What are we becoming?

We kill children, either inadvertently through neglect or overtly through abuse. On a per capita basis we rank worse than almost every other so-called civilized nation. Our rate of child death by maltreatment is three times that of Canada and eleven times that of Italy. About 2,000 kids die from maltreatment every year in our country.

Could our social service programs perhaps be inadequate? Most developed nations provide better child services to those in need than we do, services such as child care, universal health insurance, pre-school, parental leave and visiting nurses. Are we more subject to conditions that lead to child abuse, such as teen pregnancy, high-school dropout, violent crime, imprisonment, and poverty?

Child abuse is not constant across this nation. It varies among states. For example, "children from Texas are twice as likely to drop out of high school as children from Vermont. They are four times more likely to be uninsured, four times more likely to be incarcerated, and nearly twice as likely to die from abuse and neglect". Should the federal government play a larger role in preventing child abuse?

Children dying does not end the moral and financial cost of child abuse to this nation. Those children who survive the abuse "are 74 times more likely to commit crimes against others and six times more likely to maltreat their own children, according to the Texas Association for the Protection of Children".