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Abused children
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Report: 3,173 cases of child abuse in one year

Recently exposed case of child abuse rates are only the tip of the iceberg: according to estimations, 1 out of every 5 children in Israel are experiencing some form of abuse.

Thousands of children in Israel are abused by their parents every year, according to the annual report published by The Israel National Council for the Child, whose new statistical data only refers to cases exposed by the Israeli health care system—in hospitals and community clinics.

 

 

On Sunday, the Haruv Institute (prevention of child abuse and neglect) launched a new campaign in collaboration with the NCC (National Council for the Child) in order to raise the awareness among professionals—medical personnel, teachers, counselors—on the topic.

 

Photo: Shutterstock (צילום: shutterstock)
Photo: Shutterstock

 

The data reveals that 3,173 abused children were discovered by medical teams in 2015. Forty-one percent of the children were either neglected or prevented treatment, while 29 percent had been physically abused, 12 percent were mentally abused, 9 percent had been sexually molested by a stranger or a non-relative individual, 5 percent had been sexually abused or molested by a family member, 3 percent suffered financial abuse or withheld rights, and 1 percent had suffered some form of threatening harassment.

 

The numbers represent only a small part of the abuse or sexual molestation cases experienced by children since the data consists of only the cases exposed through the health care system.

 

"The numbers are only the tip of the iceberg," said Prof. Asher Ben Arieh, Chair of Haruv Institute. "There are thousands of other cases that have been reported to the welfare system," he continued.

 

According to Prof. Ben Arieh, not all children have symptoms, like fractures or external injuries, that may indicate abuse.

 

"Over the last few years, we have seen an increase in the number of children diagnosed, especially in light of the training more doctors and nurses are receiving on the subject. After many years on the job—the medical teams can now identify such cases better than they used to."

 

Nowadays, new technological advances exist, which were not available in the past, enabling radiologists for instance, to recognize whether a fracture was intentional or incidental.

 

Moreover, doctors are instructed on the type of questions they should ask the parents arriving to the ER in such cases, and what 'warning signs' they should be looking for.

 

In the health care system, it is still difficult to follow therapeutic history. The most recent case of abusive parents discovered at Tel Hashomer Hospital was exposed due to a doctor's alertness, having noticed a record of repeated hospitalizations.

 

However, in some cases, parents turn to different hospitals each time in order to avoid being discovered.

 

"There should be a central computerized system, connecting all ERs, and when the suspicion of the medical team arises, they would be able to quickly check whether the child had prior hospitalizations with physical injuries," suggested Prof. Ben Arieh.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.20.17, 10:21
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