The latest census is showing staggering increases in the poverty rate in the United States. 15.1 percent of Americans--46 million people--are living below the poverty line, which is $22,314 for a family of four. This is the highest percentage of Americans living in poverty in 17 years.

This is devastating news for many reasons. One reason in particular is that children in low socioeconomic status households are three times as likely to be identified as a victim of child abuse and neglect.

According to a recent article in TIME magazine, an increase in child abuse, mostly in infants, has been linked with the recession. Mark Rank, a social welfare professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri says in the article that wage cuts and lost jobs combined with the stress of raising a young child creates "a sort of toxic brew in terms of thinking about possible physical violence."

According to the article, researchers examined medical records of 422 children from 74 counties, mostly living below the poverty line, and national labor statistics for 2004 through November 2007 and compared them with data from the recession. Of the 422 children diagnosed abusive head trauma during the study, roughly 65 cases occurred each year before the recession, versus about 108 yearly during the recession.

Though children of every gender, race, ethnicity, background, socioeconomic status and family structure can be victims of abuse, the real human costs of poverty on the cycle of violence are real and devastating.

But research has also shown that knowledge of parenting and child development, fostering nurturing and attachment, building parental resilience, developing social connections with families and providing concrete support for caretakers can help reduce incidences of abuse and neglect. And Joyful Heart engages in the work to prevent and end child abuse with these factors in mind.

In early 2012, in partnership with the Hawai‘i Children's Trust Fund, we are launching the One Strong ‘Ohana Campaign to prevent and end child abuse in one of our hubs of work, Hawai‘i. We believe that through intervention and holistic support services, education and awareness, community engagement and public-private partnerships, we can collectively end the cycle of abuse and neglect.

As this news shows us, there couldn't be a more critical time to turn towards the issue of child abuse and neglect. Please join us in this movement by visiting www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/onestrongohana.htm and by following the Hawai‘i Children's Trust Fund on Facebook and Twitter.