Child Fatalities Due to Maltreatment
Severe Abuse Leading to Death is a Growing Health Concern
Jun 3, 2009
“Children under five are at highest risk of being killed by a parent: Two-thirds of children from birth to 17 who are killed by a family member are five or under, and 29% are infants under one year of age,” says a 2005 Ministry of Public Works and Government Services report entitled: Canadian incidence study of reported child abuse. Also, children under three are most often killed by shaking (35%) or strangulation (29%), whereas older children and youth are more likely to be killed by firearms.
Despite the efforts of the child protection system, child maltreatment fatalities remain a serious problem. Although the untimely deaths of children due to illness and accidents have been closely monitored, deaths that result from physical assault or severe neglect can be more difficult to track because the perpetrators, usually parents, are less likely to be forthcoming about the circumstances.
Between 1974 and 2001, 1,324 Children Under 18 Were Killed by Family Members
Almost half of child maltreatment investigations occur in loneparent families, most headed by women, and in a bit less than half of investigations (43%) there is no full-time employment in the household.
A history of childhood maltreatment is the most consistently reported characteristic of abusive parents. Research with nine women imprisoned for fatal child abuse revealed childhood histories of maltreatment.
Many Practitioners Believe Child Fatalities Due to Abuse and Neglect are Still Underreported
The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) reported an estimated 1,530 child fatalities in 2006 or 2.04 children per 100,000 children in the general population. NCANDS defines "child fatality" as the death of a child caused by an injury resulting from abuse or neglect, or where abuse or neglect was a contributing factor.
The rate of child abuse and neglect fatalities reported by NCANDS has varied slightly during the last several years beginning with a rate of 1.96 per 100,000 in 2001, increasing to 1.98 in 2002, 2.00 in 2003, 2.03 in 2004, decreasing back to 1.96 in 2005, and increasing to 2.04 in 2006.
Many practitioners believe child fatalities due to abuse and neglect are still underreported. A number of studies, including some funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have suggested that more accurate counts of maltreatment deaths are obtained by linking multiple reporting sources, including death certificates, crime reports, child protective services reports, and child death review records.
Some deaths from maltreatment are likely to occur so quickly that – even where the family member may have wanted to bring the child to emergency medical care – there was no opportunity to do so, and the child’s body was disposed of without an official record.
Violence against children by adults within the family is one of the least visible forms of child maltreatment, as much of it takes place in the privacy of domestic life, but it is nonetheless widely prevalent in all societies.
