Pag© 6B/The Battalion/Thursday, May 5,1983
United Press International
Child abuse worse than reported
Now
you know
The world’s tallest mountain
is Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, not
Mount Everest. This volcanic
peak rises more than 32,000 feet
above the floor of the Pacific, 10
percent higher than its Hima-
la^
Bryan shelter aids victims, famil
n
ti
layan rival.
The MSC Amateur Radio
Committee
will have its last meeting of the
semester and annual fling at
Dr. Tom Comstock’s QTH
Thursday May 5 at 6 P.M.
Maps and details in the shack
or call 845-7245, 845-1515,
or 146.827.22 MHz.
by Michelle Powe
Battalion Reporter
Gary and Annette Mehrtens
have dealt with many kids in the
last year and a half — many spe
cial kids with special problems.
The Mehrtenses have taken
care Of two-year-olds in casts;
babies, who have been branded
by their parents; little girls, who
have been sexually abused and
now are terrified of men; and
children, who have been locked
in closets all their lives and
whose only contact with people
has been when they were being
raped.
The Mehrtenses, who have a
baby girl of their own, are the
live-in parents at a children’s
shelter in Bryan — Sheltering
Arms. The children they care
for are among the more than 1
million children reported
abused each year in the United
States.
It’s difficult to know exactly
how many children are abused
each year. Statistics on child
abuse are hard to find, largely
because so many cases go unre
ported or unrecognized. The
National Center on Child Abuse
and Neglect reports 2 million
children abused every year in
the United States, but estimates
that the number is closer to 10
million.
The center also reports that
6,000 children die each year as a
direct result of abuse.
Dr. John Stuemky, associate
professor of pediatrics at the
University of Oklahoma, says
child abuse may be the leading
cause of death for children ages
six months to 12 months and
one of the leading causes of
death in those one month to two
years.
In Texas, the Department of
Human Resources investigated
over 54,000 reports of suspected
child abuse or neglect in 1982.
Of those reports, about 13,000
cases were confirmed. Over
1,500 of those cases were sexual
abuse. In 1981, 118 children
died in Texas from child abuse
— the number only covers cases
in which criminal charges were
filed.
According to the Department
of Human Resources, at least 8.5
percent, or 283,000, of the
state’s children are in danger of
being abused or neglected each
year. But relatively few cases of
abuse and neglect are reported.
Child abuse is a frightening
problem to deal with, a problem
people often find easier to
ignore. But ignoring the prob
lem won’t make it go away. Child
abuse cuts across social and eco
nomic lines. It happens in all
ethnic and religious groups. It
happens in Brazos County.
In Brazos County, 729 chil
dren received protective ser
vices from the Department of
Human Resources to prevent
the reoccurence of child abuse
or neglect in 1981. Each month,
37 families are reported to the
department because of possible
child abuse or neglect. This
April, 48 families were re
ported.
If a social worker investigat
ing a case thinks a child’s life is in
“Most of the parents
hate themselves. They
have low self-esteem.
We go in and try to help
them.”—Sue Ann Jack-
son, social worker.
::
ill
danger, the department gets a
court order to take the child into
protective custody — always
within 24 hours. An emergency
custody hearing is held 10 days
after the department takes cus
tody of the child.
To keep a child from his pa
rents the department must show
just cause with sufficient evi
dence that a child will be in dan
ger if returned home. If the de
partment cannot come up with
enough evidence, the child goes
home.
The department presently
has 21 children in protective
custody.
When a child is taken from his
parents, he is placed in the chil
dren’s shelter in Bryan tempor
arily, until a more suitable place
is found for him — a foster
home, an institution, a relative’s
home or back with his parents.
Sue Ann Jackson, a social
worker at the Department of
Human Resources and acting
supervisor for Brazos County,
says the department is not in the
business of taking people’s chil
dren from them, and does not
want to keep children from their
parents.
The department works with
the family members, she says, to
try to rehabilitate them. The de
partment offers parents’ coun
seling, day care services and any
thing else that can be done to
help the family. The services are
funded by the state.
People who abuse or neglect
children characteristically are
unable to handle stress, includ
ing the stresses that accompany
parenthood. Their victims are
most often their own children or
the children of a close friend or
relative.
Some abusers were abused by
their own parents. They also are
often under financial or marital
stress.
The department tries to help
the people deal with the prob
lems.
“Most of the parents hate
themselves,” Jackson says.
“They have low self-esteem. We
go in and try to help them.”
One way the department tries
to help the parents is by helping
them recognize how they feel
when they are about to abuse a
child. Many find that their sto
machs hurt and their hands
shake.
Social workers tell these peo
ple to call the department when
they begin to feel this way.
Someone at the department will
try to calm them down. If it is
necessary, the social worker will
go to the home.
The department also has in-
home care specialists who visit
homes to teach child manage
ment and other basic skills like
cooking and cleaning.
Brazos County has a high suc
cess rate, Jackson says. The ma
jority of children that the de
partment takes into custody are
returned to their parents, she
says.
Despite this success, Jackson
says that severe physical abuse
and sexual abuse have signifi
cantly increased in Brazos
County within the last year.
Very few of the abusers are
being prosecuted. Jackson says
that only about 2 percent of
known sexual abuse offenders
are prosecuted every year.
Some of the offenders are not
prosecuted because they are re
ceiving counseling. Often there
isn’t enough evidencetoi
cute because the abuseds
too young to testify otli
one or both of his pare#
allow him to testify.
No community is imc;
the problem of child abia
in one neighborhood
another, people insist!
doesn’t happen here."
are often reluctant tocti
upstanding communitt
bers suspected of child;
Doctors don’t want to
time filling out forms,talB
police and appearinginfl
or they don’t want toritlH^^
ing their practices.Judge*
don’t want to believe tht
stories that children tei
Child abuse cannot tj
ped as long as there isdesj
the problem even exists
long as the problem t
society will pay thepricea
ing to Dr. Arthur Grecml
psychiatrist and directotj
Family Center at NV|
Columbia-Presbyterian
pital.
Green, author of dtl
“Child Maltreatment’S
“U n11 eated abused child*7i ie
a constant drain on :Q’Q on
sources of our communiaB ( ,
to their vulnerability to®^,-^
illness, vocational and depart
tional failure, pronenesiM tz
violenc e and criminaltB Aid
their tendency to repeat!* reS]
patterns with theirownt h e w jH
in the following genera* arar
The proneness tow 0’Con
lence and criminalityofB 0’(
children is evidenced ignatio
alarming number of peB) Ver s
prison who were abuset fe v iew
dren. Of the San Quf| n the
mates convicted for comiBogra
a violent crime, lOOBxh
were abused as children M em i s
It is against the lawi f 01
and in most states, to f and w
port ;t suspected case grogra
abuse or neglect. Any imprcn
reports a case in goodBxi u
protected from civil ant ©more:
al liability. giemis
In Brazos Countytht luation
to call to report a suspect® r a r
of child abuse or negit lers wl
800-252-5400. bin dt
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