Dear Friends,

The New Jersey Law Review Commission is in the process of revisiting and revising the child welfare laws of our state.   In the course of this process, an addition had been written in to protect children under 2 from physical maltreatment including shaking and striking.

The request for the addition is in part because very young children are especially vulnerable to severe injury and death from shaking and striking.  Per the annual U.S. report Child Maltreatment, 5 children die every day in the U.S. from abuse.  Almost half of them are under 1 year of age, and over 75 percent are under age 3.


The request is also in part due to babies' stages in cognitive development.  Infants are unable to see a parent's choice to strike them as reactionary to their own behavior, based on displeasure caused to the parent by the child prior to the strike.   Babies under age 2 do understand some simple cause and effect concepts as they grow, but not at that higher level yet.

The addition protecting babies from shaking and striking had been added to the definition of child abuse in the law prior to a meeting among concerned parties, including representatives from the Division of Youth and Family Services.    However, the line has since been removed.  There have been several questionable reasons given, but not one justifies a reasonable need for any parent or caretaker to shake or strike an infant.

Thankfully, Title 9 is still under review.   There is still time to have that line added back into the working draft.

Please take a moment to send a letter in to the New Jersey Law Review Commission asking for infants to be protected from physical maltreatment, including shaking and hitting, IN the state law definition of child abuse. 

An email letter appears below.  If you would like to send a letter by postal mail, their address is:

New Jersey Law Review Commission
153 Halsey Street, 7th Floor
Newark, New Jersey 07102

There is no good reason to shake or strike a baby.  Considering it "abuse" at the state level will not only help with addressing infant maltreatment when it happens, but will go a long way toward prevention and awareness too. 

Thank you in advance for your help!