Here is a statistic from 10 years ago:
In 1999, an estimated 3,244,000 children were reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies as alleged victims of child maltreatment. Child abuse reports have maintained a steady growth for the past ten years, with the total number of reports nationwide increasing 45% since 1987 (Nation Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse (NCPCA) 2000 Annual Fifty State Survey). …
In 1999, an estimated 1,401 child abuse and neglect related fatalities were confirmed by CPS agencies, nearly 4 every day. Since 1985, the rate of child abuse fatalities has increased by 39%. Based on these numbers, more than three children die each day as a result of child abuse or neglect (NCPCA’s 1996 Annual Fifty State Survey).
Substantiated cases of child abuse run less than the reported cases for obvious reasons. However, in the year 2007, substantiated child abuse cases were around the 800,000 mark. The only good news is that this is actually a drop from 2005 when there were over 900,000 substantiated cases. The reason that statistics in this type of crime are two years behind the time is that the cases have to wind their way through agencies and courts. In passing, I would be one of the Orthodox that could easily get Roman Catholic at this point and declare that a child abuser(s) has committed a mortal sin and is to be considered automatically excommunicate from the Church until such a time as they return in repentance. Then I could cheerfully get all second and third century on them and have them sit in the rear of the church for several years or until I could stand to give them communion, whichever came latest.
As with any priest, I have had to deal with cases of child abuse of various types, and the excuses are innumerable. With some types of child abuse, sometimes it is not easy to be sure, particularly if the abuse is borderline. Thus, there is sometimes the question of when a childhood spank becomes a childhood beating. With some types of abuse, there is never a question. Childhood sexual abuse has no gray area.
But, here is what is absolutely true. In my several decades of ministry, I have never had a child abuser confess to me, though I have heard several unsavory excuses. I have had all other type of sinner come to me, but not the child abuser. I have had adulterers, people addicted to pornography, a couple of murderers (in prison), wife-beaters, liars a-plenty, robbers, gossips (fewer of those than you might think, given all the gossip that runs around), people who have disrespected their parents, people repentant about this, that, or the other. But, though I have met a couple of child abusers, this is what is true. I have never had a child abuser confess and repent to me.
I do not know what it is about this type of sin that seems to keep the perpetrators from repentance. Nor do I know why this is the sort of sin that most tends to be hidden by families. But, this is certainly one of the sins that is most resistant to repentance, confession, healing, and restoration.
If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected visit a criminal lawyer for advice on how you can help.
Children, especially small children, stir the depths of our pity and watchfulness, even in hard people. (Even in prison, they are considered the most disgusting of the low by their fellow inmates.) To do that… I think it requires burning out the final vestiges of your conscience. Even someone who abuses his wife (or her husband), who murders, or who robs has ultimately attacked someone far closer to their own weight class. And without a conscience, how do you get convicted?
My father had a moment… I don’t remember how young I was, but under 15 for sure. He wanted something, and I was in my room with the privacy lock on (it was mostly to keep my little sister out). I don’t know whether I was willfully rebellious or just didn’t hear him. Either way, he was really, really angry. He stormed right through the door… pulled the whole lock out of the wall, and the door clear off of it’s top hinge. He was red, bright red, absolutely furious. If there was ever a moment for a beating, that was it. Then he seemed to wake up out of it, just a bit, and left. An hour later, he came back. He didn’t just apologize, he rebuilt my door, and built a better lock. He taught me that repentance was a verb, and what it looked like. Because to him it didn’t matter if he was right to be mad in the first place, or whether he was right to demand entrance to my room, what mattered is that you don’t go near your kids if you are not in control of yourself.