Child Abuse Statistics

HandprintsThe Patticake House has interviewed 606 victims of child abuse since opening its doors in August 2003.

The Patticake House has interviewed 112 victims of sexual abuse, 23 victims of physical abuse, and 2 witnesses to domestic violence since January 2008.

Georgia Statistics

  • Georgia received 101,563 reports of child abuse last year (PSDS CY04)
  • 30,951 of those were substantiated as victims of child abuse (PSDS CY04)
  • About 85% of those children were victims of severe neglect
  • About 11% were physically abused
  • About 5% were sexually abused - that is about 2411 children sexually abused in CY04
  • 15,119 children were in care as of December 2005
  • 30% of those children have been in foster care more than 24 months
  • 50% of those children were African American
  • 41% of those children were less than 6 years old
  • 67% were younger than 12
  • About 2,237 of those children were staying with relatives
  • About 8,386 were staying in foster homes
  • About 1,561 were in group homes
  • About 974 were housed in institutions
  • Approximately 8% of the children discharged will re-enter foster care within 1 year
  • Georgia ranks 39th out of 50 states in overall child well being (Kids Count, Family Connections).

The long-term cost of failing to meet this need appropriately raises the stakes for system improvement. A paper published by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in July 2001 reports that a substantial body of research shows that:

  • Maltreated children are significantly more likely than non-maltreated children to become involved in delinquent or criminal behavior.
  • The prevalence of childhood abuse or neglect among delinquent and criminal populations is substantially greater than that in the general population.
  • Delinquent youth with a history of abuse and neglect are at higher risk of continuing their delinquent behavior than delinquents without such a history.

2/09/06
*Statistics on this page were borrowed from http://gov.georgia.gov

National Statistics

  • 4 children die everyday as a result of child abuse.
  • A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds.
  • Of the reported rapes under the age of 12 years old, 90% of the victims knew their perpetrator.
  • Child abuse occurs at every socio-economic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all regions and at all levels of education.
  • 36.7% of all women in prison and 14.4% of all men in prison in the United States were abused as children.
  • Children who have been sexually abused are 2.5 times more likely to abuse alcohol and 3.8 times more likely to become addicted to drugs.
  • One third of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.
  • An estimated 906,000 children are victims of abuse & neglect every year. The rate of victimization is 12.3 children per 1,000 children.