Oklahoma Leads Nation In Child Death Rate

From the Associated Press...

The Office of Child Abuse Prevention's annual report for 2007 says nearly 5 out of every 100,000 Oklahoma children died of abuse or neglect in 2005, which is the most recent data available.That rate represents a 42 percent increase since 1996 and is the highest of all states, according to child abuse statistics compiled at Cornell University. However, Oklahoma's child welfare officials dispute the methods used for the comparison.

Oklahoma's child death tally includes children who die from causes like drowning that other states might report as accidental deaths, or not report at all, said Mary Leaver, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services."We try to focus on bringing those numbers down rather than trying to compare ourselves statistically with other states," Leaver said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hopes to reduce the rate of child abuse and neglect 20 percent by 2010 and cut the amount of deaths from maltreatment by 12 percent. Nationwide, the number of child maltreatment cases reported has decreased about 3 percent since 2001, while the number of deaths from maltreatment has remained relatively static, according to the report.

"I can tell you even before this report I have been very concerned about the number of children in Oklahoma who die each year even though they may be in DHS custody," said state Rep. Kris Steele, R-Shawnee. Steele in 2006 was the author of the Kelsey Smith Briggs Act, which establishes a stronger review process in child abuse cases and allows judges and child welfare workers to seek help from law enforcement officers. The act was named for a 2-year-old Meeker girl who died in 2005 of abuse.

"I believe we can do better," Steele said.

The report also said Oklahoma fared poorly in terms of child maltreatment in general, ranking 44th in the nation with 16.3 out of every 1,000 children reporting maltreatment.Maltreatment combines abuse and neglect cases.In a majority of child deaths from neglect or abuse, the mother was responsible about 56 percent of the time, followed by the father in 29 percent of cases. Only 15 percent of cases were blamed on others, including grandparents, baby sitters, foster parents and male live-in friends combined.