Effective help for children, teens, and adults in crisis must offer the support and practical life tools they need to deal with a myriad of troubling circumstances.

In Los Angeles County, 151,108 reports of child maltreatment were relayed to the Emergency Response unit of the Department of Children and Family Services in 2000 – an increase of 3.1% over 1999 (Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, The State of Child Abuse in Los Angeles County 2001).

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The number of children in Los Angeles County killed by caregivers in 2000 was 35, a decrease from 44 in 1999 (Ibid.).

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Nationwide, child protective services agencies investigated nearly 3 million reports in 2000 alleging the maltreatment of children. Approximately 879,000 children were found to be victims of child maltreatment and 1,200 died of abuse or neglect (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Child Maltreatment 2000: Reports from the States to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, 2002).

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Children younger than one year old accounted for 44% of U.S. child fatalities in 2000; 85% of child fatalities were younger than 6 years of age (Ibid.).

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Abused and neglected children are 67 times more likely to be arrested between the ages of 9 and 12 than other children (California Attorney General's Youth Council on Violence Prevention, 1998).

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Victims of maltreatment during childhood are also at greater risk for smoking, substance abuse, depression, eating disorders, suicides, sexual promiscuity, and severe obesity (Felitti, V., Anda, R., et. al., "Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Cause of Death in Adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study," American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Vol. 14, No. 4, May 1998, pp. 245-258).

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Urban Institute researchers set annual child welfare costs associated with child abuse and neglect at $14.4 billion (Green, Waters, Boots, and Tumlin, The Cost of Protecting Vulnerable Children: Understanding Federal, State, and Local Child Welfare Spending, the Urban Institute, March 1999).

Nearly 10% of the American population suffers from depression in any given year (Robbins, L.D., Regier, D.A. [eds.], Psychiatric Disorders in America, The Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study, 1990; New York).

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The 1999-2000 Los Angeles County Health Survey found that 9% of County residents aged 18 and over – 623,000 people – have been diagnosed with a depressive disorder (Los Angeles County Department of Health Services – Public Health, "Depressive Disorders Among Los Angeles County Adults," L.A. Health, July 2002).

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Forty-two percent (42%) of 1999-2000 Los Angeles County Health Survey adult respondents who reported they felt depressed all or most of the time in the past month but had never been diagnosed with a depressive disorder lacked health insurance. Twenty-three percent (23%) said they never sought mental health care in the past year due to inability to pay for it (Ibid.).

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Up to 2.5% of U.S. children and up to 8.3% of U.S. adolescents are reported to experience depression (Birmaher B., Ryan, N.D., Williamson, D.E., et. al., "Childhood and adolescent depression: a review of the past 10 years." Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Part 1, 1996; 35[11]: 1427-39).

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As children, boys and girls appear to be at equal risk for depression, but girls are twice as likely as boys to develop depression during adolescence (Ibid).

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Women experience depression at two times the rate of men (Blehar, M.D., Oren, D.A., "Gender differences in depression," Medscape Women's Health, 1997; 2:3. Revised from: "Women's increased vulnerability to mood disorders: Integrating psychobiology and epidemiology," Depression, 1995; 3:3-12.

Approximately 3 million U.S. young people from 12 to 17 years old thought seriously about or attempted suicide in 2000. Of this number, 37% actually tried to kill themselves (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, July 14, 2002 online press release at www.samhsa.gov).

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The risk of U.S. youth suicide was highest in the West in 2000, where 13.5% of children aged 12 to 17 thought about or attempted suicide (Ibid.).

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In 2000, 23 Los Angeles County youths committed suicide (Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, The State of Child Abuse in Los Angeles County 2001).

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In 1999, 732 Los Angeles County residents killed themselves – 579 men (59% white; 23% Latino; 8% African American; and 10% Asian/Pacific Islander) and 153 women (69% White; 14% Latino; 5% African-American; 10% Asian/Pacific Islander; and 2% Other) (Los Angeles County Department of Health Services – Public Health, Data Collection & Analysis).

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In 1998, suicides in Los Angeles County included 6 children ages 5 to 14 and 91 teens and young adults ages 14 to 24 (Ibid.).

Children in the U.S. living below the poverty line have become increasingly likely to have one or two parents working full-time, all year – up from 21% in 1980 to 31% in 1999 (The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2001).

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One in six poor children in the U.S. lives in California, a notable increase from one in 10 two decades ago (National Center for Children in Poverty, The Changing Face of Child Poverty in California: State Child Poverty Update, August 2002).

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Some two million Californians, including over a million children, live in families that are working, but poor (struggling to exist on below-federal poverty level incomes) (California Budget Project, The State of Working California: Key Findings And A Summary Of Data From An Upcoming California Budget Project Report, September 2002).

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Two-parent families comprise nearly 60% of California's working poor families (Ibid.).

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About half of California's working poor families with children still earn less than the federal poverty threshold despite having at least one person working full time (Ibid.).

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Latino families comprise 60% of California's working poor families; 21% are white, 11% are Asian, and 8% are black (Ibid.).

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During 2001 in Los Angeles County, 13% of workers (1 in 8) earned less than the full-time hourly wage needed to move a family of three out of poverty. Nearly three-quarters (73%) made less than what is required by a single parent to support a family of three. In general, wage gains in Los Angeles County were lower than those throughout the state for all population groups (Ibid.).

In 2000, some 14.5 million people in the U.S. age 12 and older were classified as dependent on or an abuser of alcohol or illicit drugs – 6.5% of the population (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies, Substance Dependence, Abuse and Treatment: Findings From the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, July 2002).

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An estimated 1.1 million children and teens, ages 12 to 17, needed treatment for drug addiction in 2000, but only 11.4% of these youngsters received it (Ibid.).

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In 2000, rates of heavy drinking remained largely unchanged from 1999, with 30% of 12th-graders, 26% of 10th-graders, and 14% of 8th-graders reporting heavy drinking (The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2001).

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In 2000, 12% of 8th-graders, 23% of 10th-graders, and 25% of 12th-graders reported illicit drug use in the past 30 days (Ibid).

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Nearly half of all adults ages 18-64 living in Los Angeles County's Metro and South service planning areas do not have health insurance. These areas include El Sereno, Boyle Heights, Downtown Los Angeles, Echo Park, Hancock Park, West Hollywood, Compton, the Adams, Crenshaw, and Leimert Park Districts of Los Angeles, Watts, Lynwood, and other communities (County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services-Public Health, Key Indicators of Public Health By Service Planning Area 1999/2000, April 2002).

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Los Angeles trailed only New York City as the U.S. city with the most AIDS cases reported through 2000 – 41,936 (38,978 men and 2,958 women) (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, AIDS Cases by State and Metropolitan Area of Residence, 2000, October 2002).

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The percentage of school-age children who speak a language other than English at home and have difficulty speaking English has nearly doubled over the last 20 years, increasing from 2.8% in 1979 to 5% in 1999 (The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2001).

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Hispanic youth consistently have had a lower high school completion rate than black, non-Hispanic youth who, in turn, have had consistently lower high school completion rates than white, non-Hispanic youth. Since 1980, the high school completion rate for Hispanic youth has been fluctuating between 57% and 67%, and was at 63% in 1999 (Ibid.).

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The United States has the highest rate of firearm death for children ages birth to 14 in the industrialized world – a rate nearly 12 times higher than that for children in 25 other countries combined (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Rates of homicide, suicide and firearm-related death among children - 26 industrialized countries." Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report. 02/07/97; 46:5. 101-105).

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During 1999, 52% of all murder victims in the U.S. under age 18 were killed by guns (FBI Uniform Crime Reports for 1999, table 2.11).

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It is estimated that gay and straight people under age 25 comprise half of all new HIV infections in the U.S. – and many infected teens are unaware of their condition (Sealey, Geraldine, "Risky Business: Young Americans Know About AIDS, But Still Act Recklessly," ABCNews.com, July 12, 2002).

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American teens are twice as likely as others to be the victims of violent crime (The National Center for Victims of Crime, Our Vulnerable Teenagers: Their Victimization, Its Consequences, and Directions for Prevention and Intervention, May 2002).

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Young people in the U.S. who are poor, African American, Latino, or American Indian are the most at risk for victimization (Ibid.).

1736 Family Crisis Center's 24-hour hotlines offer immediate counseling and referrals for people of all ages and backgrounds. You can reach us now at:
(213) 745-6434
(213) 222-1237
(310) 379-3620
(310) 370-5902
(562) 388-7652.

Our community service centers throughout Los Angeles offer nurturing counseling, case management services to link you to a variety of help you can draw on to improve your or your family's circumstances, and more!

To find out more, click here.

Our emergency shelter for runaway and homeless youth and our shelters for battered women and their children offer safe refuge, counseling, life planning guidance, healing art activities, recreational opportunities, and other aid geared toward meeting your specific needs.

For more information on our youth shelter, click here. To learn about our domestic violence shelters, click here.

Getting the word out on domestic violence, teen dating violence, behaviors that promote health and well-being, and other essential issues is the important work of our community education and training program. We are available to make presentations or conduct in-depth training sessions at your school, church, employee group, service organization, business, and elsewhere. For more information, click here.