws on how to