The Unseen Victims of War... Preventable Maltreatment

Stress of war hits Army kids hard... Study: Child abuse goes up during deployments (USA Today)

USATODAY.com: "The Army-funded study found child neglect was almost four times greater during periods when the husbands were at war. Physical child abuse was nearly twice as high during combat deployments."

I suspect this is really not surprising to many individuals that work in child welfare, social services or (based on the sentiments shared by the family members featured in the article) military families. War is particularly difficult for families that have loved ones deployed. The stress of having a loved one deployed can reasonably be expected to affect both spouses as well as the children, increasingly one could reason, with a longer duration of deployment.

It is under these conditions, without the appropriate types and levels of support present for the family, that child maltreatment is more likely to occur. Many social service professionals would argue that these incidents of child abuse and neglect are largely preventable with the appropriate services and support mechanisms in place.

Ironically, the same can be said about so many children that come to the attention of child protective services in jurisdictions around this country... that many families would be less likely to abuse and neglect their children with more approprite support systems in place.

As tragic as this is, it does not seem too complicated to figure out at least some preliminary strategies for responding to this crisis. If this is true, the challenge is not in understanding the nature of this phenomenon, but in allocating the resources necessary to respond effectively.

Military families deserve it, as do so many families unnecessarily caught up in the often messy web of child welfare in this country.