Suffer the Little Children: Cohabitation and the Abuse of America's Children

There's a lot more to this report than just the headline. And there are other, crucial parts missing in the methodology and analysis.

Three variables which are not examined are 1) the impact on children when one of the biological parents is absent from their lives, i.e., how does this affect feelings of inadequacy, depression, etc., 2) it does not examine the incidences of Harm, Maltreatment, or Neglect in foster care/state settings. Nor does it explore these categories in terms of incidences at school, either from bullies or teachers/administrators/enforcement personnel. Finally, 3) it does not investigate abuse or neglect in terms of religious tenets and beliefs, i.e., "On Becoming BabyWise", in which parents are instructed to use corporal punishment even on children under the age of 1. BabyWise has also been linked to dehydration and failure to thrive because of its strict feeding schedule, which is contrary to established medical standards. It is the contrivance of a pastor who has no medical training.

http://www.ezzo.info/Aney/aneyaap.htm

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/july8/12.20.html

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/1998/08/cov_06feature.html

Page 3 of the salon link:

After babies reach only 6 months of age, parents are instructed to begin punitive disciplinary measures such as "squeezing or swatting" of the child's hands or "isolation" in the crib for "rebellious" infractions including "foolishness," "malicious defiance" or even playing with food on the highchair tray.

Hitting a 5-month old infant? Malicious defiance? Were any parents who use this method included in this study?

Then there's this:

Additionally, the most recent issue of the magazine of the Christian Research Institute, a fundamentalist "cult-watch" organization, features a lengthy and meticulously documented cover story titled "More Than Just a Parenting Ministry?" alleging that GFI has consistently exhibited "cultic tendencies," including authoritarianism, isolationism, physical and emotional endangerment and hardball tactics used against naysayers. As one example, GFI parenting classes disallow any debate concerning the course materials. Some parents who have taken the courses say that they were instructed by GFI representatives not to discuss what they learned in class with anyone who has not themselves completed GFI parenting training.

One of the hallmarks of an abusive environment is secrecy. Physical and emotional endangerment - aren't those exactly what the study seeded in the above article analyzes?

What contribution to the statistics do religion and books like "On Becoming Babywise" make to the problem?

What the report does say is, in every category of abuse and neglect, the 2005-2006 numbers (NIS4) are lower than than those in 1993 (NIS3). It also says that incidents of abuse and neglect are higher among Hispanic and African-American communities. It also recommends further study of the variables by isolating each to see which have correlative influence on the overall results. One question not addressed in that observation is, statistically more Hispanics and African-Americans are incarcerated in this country than their White peers. Would these incarceration stats and practices have any bearing on the higher incidents since some parents, or cohabiting 'parents' may have been exposed to adverse conditions which would promote these behaviors? And finally, the impact of absent fathers has not been studied to any degree. So implying that families where mothers cohabitate are more prone to problems because the mothers aren't married can't be definitively stated until the underlying variable of the absent parents' neglect has been determined.

See the chart on p. 70 of 455 of the PDF version of the report. Link below:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/abuse_neglect/natl_incid/nis4_report_congress_full_pdf_jan2010.pdf