Explaining Child Abuse as a Lack of Safe Ground

Child abuse is a pressing problem in the United States, one that communication scholars are uniquely qualified to help address (see Morgan & Wilson, 2005). The prevalence of the problem is alarming: Each year, over 1 million cases of child abuse and neglect are substantiated by Child Protective Services (CPS; Peddle & Wang, 2001). In 1993, CPS and other community professionals judged the health of more than 3 million children to be “seriously endangered” (Sedlak & Broadhurst, 1996). National surveys of parents consistently reveal that millions more children are victims of physically and emotionally abusive parenting practices at home (Straus & Gelles, 1990).