You hear it more and more these days. Every time you turn on the news, you hear it in the news all the time – children being abused by family members, fathers killing mothers, mothers abducting their children. It’s an epidemic that should be stopped.
According to the Children’s Defense Fund, more than 8,000 children are abused or neglected in New Jersey in 2013. That’s a child in New Jersey being either abused or neglected every 64 minutes. What’s more disturbing is the number of juvenile arrests in New Jersey in more than 30,000.
According to the Rainbows International website, 7 out of 10 of American youth are living in non-traditional families, usually a child of divorce. Rainbows further states that research has found that children of divorced parents are at least “seven times more likely to suffer from depression in adult life” than those children whose families didn’t divorce. Children from single-parent families can also have greater chance of being chemically dependent, have an emotional, learning, or behavioral problem, or could get in trouble with the law.
These are sad but truthful statistics, and there is no easy fix. But there are always ways you can help, especially now in this season of giving. Consider becoming a foster parent or volunteer at a homeless shelter for abused women. Like Tony had done for Raymond, help shape someone’s life today.