On Thursday night, while Herman and I were sitting at the church during our “24 Hours of Prayer,” I was looking through old studies I had taught on Mother’s Day in years gone by. I ran across a study I did in 1996. The study I want to share with you this morning.
The thing that first caught my eye were some statistics that then Governor Frank Keating had shared with a group of pastors here in Oklahoma City. The statistics concerned the alarming rate of child abuse and neglect cases in our state. At that time, Governor Keating said,
We are doing everything we can to pass laws that will make it tougher on those who choose to abuse their children, but all of the laws in the world will not work because what we have is a spiritual problem. Our pastors need to address the subject.
The State had just published a 23 page booklet detailing the horrors of neglect and abuse cases in Oklahoma. Here is some of the information that was included in the report.
• In 1995 there were 11,700 confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect in the state of Oklahoma.
• In our city alone there were 2,666 cases of confirmed child abuse and neglect reported for 1995.
• In Oklahoma County there were 15 children who died at the hands of one of their parents.
• 76% of those abused were age 12 or under.
• 77% of those children abused were abused at the hand of their biological parent.
The government noticed that we had a problem back in 1996. With all of the resources—financial and human resources that the State has at its disposal, I would assume that the problem has now been eradicated, and today, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, our children are safe. That would be a false assumption. Let me update you.
(more…)
