Those who cover this up are just as guilty as the person who committed the crime of abuse.

That's absolutely correct and true. It's called collusion.  It's a very important point.  It's collusion to cover up the crime of child abuse and it's also collusion when somebody knows about the crime when it is being commited upon a child, but they do nothing to stop it or don't report it to the authorities.  Parents (and anyone else, for that matter) in the United States are arrested for collusion when they do nothing to protect a child, when someone is hurting or neglecting them.  People can also lose their parental rights, as a result.

The reason for this is because children are powerless in the world and it's the always the responsibility of adults to protect them from harm. It's as simple as that.