Children. They are our future. One of our societal blights I take most deeply to heart is the neglect and abuse of children. We see it in our Family Courts, our media headlines, our classrooms, our emergency rooms, and scattered throughout our communities. A common perception is that abuse is becoming more frequent, a sign of our failing character and morality. Historically, however, civilization's care for our precious children has been no more perfect than it is today.
Chattel, a term used to describe all kinds of personal property. Children and women have been held as chattel in various cultures throughout the ages. Children were personal property to be exploited in labor, sold, sacrificed and killed.
The sacrificing of children in various forms was not a new phenomenon. Some archeological evidence points to child sacrifice in Paleolithic and Neolithic times. Incans, Phoenicians, Aztecs, Egyptians, Greeks, Babylonians, Canaanites, Carthaginians, Romans, Gauls, Celts, Irish, and various other cultures engaged in child sacrifice. In Calcutta, Uganda, Sweden, Russia, Japan, Nigeria, Mexico, and Peru, among other nations, child sacrifice has been perpetrated throughout various points in history. Children have been sacrificed to appease gods and demons, to assure sufficient resources in time of famine, and for other cultural purposes. Child sacrifice, in one form or another, has occurred at some point in time in almost every culture and civilization, to ensure some type of "benefit" for the larger society.
Lest we believe this to be an ancient and outmoded concept far removed from us, we need to remember how modern the American movement to remove children from this category truly is. Children as chattel was a concept brought, with its basis in English common law, by the colonists and continued in their communities.
As chattel, children could be sacrificed for the good of the community in many ways. There was a time in early America when it was believed that having sex with a virgin of very tender years would cure venereal disease. Children could be sold into slavery or married off for dowry, prestige, or connections. A child could be put to work to increase the family earning capacity. The first American child labor laws were not enacted until the early 20th centry, and much of the (often dangerous) burden of America's early industrialization was borne by children.
The earliest cases tried regarding physical abuse of a child were actually cases of slave owners who abused a child to death and were tried for abuse of this "property." In the late 19th century, protection of children from their parents was still unknown in America. In fact, the first officially reported case of child abuse ran into quite the stumbling block. Mary Ellen Wilson, age 8, had suffered long-term vicious physical abuse at the hands of her step-mother. A church worker saw the child, her injuries and physical decline after years of beatings and malnutrition, and realized the child would probably die soon and decided to report the matter. The problem? There was no agency to intervene and no laws had been broken. The SPCA attorneys ultimately intervened on Mary Ellen's behalf, arguing that this frail child deserved as much protection as a dog. While her stepmother served a year in jail, headlines carrying the news were the first real wake up call to America of a very ugly little secret; children were suffering and even dying in their own homes at the hands of their own parents. Suddenly, the long-accepted mindset that a child was the parent's property to do with what they will was questioned. Perhaps some limits should be imposed on the parent's all encompassing power and authority over the child? A novel concept. Mary Ellen's plight brought about the origination of the first American agency to deal with the subject, New York's Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
The next major accomplishment on the matter occurred in the 20th Century, when abused children received assistance from an unexpected source. In 1910, a new medical breakthrough, the X-Ray, provided a unique tool. Now, physicians could see the broken bones in these battered, tiny bodies; not only the fresh fractures from the "fall on the stairs" but also the myriad of old, poorly healed fractures, which brought about the ability to recognize a pattern of chronic abuse. Subsequently, in 1962, Dr. Henry Kempe brought his presentation on "battered child syndrome" public, later to be covered in the Journal of the AMA. Public awareness was finally roused to take a strong step forward in the protection of children from abuse. The medical profession and the legislature joined efforts and, in 1965, each state in the Union finally had a child abuse reporting law. Then, in 1967, In Re Gault was decided by the Supreme Court and at long last it was determined that children must be recognized as "persons" under the Constitution. Congress' interest in the matter was truly piqued and, after investigations into the matter, in 1974 Congress enacted the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act creating the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, earmarking federal funds to establish special programs for child victims of abuse or neglect, and creating mandatory reporting laws. The Act was amended in 2003 by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act.
Thankfully, we have come some distance since the days of Mary Ellen. Modernly, agencies and laws are in place to intervene and protect our vulnerable children. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go in removing this scourge from our society. Providing services for the protection of abused children is critical and we have made progress in addressing this need; however, many of these efforts are engaged after the abuse has occurred and the damage is done, with the focus on preventing additional harm. Much, much more needs to be done in the areas of prevention of abuse. To best serve our children and provide them with a healthy and secure childhood, we must address the root causes of child abuse, increase public awareness and education, and continue to reframe the lingering perception that children are "mine to do with as I please."
Next time, I will share some ideas with regard to prevention, some methods already being used, some I'd like to see considered, and hopefully, get some great feedback from Kossacks on their ideas to create prevention programs.