HEALTH
By Meredith Cohn | February 9, 2012
When children are abused, the human costs are high, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : Children who were physically, sexually or psychologically abused are more likely to have poorer health, social and emotional difficulties and lower economic productivity. But the abuse also substantially impacts the nation's health care, education, criminal justice and welfare systems - the costs from abuse and neglect are approximately $124 million just from one year's worth of cases over the abused lifetimes, the CDC says in a new report.
NEWS
September 13, 2011
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — The mother of a 2-month-old girl who was fatally beaten at her home in Brunswick has pleaded guilty to second-degree child abuse for failing to protect her daughter from the girl's father. Twenty-one-year-old Jessica Peavy entered the plea Tuesday in Frederick. Frederick County State's Attorney Charlie Smith says the state will seek a one-year jail term, with 14 years suspended, at Peavy's sentencing Oct. 27. He says prosecutors also will ask for supervised probation with drug treatment.
NEWS
By Andrea F. Siegel, The Baltimore Sun | February 7, 2013
A Severn father was found guilty of child neglect on Wednesday, but was acquitted of the most serious charge facing him - child abuse - in a case that stemmed from his 5-year-old son losing consciousness after drinking methadone. In a bench trial, Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Paul A. Hackner found Paul K. Brooks Sr., 28, guilty of seven charges, including drug possession, stemming from the September 2012 incident. Hackner said Brooks should have acted faster to get the child medical help when he began to get sick - but he noted that Brooks ultimately made the 911 call, according to a recording of the verdict.
NEWS
November 11, 2011
The scandal currently rocking Penn State and its beloved football coach Joe Paterno sheds important light on how we respond to child abuse. It's a reminder that the impact of remaining silent in the face of sexual abuse can be devastating. We mourn the humiliation of the university and the coach, but let's give equal attention to the suffering of the victims. Some of the abuse was likely preventable had adults in the know, at the time, put their foot down. Children depend on adults to protect them.
NEWS
November 10, 2011
Today we have witnessed a complete and total failure of the American higher education system ("Paterno fired," Nov. 10). I am embarrassed that the educational system that I am a part of was responsible for affecting the lives of children in a negative way, not the positive ways that the good people in my field strive to do on a daily basis. This appalling scandal is not about touchdowns, a coaching legend's fall from grace, or money, this about breaching the trust that every parent that sends their child to college expects from us as educators. Every person in higher education has a moral responsibility and expectation to protect the young men and women we interact with on a daily basis.
NEWS
By Justin George, The Baltimore Sun | December 3, 2012
Maryland is one of three states that requires workers in certain occupations to report child abuse but whose law doesn't include criminal sanctions against those who fail to do so, according to a state legislative analysis. That distinction met with renewed criticism last week after a Baltimore Sun investigation by Tricia Bishop revealed court records claiming that a Catholic school principal and other Catholic officials were aware of a teacher's sexual abuse of students, but didn't report it until the teacher was under investigation - years after the crimes took place in the 1970s.