April is National Child Abuse Propaganda Month. A month where all of the various State and Private Child Welfare Agencies hold little events all across the country in order to glorify the work they do. Nationally, thousands of people will gather all month long for dinners and pinwheel garden planting sessions. You'll see go blue days where everybody is supposed to dress in blue in order to raise awareness of child abuse and get everybody and his brother making that call for whatever reason. You might see blue ribbons pinned to peoples clothing. Perhaps you'll see cardboard cutouts of children standing in a window.
"We do the proclamations really to recognize while government can't do it all - government has a roll to say that this is a community problem that we feel needs recognition," former County Commissioner Sally Clark said.
Clark helped formed the coalition, "Not One More Child" with District Attorney Dan May after they saw an alarming number of fatalities from child abuse back in 2011.
She tells 11 News El Paso County has the highest number of reports for child abuse and neglect across the state of Colorado. Last year, there were 15,000 reports and according to Clark, the number rises each year.
More >> Pinwheels planted across Colorado Springs aim to help prevent child abuse
One of the things that I like to make people aware of is the way they fluff the numbers. For example if you look at the 3rd paragraph in the above example...
She tells 11 News El Paso County has the highest number of reports for child abuse and neglect across the state of Colorado. Last year, there were 15,000 reports and according to Clark, the number rises each year.
The normal people will instantly assume that there were 15,000 horrifically abused children in El Paso County Colorado in 2016. Hardly, it's more like there were 15,000 calls to the hotline, probably by normal people, probably 75 to 80% would be unsubstantiated or don't rise to a level were an investigation would be warranted. Therefore the actual number of children who are actually abused would be much smaller.
Kentucky had nearly 19,000 child abuse victims in 2015, or 19 victims for every 1,000 children, which is more than double the national average, according to the latest national compilation of cases.
Kentucky’s rate ranked second in the nation in 2015, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report released in January and highlighted by Norton Children’s Hospital. Indiana’s rate, 17 out of every 1,000 children, ranked fourth.
More >> Kentucky has nation’s second-highest child abuse, neglect rate
They do this for the quantitative dramatic effect. The bigger number looks better for these agencies. It convinces the people that there is more of a need than there actually is. That way people will be more likely to open their hearts and wallets and make these fundraisers a success.
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