Child abuse and domestic violence often occur in the same family. These estimated figures do not include the number of child suicides that take place each year as a result of child abuse and neglect. These compelling and devastating data deserve and demand the attention of every citizen in the United States. Neglect is a serious form of abuse that needs to be included within the scope of common conceptions of physical abuse. Another key finding was that neglected children's rates of arrest for violence were almost as high as physically abused children's.
Emotional scars can be just as harmful as physical ones.
The findings on child neglect offer pervasive evidence for the need to take effective and appropriate preventive action. Victims and batterers are found in every social class, race, religious group and sexual orientation. Not only are child abuse and neglect wrong, but the nation's lack of an effective response to them is also wrong. Neither can be tolerated. Fortunately, child advocates are beginning to understand the risks for children who live within households where family violence is occurring.