or neglected and every 5 1/2 hours a child is killed from abuse or neglect. The Administration for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services states that 415,000 children were in the United States foster care system in 2014. Most children placed in foster care are placed due to parental abuse or neglect. Research shows that professional social workers employed in child welfare agencies are more likely to find permanent homes for children who have been in foster care for 2 or more years. Unfortunately, less than 40 percent of child welfare workers are professional social workers. (9) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 43.6 million individuals (nearly 1 in 5 or 18.1 percent) in the United States age 18 or older experienced a diagnosable mental illness in 2014. Additionally, at least 3 million (1 in 10 or 12.5 percent) youth between the ages of 12 and 17 experienced at least one major depressive episode in the past year. Social workers provide the majority of mental health counseling services in the United States, and are often the only providers of such services in rural areas. (10) Social workers working with veterans and their families provide services that include case management, crisis interventions, mental health interventions, housing and financial counseling, high-risk screening, and advocacy. The Department of Veterans Affairs, which is the largest employer of social workers in the Nation, employs over 12,000 social workers who serve an estimated 21.8 million veterans in the United States. A once-declining veteran population is now surging and is in dire need of mental health treatment to address issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, drug and alcohol addiction, and suicidal tendencies. (11) The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be 1,668,780 new cases of cancer and 600,920 cancer deaths, or 1,646 deaths a day, in 2017 alone. The Centers for Disease Control