History of Children's Advocacy

 

The abuse of children stretches back far into human history. In agrarian and agricultural communities, children were seen as a source of labor and sent to the fields with increasing demands for hard work as they grew. The industrial revolution did little more than move these young laborers from the field to the factory.

 

Child abuse was unknown at that time. The circumstances of these working children were simply “the way life is” until 1874, when the public first recognized that children should be protected from the harshest realities of life. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (the organization formed to protect animals from cruel owners) filed suit in New York City against Mary and Francis Connolly. Because no laws existed to protect children, the ASPCA helped prepare the case saying that because the abused child, Mary Ellen, was a member of the animal kingdom, she was entitled to the same protection from abuse that the law gave animals. Mary Ellen was removed from her brutal living conditions.

 

By 1922, more than fifty societies had been formed to prevent cruelty to children and more than 300 others had been established to tend to the welfare of children. But it was not until the Social Security Act of 1935 that the federal government provided any programs for “the protection and care of homeless, dependent, and neglected children and children in danger of becoming delinquent.”

 

In 1961, Dr. C. Henry Kempe, a pediatric radiologist proposed the term “battered child syndrome” to describe the collection of injuries that a child might sustain through repeated beatings. When Kempe’s findings became more widely known, and the “battered child syndrome” came to include malnourishment, failure to thrive, medical neglect, and sexual and emotional abuse, professionals who serve children were required to report all forms of suspected abuse and permit any citizen to report child abuse.

 

 

In 1974, Congress passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act defined child abuse as “the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse, negligent treatment or maltreatment of a child under age eighteen.”

 

In 1985, the first children’s advocacy center was established in Huntsville, Alabama. It was a center founded to help child victims who were usually forced to navigate a difficult and confusing system of multiple, repetitive interviews. The children’s advocacy center was founded to bring the system of investigation and prosecution to the child, by coordinating community agencies and professionals involved in the intervention system.

 

Against this backdrop, in 1987, here in San Antonio, University Health Systems began a pediatric counseling service at Brady Green. This eventually led to the establishment of Alamo Children’s Advocacy Center — now known as ChildSafe — created to provide comprehensive care for sexually abused children in Bexar County.