NEWS

Report: 10 Ky. kids died last year from abuse

Deborah Yetter
Louisville Courier Journal

Ten Kentucky children died last year from abuse and neglect and another 32 suffered life-threatening injuries, according to the latest annual report of such statistics from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

The leading cause of death and serious injury from physical abuse remains abusive head trauma, in which children and infants suffer severe head injuries inflicted by an adult.

And drug and alcohol abuse and family violence play a major role in such deaths and injuries, according to the "Child Abuse and Neglect Annual Report of Child Fatalities and Near Fatalities."

The report looks at cases for the latest fiscal year that ended June 30.

More Ky kids being removed for abuse or neglect

The numbers of such deaths and injuries has decreased in recent years, after Kentucky led the nation in child deaths in 2007 with 41 dying from abuse or neglect.

But child advocates remain troubled that children continue to die or suffer life-threatening injuries at the hands of adults who are supposed to protect them.

"I think those statistics are troubling even if you have even one child who dies at the hands of a caregiver," said Paula Sherlock, chief judge of Jefferson Family Court.

Sherlock said she also is alarmed that abusive head trauma continues to be the leading cause of child abuse deaths and injuries despite major efforts under a new state law to increase education for new parents and professionals such as nurses, doctors and others.

"That statistic doesn't seem to change," Sherlock said. "It's really disheartening."

Cases growing

Roger Crittenden, chairman of an outside state panel formed to review the cases of children who die or suffer serious injuries from abuse or neglect, said he hopes the work of his 17-member group can identify areas for improvement or action that might reduce deaths and injuries.

Crittenden, a retired Franklin Circuit Court judge, leads the Child Fatality Review Panel created in 2012.

"We see a lot of abusive head trauma," he said, adding that the panel is drafting a letter to send to hospitals throughout the state to ask for help in expanding education about the dangers of head injuries to infants and children.

Meanwhile, the cabinet is managing a growing number of cases of abuse and neglect, a trend experienced by other states, including Indiana, that officials attribute to drug abuse, including heroin.

Last year, the cabinet received about 106,000 reports of suspected abuse or neglect, significantly higher than the previous year's total of 73,700, the report said. Of those reports, cabinet social workers substantiated abuse and neglect in 12,900 cases, up from the previous year's number of 11,120.

Citing a growing caseload, Teresa James, Kentucky's commissioner of social services, recently said the cabinet will ask for "millions of dollars" from the legislature in 2016 to hire more staff and increase the pay of social workers, who start at about $32,000 a year.

Last year the cabinet reported 16 child deaths and 51 near-deaths from abuse or neglect, but those numbers were revised upward after more information about cases came in after the Sept. 1, 2014, reporting deadline. It initially reported 12 deaths and 29 severe injuries from abuse or neglect.

This year's numbers also are subject to change as more information about cases under investigation becomes available, the report said.

Prior social service involvement

The report also examines cases over the past five years in which a total of 331 children died or nearly died from abuse or neglect. Of those children, 201 — more than half — had experienced previous involvement with state social service officials either directly or through another family member, the report said.

Some children had come to the attention of state social service officials multiple times, with as many as six or more previous reports of suspected abuse or neglect.

State social service officials had substantiated repeated abuse or neglect in about 11 percent of the 201 cases reviewed in the report.

The report notes that cabinet officials review such cases with an eye toward identifying missed opportunities to help a child or a family, better train workers and improve its procedures.

Child abuse deaths continue

Crittenden said the outside panel has noticed that in a number of cases of deaths and serious injuries it reviews, social service officials had received numerous previous reports of suspected abuse or neglect.

Panel members are considering whether there is some way to better identify problems in such cases where a child is eventually killed or nearly killed, he said.

"Maybe if we picked things up sooner, the outcome could have been different," he said.

Sherlock said she hopes the panel's work sheds more light on such cases and how to prevent them.

"That's the missing piece of the puzzle we are all trying to find," she said. "Where did we fail to intervene? What did we do or didn't do."

Crittenden's panel will release its annual report and recommendations later this year.

Reporter Deborah Yetter can be reached at (502) 582-4228 or dyetter@courier-journal.com.