Child abuse, crime and other social issues.

Child abuse has occurred since ancient times, when children were considered property and were forced into hard labor.  During the industrial revolution, children were placed into apprenticeships, factories, mills, and farms to work long hours, receive little pay and be denied an education.  Read more here. Children have been subject to physical, sexual and emotional abuse since the beginning of humanity. Not so long ago, only about 40-45 years, child abuse was considered a family matter.  Although there are agencies and laws in place now, child abuse continues to be a significant social problem.  As recently as the 1950s and 1960s, if child abuse was suspected, outsiders looked the other way.  The abuse was considered a family matter.  In 1960, physician C. Henry Kempe began to notice an unusual number of unexplained broken bones and fractures in his pediatric service.   Kempe and some of his colleagues researched the issue and in 1962 they published “The Battered Child Syndrome” in The Journal of the American Medical Association. The paper was considered to be important in creating awareness about child abuse.  A copy if the paper can be found here. Radiology uncovered physical abuse in children, but sexual abuse wouldn’t be recognized until the 1970s and emotional abuse wouldn’t be acknowledged until the 1980s and 1990s.  In 1974, the first federal child welfare law, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, was passed.  There have been numerous amendments to the law over the years.  While we have made great strides in fighting child abuse, we have not succeeded in eliminating it.