Overlooked and Unheard: Abuse of Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and Their Experience With CPS and

Children with hearing loss are considered a low-incidence disability population, yet abuse among this population is up to 4 times that of children who are typically developing. The needs among this population are significant, but resources in communities across the nation are few. The authors discuss barriers to disclosure, school-based concerns, and problems with the current child welfare sys-tem. A case study offers readers insight into the experience of children with hearing loss in the system. Finally, specific recommen-dations for marriage and family counselors are offered to improve the foster care experience of children with hearing loss. Keywords child maltreatment, child abuse, deaf, hard of hearing Hearing loss represents the most common birth defect in the United States with an incidence rate of one to three per 1,000 births (Centers for Disease Control, n.d.). In 2005, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) estimated that there were at least 30,000 children, age’s birth to 5 years with a moderate, severe, or profound hearing loss (National Institute on Deafness and Other Com-munication Disorders [NIDCD], 2006). NIDCD data also determined that while 67,000 children between the ages of 0 and 19 years were reported as ‘‘deaf,’ ’ over 260,000 children experienced a ‘‘lot of trouble hearing.’ ’ The unfortunate reality is that children who are deaf/hard of hearing (d/hh), in fact, all children with disabilities, experience a significantly higher risk of maltreatment than their nondisabled peers (Durity & Oxman, 2006; Sebald, 2008). The incidence of child abuse among children with disabilities has been reported at between 2 and 4 times that of their nondisabled counterparts (America