House Explores Plan for Reducing Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities in U.S.

August 9, 2011

A congressional hearing held about child deaths due to maltreatment called on national experts to explain why the number of child deaths has been undercounted. The hearing coincided with the release of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on child abuse and neglect deaths associated with the child welfare system.

GAO report, Child Maltreatment: Strengthening National Data on Child Fatalities Could Aid Prevention PDF

Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, called for the hearing when he was presented with a petition including more than 8,000 signatures during a congressional briefing on child abuse deaths hosted by the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths (NCECAD) in April.

Human Resources Subcommittee Chairman Geoff Davis (R-KY) opened the hearing with remarks about the “transience of hype” that comes with high profile child abuse cases. He challenged committee members and the hearing speakers to consider gaps, but also to identify ways that better information in the system can help caregivers prevent future tragedies.

Findings from the long awaited GAO report, Child Maltreatment: Strengthening National Data on Child Fatalities Could Aid Prevention, were presented at the hearing. In addition, child welfare experts made recommendations for what can be done to reduce child fatalities.

Hearing witnesses included:

Kay E. Brown presented the GAO’s new report which focuses on the whether or not the federal National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) accurately or completely captures the number or circumstances of child abuse and neglect fatalities. Their conclusion: it does not.

NCANDS reported 1,770 child abuse and neglect related fatalities in 2009, but the GAO report cited a peer reviewed study of fatal maltreatment in three states and found that the deaths were undercounted by 55 to 76 percent. The more likely number of child abuse and neglect related fatalities is 2,500—an estimate provided by the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths.

The GAO report further concludes that reducing preventable fatalities requires complete and reliable data based on commonly understood definitions of maltreatment and the systematic evaluation of the causes and circumstances of these deaths.

Tamara Tunie, who portrays a medical examiner on the hit television show Law & Order: SVU also testified. She said, “On Law and Order, we investigate fictionalized crimes and often deal with difficult storylines, but nothing compares to the real and tragic cases we hear about with increasing regularity in this country. Since becoming the Coalition’s spokesperson, I have learned about the thousands of American children dying at the hands of those who are supposed to love and protect them. The need for action is critical, beginning with raising awareness.”

Teri Covington from the National Center on Child Death Review (member of NCECAD) agreed with most of the findings in the GAO report. However, Covington also recommended the creation of a National Commission to End Child Abuse Deaths to study the complexities of the issue and offer national solutions to the GAO report findings. She ended her testimony addressing the House Committee on Ways in Means: “I ask that tonight you think about the seven, and maybe even eight or nine or ten children, who died today because someone who is supposed to tuck them in at night killed them instead. Tomorrow, please use your power on this committee to take action to keep our children alive.”

Michael Petit, President of Every Child Matters Education Fund, presented NCECAD’s proposed national strategies for decreasing and ultimately preventing these tragic deaths. He suggested the development of model protocols to ensure that both civil and criminal legal proceedings in child welfare cases are closely coordinated with relevant agencies. Petit said, "Included in this multidisciplinary protocol should be the efforts of law enforcement, prosecutors, child welfare workers and also medical professionals, who may be the first to come into contact with an abused child.”