The profile: a young man, under the age of 30. He did not attend college and perhaps did not even finish high school. He likely has a criminal past, possibly arrests for domestic violence or drugs. He does not hold down a job well and is probably unemployed. Although he may not have any biological children, he probably dates young women who have at least one young child.
The profile, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families, reflects the typical boyfriend who is likely to abuse or even kill his girlfriend's baby. Increasingly, child welfare advocates have found that these men begin dating young, single women who have one or more children. After a short period of dating, the mothers entrust the boyfriend with babysitting, at least sometimes, while the mother goes to work or to the grocery store. They men, who are frequently unemployed, agree to watch the child. Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge about babies or how to properly care for a child leads to trouble in some instances.
When the baby will not stop crying, the boyfriend does not know how to handle it, and may shake the infant. Eventually, the man will do something that seriously injures the baby, such as head-butting the infant. Babies' delicate skulls and brains cannot withstand this kind of trauma. By the time the mother arrives home, the child is seriously wounded, or possibly even dead. She takes the baby - who is most often a white male child - to the emergency room, where doctors confirm that the injuries are related to child abuse. When police question the boyfriend, he almost invariably lies about the source of the injuries, but may eventually come clean later.
Although no two child abuse scenarios are identical, the frequency with which this situation is occurring in Florida is alarming. Some child advocates have called for the state to provide free or very inexpensive child-care services so that young mothers do not feel as though they must resort to their boyfriends, who they may not even know well. Investigators have also found that early intervention is key to preventing these deaths, as the child has usually been abused by the boyfriend on an earlier occasion.
