The Child Protective System (CPS) is broken and when CPS fails, children die. Over 1,000 children die of neglect or torture each year. In the care of CPS, studies have shown that children are 600% more likely to die a horrific death. In 2007, the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) reported 1,760 child fatalities attributed to child abuse. Of those, more than half had prior Child Protective Services involvement before their deaths.
Category: Programs and Assistance
One of the most effective methods of therapy is Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy or TF-CBT (TFCBT). Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Theory is based on the theory that traumatic events produce information that is hard for the victim to categorize, process, and fit into their existing scheme. When a child cannot truly comprehend a traumatic event, the strong emotions that resulted from the traumatic event are left unprocessed. When the child attempts to process the information, they may either distort the facts to fit within the realm of what they already know or understand, or they may alter their beliefs to fit the unprocessed information into their existing scheme. Either is bad. It leads to guilt, shame, self-blame, and a host of other problems. To counter this, the child must be taught how to deal with the confusing emotions in order to correct maladaptive beliefs.
Many offenders may not know that like murder, there is often no statute of limitations on sexual child abuse in some states. In other states, the statute of limitations kicks in starting when the child becomes a legal adult. So its possible that criminal charges could still be filed.. This means an abused child can come forward much later in life and still prosecute and in many instances, imprison the abuser.