By unanimous consent on March 26, the House agreed to a resolution (H. Res. 113) recognizing the social problems of child abuse and neglect, and supporting efforts to enhance public awareness of the problem.
Introduced by Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), the resolution points to the approximately three million reports made to child protective services of suspected or known child abuse and neglect involving five million American children per year. Twelve-hundred of these children, 85 percent of whom are under the age of 6 years, and 44 percent of whom are under the age of 1 year, will lose their lives as a direct result of abuse or neglect every year.
“Homicide is the only major cause of childhood death that has increased over the last 30 years,” said Rep. Hayworth. “In the last three decades, while we have made such tremendous strides against childhood disease, a cause of death so brutal as the premeditated taking of another’s life continues to be on the rise among our youngest.”
