Amend CAPTA to include better restrictions on use of force.

Targeting: The President of the United States, The U.S. Senate, The U.S. House, see more...

Started by: Christine Clarke

The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) (42 U.S.C.A. §5106g) serves as a national set of minimum requirements for, among other things, the definition of what constitutes abuse and neglect upon children. These minimums are reflected in all U.S. States' laws. If we change CAPTA to include better definitions of child abuse and neglect, we change the rest of the definitions too.

While so many of us are fighting for children's human rights in individual states, let's also tackle the issue from a central position by requesting improvements upon CAPTA's terms.

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Petition Text

Amend CAPTA to better protect at-risk children.

Dear Representative

Presently, all CAPTA says about what constitutes physical abuse or neglect of a child, is:
 
- Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation; or
- An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.

Some states add in their own additional clarification of what should be considered abuse.  Some states add in protection against emotional harm, too.
 
 But in all states, the lack of sufficient actionable wording in that definition gives a wide window of room for children to continue to be physically mistreated by parents, school teachers and care providers.  CAPTA does not detail any acts of simple assault [corporal punishment] nor speak of injuries lesser in severity than those that may require the child to be taken to a hospital and/or may endanger the child's life.
 
 We wish to see CAPTA updated, because amendments to CAPTA become amendments to all U.S. state laws, too.   If CAPTA makes some important changes towards better protection of at-risk children, it saves many of us the time and cost of fighting these battles for human rights in every state individually.
 
 Ideally, we wish to see all assault upon all persons banned as criminal abuse.
 
 However, if CAPTA is not going to include all acts of simple and aggravated assault as child abuse at this time, then at least include these new 'bare minimums':
 
 1.  Add additional language defining more of the injuries that constitute signs of abuse upon a child.  Include cuts, burns, severe bruises and other indicators of maltreatment.
 
 2.  Add a lower age limit to the use of any corporal punishment upon children.   Do not let any person, for any reason, commit an act of assault upon children who are too young to have the cognitive capability of 'understanding' the motives behind physical punishment.   
 
 If a child is too small to understand any motive on the part of the parent, and/or too young to understand that the parent's choice to strike the child was a reaction to behavior that had displeased the hitter, there is no "discipline" in hitting that child.   That is child abuse.
 
 Beyond the inability to 'understand' assault, young children are at a far higher risk of severe injury or death from physical maltreatment too:
- 78 percent of the children killed in this country by abuse are under the age of 3.   
- 44 percent of the children killed each year in the U.S. are under 1 year of age.  
These dying children are too little to even be considered as reasonable recipients of punishment.   3 die every day in the U.S.   We must do more to save them.
 
 Address this abuse with an amendment to CAPTA protecting kids from more 'excessive' harm than what would require a hospital visit, and protecting babies and toddlers from any and all assault.
 
 Respectfully,

[Your name]

Robert Bonfante Abingdon, MD

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