Sixty-seven percent of sex abuse occurred within the family. In those familial situations, a father figure accounted for 37 percent of perpetrators. To Top of Page Problems in the Families of Child Abuse Victims Families whose children are abused and neglected often have significant problems which may affect their ability to keep their children safe. An increase in frequency of nearly all categories of stresses show that families are dealing with difficult issues. Parental involvement with law enforcement.
Many families also face heavy child care responsibilities and parental abuse as a child.
The number of families served by SCF where drug and alcohol abuse is an issue continues an upward trend. An SCF study of 1,950 cases where children had been removed from their homes because of abuse found that alcohol and drug problems are pervasive in families of abused and neglected children and that substance abuse is a substantial barrier to these children returning home. Ninety percent of single mothers and 70 percent of single fathers involved with law enforcement are also involved with drugs or alcohol. They are faced with inadequate housing, inadequate income, criminal involvement, frequent relocation, and domestic violence. In 1995, the number of documented drug affected infants droped to 266, a 5.3 percent decrease from 1994.