Children of that age are more susceptible to poisoning and often do not understand the dangers such substances present. Otherwise harmless substances found in the home can cause young children serious injury.

Medications were found to be the most common cause of accidental child poisoning. Almost half of all child injuries from poisoning involved either prescription or non-prescription medication. Those types of childhood poisoning occurred mostly in two situations: those involving parents administering an incorrect dosage and those involving unsupervised children ingesting incorrect medication or too much medication.

Household cleaning products and pesticides were the second leading cause of childhood poisoning injuries. They accounted for 21 percent of all child poisoning injuries. Other child poisoning causes include cosmetics, vitamins, and dietary supplements.

In this country, 71,000 children are injured each year from medication related poisonings alone. That included prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The total number of annual child poisonings is around 140,000.

This is a staggering number when you consider how simple it is to prevent accidental child poisoning. Simply store your medications and household chemicals out of your children’s reach. Take the short amount of time necessary to read and understand medication directions.

Never store your medicine in purses, bags, drawers, on counter-tops or other places kids can get to them. If you can’t store your household chemicals high enough to be out of the reach of children, use child locks on those cabinets.

Keep household chemicals in their original containers, and never near food so they are not confused with food. Also never refer to medications as “candy” to your children or say they taste like candy. This will only encourage them to overdose if they gain unsupervised access to them.

Since then, the blogosphere has erupted in debate about whether drinking while breastfeeding is harmful or whether the police were right. Only one thing is clear – that there are no clear answers. In fact, we can’t really be sure the woman was drunk at the time. While she pleaded guilty to child neglect, police did not administer a blood-alcohol test because they aren’t necessary for child neglect charges. Police said they knew she was drunk from the way she was behaving, but reports say no more than that.

Some bloggers think the police abused their authority even if Anvarinia had been drunk. “Since when is breast-feeding while drunk a crime?” said Dr. Amy Tuteur, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist who writes the Skeptical OB. If Anvarinia had been feeding her baby formula, “no one would have bothered to check what was in the bottle,” Tuteur opined. “You can do a lot more damage by mixing formula wrong.”

The thing is that no one can know what effect drunken breast feeding has on babies. No one has ever studied it directly because of the eithical implications of conducting studies whereby researchers induce intoxication in breast feeding mothers. The only evidence we have on the subject is anecdotal, which does not allow conclusions to be drawn one way or the other.

Most interest groups advise against drinking and breastfeeding but others see no harm in limited alcohol consumption among breast feeding mothers. It has also been said that alcohol assists a woman with making milk. Doctors report that alcohol remains in the body for two to three hours after consumption. Other interesting posts can be found at http://ecochildsplay.com

Commentators who feel the police came down too hard on the mother argue that the child’s best interests were harmed when its mother was put in jail for 5 years. They argue that drunken breast feeding is the lesser of the two evils. Police, however, argue that Anvarinia was arrested for more than just drunken breast feeding. Police say nothing more than that it was the totality of the circumstances and that they would have arrested the woman on child neglect charges even if she had not been nursing her infant drunk.

In Rodriguez v. Favalora, the court ruled that Florida law does not allow victims who remember their childhood abuse later in life to file suit against those who negligently allowed the abuse if the statute of limitation has already run.

Now, Florida Statute section 95.11(7) does allow victims who recall their childhood abuse later in life to sue their abusers even if the statute of limitation has already run.

The intense trauma that results from childhood molestation can cause substantial psychological damage including the loss of all memories associated with the events. Demands of secrecy by an adult authority figure alone may cause a child to suppress his or her abuse.

To combat this effect and bring abusers to justice, Florida’s “delayed discovery doctrine” allows victims of childhood abuse to sue their abusers in civil court within four years from the time the victim discovers an injury that was caused by the past abuse. Normally, a victim must file suit before they turn 26 or within four years after they become independent of the abuser (whichever comes first).

Without the delayed discovery doctrine, victims of childhood abuse who only remembered their abuse after the standard statute of limitation had run would not be able to sue their abusers. Now, Florida’s Third Circuit has ruled that the delayed discovery doctrine is only available to victims who sue abusers who act with intent and not those who act only negligently.

The case involved a man who was molested while in a foster home operated by the Catholic Church. His claim against the church was that it acted negligently in not providing a safe foster home where he would be free of abuse. However, his claim was denied because he alleged the church acted negligently and not intentionally.

The effect of this ruling is that those organizations and institutions that fail to protect our children against molesters and abusers when the organizations and institutions had a legal duty to do so (as in this case) will often go unpunished in civil court in cases of delayed discovery.

The delayed discovery doctrine will not allow people who intentionally abuse children to escape liability in situations of delayed discovery because those abusers acted with intent. However, if the abuser’s employer shares in the fault through their negligence, then the Third Circuit just gave them a free pass in cases of delayed discovery.

This ruling defeates the purpose of tort law. Civil liability for wrongful behaviour is designed to serve two purposes: make the victim whole to the greatest extent that the law can, and to deter the harmful behaviour in the future.

If organizations and institutions are allowed to escape liability for their negligence just because they are lucky enough to have harmed a victim who does not remember his or her abuse until after the statute of limitations has run, then the institutions are not deterred as much as they should be.

Florida law should subject negligent child abusers to the same liability and deterrent effect that we subject intentional abusers to. That way, the businesses, churches and other organizations charged with protecting our children have the greatest number of incentives possible to act responsibly.

Each community recognizes Child Abuse Prevention Month a little differently, but it’s easy to find ways to join and show your support. Different ways to participate in Child Abuse Prevention month include participating in fundraisers to support prevention activities and treatment facilities for victims, and candlelight vigils held as a remembrance. Many child abuse prevention resources exist. Here is a listing of organizations for you to contact to get involved:

Childhelp

Childhelp provides assistance to victims of child abuse and neglect. The organization focuses its efforts on prevention, intervention and treatment of child abuse. The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline, 1-800-4-A-CHILD is a 24-hour hotline free to callers across the country. Childhelp’s also provides residential treatment services,  advocacy,  foster care,  group homes, and child abuse education and training.

Circle of Parents

Circle of Parents works to prevent child abuse and neglect and to strengthen families through mutual self-help parent support groups and children’s programs. This national network spans 26 statewide organizations including Florida.

National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome

Learn about shaken baby syndrome, shaken baby syndrome prevention programs, and training for professionals and parents nationwide.

National Exchange Club Child Abuse Prevention Services

Boasts a national network of child abuse prevention centers that helps at-risk parents replace patterns of abusive behavior with effective skills for nonviolent parenting.

Zero to Three

Promotes the healthy infant and toddler development by supporting and strengthening families, communities, and those who support them.