Child Maltreatment is Real! Quote from Ginger Kadlec’s “Be a Child’s Hero Daily” website…
“Child “maltreatment” is defined as “violent or cruel treatment” and encompasses a variety of abuses including physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect. Researchers reviewed nearly 5.7 million confirmed cases of maltreatment that were registered in the The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). This study found that approximately 80% of the child maltreatment cases involved neglect.”
Be a Kid’s Hero Daily… Click on this website and subscribe to updates… Quote from Ginger Kadlec…
“With an estimated 1 in 8 children victimized by maltreatment in the United States, child abuse is a problem of pandemic proportion. While it can be a difficult subject to discuss, we must address the issue of child abuse head-on to ensure the safety of little ones who entrust their very lives to the big people around them.”
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Ginger Kadlec is one of my favorite heroes! She is by any measure an example of “Be a Kid’s Hero Daily.” Ginger and I became friends a couple of years ago and collaborated on an article, The War Within: PTSD, (click highlighted text) that remains very popular to this day… Ginger and I stay in touch on a regular basis. She gave me great encouragement and helped me on my own journey of healing following the publication of Reconciliation: A Son’s Story in November 2011.
I refer to my life as a child as the “too terrible to remember 1950’s and early 1960’s. It took me most of my adult life to forgive my parents and the toxic life we lived while growing up. Forgiveness was absolutely critical to healing from child abuse and emotional neglect during my early years as a kid and young adult. My father suffered terribly as a victim of severe trauma from hard combat during all of WWII and deployment during the Korean War as well. My mother developed severe symptoms of secondary PTSD from her own Depression Era childhood, and as a military spouse and mother from the “Greatest Generation.” Dad passed away in 1998 and lived a relatively peaceful life during his last years following a regimen of mental health treatments. Mother is turning 96 this September and still has flashbacks from those post WWII years as a caregiver for my father. We siblings carried the emotional baggage of PTSD forward as well, which we now know as the intergenerational effect and impact of living in a toxic home where love and kindness is almost non-existent. PTSD hangs on like bad genes if not treated effectively or if the trauma victim is in denial….
I enjoy peace of mind these days as a senior citizen. No longer are the bad dreams, the constant anxiety, depression, and ache in my heart, including physical pain. No child should have to live with toxic circumstances at home, at play, or in school…never! I spend my life in retirement making a difference for kids in my work with Neighbors for Kids in Depoe Bay, Oregon. My life now is a blessing and a journey of healing, but still a work in progress. Kids or adults who suffer from severe trauma often live with PTSD symptoms for a lifetime…the pain never leaves your heart and mind…but alternative treatment strategies keep my feet on the ground. I am also blessed with an amazing spouse, family members, and great friends who help keep me focused on the love and kindness I so desperately needed as a kid, and didn’t discover until later in life…
Steve Sparks, Author, Reconciliation: A Son’s Story and My Journey of Healing in Life After Trauma, Part 1… Click highlighted text for my author page…
