Rehovot's Child abuse cases risen by 20 percent over last decade

"The National Council for the Child released statistics Sunday which revealed that the state of children's welfare in Israel has drastically worsened over the last decade, with a 130 percent increase in cases of child abuse.

The number of reports on children who have been abused or neglected by their families since 1995 has risen by 130 percent, while the number of children who have ended up in emergency wards as a result of such abuse has risen by 166 percent.

Almost a third of the abuse cases were committed by both parents; 23 percent suffered abuse by their mother; 21 percent by their father, and the rest by other family members.

Only 3 percent of child abuse cases were committed by strangers, while 3.3 percent of complaints filed with social workers turned out to be false.

About 39 thousand children were reportedly abused in 2004, which constitutes a sharp rise over the 1995 figure of 16,815. Almost 19 percent of the victims were aged five and under, and 36 percent were between the ages of six and 11. Some 37 percent of the reports were on physical and sexual offenses, 12 percent on psychological abuse and some 33 percent on neglect.

In a large number of cities, such as Jerusalem, Petah Tikva, Netanya and Rehovot, an average rise of 20 percent was reported in the number of children at risk.

"The data speaks of the increase in the number of children at risk and raises the question of whether it wasn't time for some government body to take upon itself to focus upon the aid given to children in need," the authors of the statistical survey wrote in a letter to President Moshe Katsav.

Source: Ruth Sinai. Data reveals child abuse cases risen by 130 percent over last decade. Haaretz.com (25 Dec 2005) [Fulltext]