What are some of the statistics on abuse and neglect in Indiana?
Each year nearly 20,000 ordinary children in Indiana are abused and neglected by their parents. That’s 442 kids each week or 63 every day who suffer. On any given day in our state there are more than 10,000 children living in temporary foster homes and facilities; most, from poorer families. Each year in Indiana: • 7,000 children and teens live in temporary foster homes • 3,000 children live in shelters and other state-funded facilities • 200 legal orphans whose parents’ rights have been terminated remain unadopted in state care And in our region, the annual numbers are also substantial: • 3,000 children in Marion County suffer from abuse and neglect • 1,400 kids from Brown County and its neighboring communities are abuse and neglect victims • 2,000 of these kids from central and south-central Indiana are removed from their homes and made temporary wards of the state We’re faced with children living in real pain, and a system stretched beyond its ability to help all of the kids the way
