PITTSBURGH -- As Pittsburgh sees a rise in local cases of child abuse deaths, a new report shows that abuse and neglect kills more kids in the United States -- five every day -- than in any other industrialized nation.
"This is a report sure to sadden and perhaps to anger," wrote Michael Petit, president of
Every Child Matters Education Fund, which released the report. "How could it be otherwise when we look at the innocent faces of children whose lives were cut short by abuse or neglect?"
The report -- "We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in America" -- found that at least 10,440 American children died from abuse or neglect between 2001 and 2007. It noted that the number of children killed could top 15,660, but poor record-keeping could have missed many deaths.
In Pennsylvania, the report found that at least 308 children died from abuse or neglect from 2001 to 2007.
"We have seen a fairly dramatic increase in the last part of 2008 and the first part of 2009," said Dr. Janet Squires, director of the
Child Advocacy Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
Squires said Children's Hospital was used to seeing 10 to 15 children a year with serious brain injuries. In 2008, it saw 36 cases and eight deaths.
The Pittsburgh hospital is doing a national study to figure out if that drastic rise is linked to the struggling economy.
"I think when families don't have resources and adults are under stress, they don't have self-control, and sometimes in a moment of frustration and anger, they do something to a child they didn't want to do," said Squires. "They didn't think about it or plan it, but they lash out, and a child can get hurt irreparably."
Squires isn't sure when the Children's Hospital study will be finished, but in the meantime, she wants to encourage parents to get help if they need it.
"What happens is the children are crying, often in the middle of the night when adults are tired, and adults lose it, and that's the cause of most child abuse," said Squires. "I'm not excusing it, but we have to understand it and do something to intervene and prevent it."
The national report released on Wednesday found that, of the 721, 646 children confirmed abused and neglected nationwide in 2007:
60 percent did not receive proper food, clothing, shelter, hygiene, education, medical care or protection. 13 percent suffered from multiple maltreatments. 11 percent were physically abused. 8 percent were sexually abused. 4 percent suffered from emotional abuse. 1 percent suffered from medical neglect. 4 percent suffered from other mistreatment such as abandonment, threats, and congenital drug addiction. 50 percent or more of child abuse and neglect cases are associated with alcohol or drug abuse by parents. Compared with other rich countries, the United States child death rate is off the scale. The U.S. rate is three times higher than Canada's and 11 times higher than Italy's. The closest to the U.S. rate is France with 1.4 children out of 100,000 dying due to abuse or neglect -- 2.4 out of 100,000 die in America.
"Much can be done to reduce these child abuse and neglect deaths. There exists a vast body of knowledge about healthy child growth and development, including how to prevent abuse in the first place," wrote Petit. His preface to the report went on to say that "…despite the best efforts of the many who work daily to address this problem, we continue to fall far short in applying our knowledge."
The report said that there are many reasons the United States has such a high rate of child deaths compared to the rest of the world, including overworked child protection workers and a lack of public awareness.
The Every Child Matters Education Fund called on lawmakers to strengthen federal standards, increase funding and create more public awareness across the board.
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