Child Abuse in Black and White

Chapter Five examines two episodes in the expansion of child abuse definitions. One was the rising awareness to the dangers and prevalence of child sexual abuse, particularly within their homes. The increased consciousness of children as potential victims of sexual exploitation led to the 1980s’ day care sexual abuse moral panic, as parents became convinced that ritual satanic abuse was rampant. Many of the same early Parents Anonymous supporters became prominent activists in this movement. It ultimately culminated in the “recovered” memory movement, which involved primarily white and middle-class families. Concurrently, a panic over crack cocaine use in pregnant mothers began in the early 1980s. Prosecutors and state legislators sought to utilize child abuse statutes to confine and punish pregnant women using drugs. In an era when addiction treatment was lacking, poverty was rampant and medical care was not adequately accessible, these interventions particularly targeted poor African American women. Racism was at the root of many attempts to control pregnant women’s bodies. In both cases, child abuse statutes were utilized in ways that did not protect children and often caused clear harm. The chapter ends in a discussion of the unfortunate consequences of these politicizations of child abuse definitions.