Issue on Child Abuse that was presented in the novel

In this novel, child abuse was presented many times. Although it did not happen to Chris personally, he worked with many people that have been abused or have abused someone else. Chris works as a therapist, and he talked about a man, who came in for treatment. That man had one day gotten really mad, and he shook his baby daughter. He lost his parental rights to her and went to jail for a short time. He came to get help from his anger management problems. Chris helped him over come his problem and helped him get ready to be a father to the new baby that was coming. There was also another man, which would discipline his children harshly. He would make them stand in a corner, and repeat everything that they did wrong backwards to him. He was a very strong man and a very tall man, so Chris could understand how the children felt threatened by him.

Did you know that 4 children die each day from child abuse and that three out of four of these victims are under the age of 4? There are only 3 million reports of child abuse made every year in the United States, but experts calculate that the actual number is three times greater than that. A report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds. This abusing cycle keeps moving because, one third of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, which keeps this horrible cycle in motion. There is an estimated 906,000 children that are abused every year, and the children that are most likely receiving this abuse and neglect are between the ages of 0-3. There are many children killed, but 74% of them are children that are younger than the age of four. These are just some of the many statistics that are out there on child abuse.

What is child abuse you might ask? Well, as it is defined by ChildHelp: Child abuse consists of any act of commission or omission that endangers or impairs a child's physical or emotional health and development. Child abuse includes any damage done to a child which cannot be reasonably explained and which is often represented by an injury or series of injuries appearing to be non-accidental in nature. When you know about someone that is abused, it is said that you are not to investigate and ask questions. Instead, provide a safe environment for the child, and tell them that it is not their fault. You should be supportive and know our limits. Tell the truth, but make no promises to them. If you ask them questions, they should only be the following four: What happened? Who did this to you? Where were you when this happened? When did this happen? Do not ask anymore questions, for it may contaminate the case. Notify the local law enforcement agency. Never tell the parent or guardian about it. It is most likely them, or someone they know who is doing the abusing.

This is a very important issue and a very serious one. It is not something to joke about. Chris Crutcher knows that. And although he joked about a lot of other topics, this was not a topic that the joked about. It is a very important issue that was presented in this novel, and it needs to be stopped. Too many children are dying for unnecessary reasons. Crutcher makes his thoughts clear about child abuse. It is very wrong and needs to be stopped immediately.