In order to develop methods to make the home a safe place for Missouri s children, we need to be fully aware of the problem, both in terms of the kinds of violence children experience at home and the rate at which it is happening. We also need to examine the characteristics most often found in violent families and in the communities that surround them. The number of children in families with substantiated child abuse and neglect has been steadily increasing over the past five years. A child's natural parents are the most frequent perpetrators of child abuse. Seventy-two percent of 1993 substantiated perpetrators in Missouri were natural parents of the abused child.
Official statistics are helpful in revealing some of the causes and characteristics of child abuse.
However, they represent an under-count of the actual incidence of abuse. Child abuse and neglect can take a variety of forms including physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. The rate of fatal child abuse has been on the rise nationally since 1985. Since 1989, Missouri has also documented a dramatic rise in the number of confirmed child fatalities from abuse and neglect. The recent creation of Child Fatality Review Teams in each Missouri county has resulted in a more thorough collection of data about this tragic problem.