How Many More Children Have To Die?

It's really no secret that age and experience play a big factor in the risks that an infant faces of being abused in the first year of his/her life. A young parent, with no experience, poor coping skills, and a non existent support system is a recipe for disaster.

I myself was a young parent at one time, giving bith to my first child just shortly before I was 16. I was very blessed. I had a strong support system and many people to turn to if I was in trouble, but even I will acknowledge that I could have benefited from parenting classes of some sort to help prepare for what was to come.

I couldn't put my daughter down for the first four months without her screaming. It was much easier to just hold her constantly than to hear her cry but it was very stressful. When my second child came, I was a little more relaxed and knew that if he cried for 10 minutes while I took shower, it was okay. I shudder to think how I would have coped had I been completely on my own or if friends and family weren't around to help out.

There is no excuse for child abuse, but there's no excuse for not preparing parents who are young and inexperienced for the challenges that are ahead and I'm sorry but I'm seeing too many young couples left to fend for themselves in this town. Many are horribly impoverished and are adding the stress of a crying child to the burden of just trying to get by.

We need to implement better screening to identify babies who will be at serious risk and try to intervene with appropriate services. I'm not proposing that DSS should be breathing down the necks of all young parents but we really need a better safety net for these babies and young parents than we have now.