We Americans have developed some odd beliefs and priorities when it comes to raising children, according to one best-selling author and social commentator. But do we put our children in danger as a result?

Possibly.

We’re taken with the mantra that it takes a village to raise a child, but we don’t really believe it, says Barbara Kingsolver, distinguished author of such novels as “The Lacuna,” “Pigs in Heaven” and “The Bean Trees.” We don’t really want the village helping us raise our kids, she says, and the village doesn’t feel particularly welcome or obligated to pitch in — not the way they do in Spain, among other countries.

But does our approach to child-rearing put them at risk? It’s a thought worthy of discussion during the coming month. April is designated National Child Abuse Prevention Month by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.

“In the United States, where people like to think that anyone can grow up to be President, we parents are left very much on our own when it comes to the little Presidents-in-training,” Kingsolver wrote in The New York Times. “Our social programs for children are the hands-down worst in the industrialized world, but apparently that is just what we want.”

She’s got a point. How many letters to the editor declare, “I don’t have kids, why should I have to pay school taxes?” — a sentiment that ignores the fact these children will grow up to become the doctors, nurses and other professionals caring for childless adults in coming years.

The author and her preschool daughter lived briefly in Spain, where they discovered a different mind-set.

“I’m surprised when my daughter crash-lands in the playground and a sanguine Spanish stranger picks her up and dusts her off,” Kingsolver wrote; by contrast, “When a shrieking bundle lands at my feet, I instantly look around for the next of kin. But I’m coming to see this detachment as perverse, when applied to children, and am wondering how it ever caught on in the first place.”

U.S. statistics on child abuse are alarming: In 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are complete:

- An estimated 3.36 million children were involved in investigations by child protective services agencies, a 9 percent increase from 2011 (3.08 million).

- From those investigations, 683,000 instances of abuse were confirmed in 2015, a 3.8 percent increase over 2011 (658,000 confirmed).

- 75.3 percent of confirmed victims were neglected, 17.2 percent were physically abused, and 8.4 percent were sexually abused.

- 1,670 children died of abuse and neglect in 2015, a rate of 2.25 deaths per 100,000 children in the national population.

For many modern parents, detachment is the instinctive response to unsolicited help; to withdraw and isolate from the community. In light of recent local incidences, who can blame them?

The paradox is that whenever emotional or physical child abuse take place, isolation is one of the most common circumstances present.

National Child Abuse Prevention Month is a time to acknowledge the importance of families and communities working together to prevent child abuse and neglect, and to promote the social and emotional well-being of children and families. During the month of April and throughout the year, communities are encouraged to share strategies and activities and promote prevention.

Much can be done; much must be done.

A starting point is establishing, demanding and evaluating community standards. All agencies, churches, organizations and services that involve children should review their policies regarding personnel, certification, training, reporting and accountability.

Recent changes in state law expanded Pennsylvania’s definition of mandated reporters — those who are under legal obligation to promptly report any suspicion of child abuse. Every adult Pennsylvanian has a moral duty, if not a legal one, to recognize common symptoms of abuse to report such suspicions.

Just as the myopic taxpayer fails to see the wisdom of contributing to the education of all, so too do the nearsighted fail to see wisdom in raising children free from the scars and terror of neglect or abuse.