DCS releases report detailing child deaths

The Indiana Department of Child Services released a report Monday revealing instances of unemployment, low income, substance abuse and domestic violence in instances citing child abuse.

The DCS released the latest child-fatality data during a news conference at the Statehouse on Monday.

The DCS reviewed at least 292 child deaths during the state’s 2011 fiscal year, varying in causes, according to a news release. Causes ranged from medical conditions to drowning, unsafe sleeping conditions in the home, abuse and neglect.  

Unsafe sleeping conditions accounted for 82 percent of reported fatalities, according to the report.

The report also specifically cited 40 child deaths directly resulting from abuse or neglect.

Among those children who died from abuse or neglect, a pattern of one or more significant stress factors were found in many cases.

Stress factors include unemployment, low income, substance abuse or domestic violence. In some cases, multiple stress factors were found in a single home.

“When you have a child, and particularly a small child, left in the care of someone with no emotional bond with the child, with low to no parenting skills and managing multiple stressors, tragedy can happen in an instant,” DCS Chief of Staff John Ryan said in the release.

The report also found a pattern of child deaths at the hands of parents’ intimate partners, which is a trend that has continued from year to year.

DCS local officers conducted an informal inquiry with law enforcement agencies across the state in late 2012 to discover their observations on the most significant risk to child safety in their communities. Substance abuse was the most commonly cited risk to children’s safety in the home, according to the release.

According to the release, of the children who died from abuse, 48 percent were younger than the age of 1 years old. Of the neglect deaths, 38 percent were younger than the age of 1 years old as well.

The DCS aims to help tens of thousands of families each year and filed more than 10,600 child-protection court cases in 2011.

“Our infants and toddlers are often isolated at those ages, and there aren’t as many eyes to see them as school-age children,” Ryan said. “And smaller children take a lot of supervision, care and patience — which may be too much to ask of someone with low or poor parenting skills or dealing with multiple stress factors.”

In order to prevent even more deaths, DCS Director Mary Beth Bonaventura said the agency will take a “360-degree” look at the problem, according to the release.

“What we’re seeing is that the problems leading to this epidemic are bigger than DCS can tackle alone,” Bonaventura said in the release. “We need the help of these bodies to get to the root of these problems in communities across Indiana and to get agencies working together and investing together to combat many of these stress issues before they escalate into abuse or neglect — or worse.”

Bonaventura said she will be taking the abuse and neglect report data to the Indiana Statewide Child Fatality Review Committee and the newly established Commission on Children, according to the release.

“We need all Hoosiers to remember that they are first responders when it comes to reporting child abuse and neglect,” Bonaventura said. “If you see something, please say something.”