child-homicides

[News article follows]

MEDIA RELEASE

Contact: Suzanne Metcalf, (919) 274-8856

suzanne@ncchild.org

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Collateral Damage on the Home Front: Child abuse homicides within military families and communities in North Carolina are the highest in the state

A brief issued by the North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute, finds that children in Cumberland and Onslow County military families are 2 times more likely to be killed by their parents (or other caregivers) than other children in North Carolina.

[NOTE: the full text of this report is online here]

"In this 16-year study time period, the long-term patterns of child abuse homicides are not coincidence," said Marcia Herman-Giddens, Adjunct Professor School of Public Health UNC-Chapel Hill and Sr. Fellow with the NC Child Advocacy Institute. "They suggest problems in and around North Carolina military families and military communities that predictably result in a consistently high number and rate of child abuse homicides than in non-military communities."

The brief highlights facts, recommendations and background information.

In the period 1985-2000 in North Carolina, there were 378 child abuse homicides of children from birth through 10 years of age. That computes to an annual rate of 2.2 deaths per 100,000 children.

Of North Carolina’s 100 counties, 88 had fewer than 8 child abuse homicides during this period. (Of these, 26 smaller counties had none.)

In Cumberland and Onslow counties, home to the state’s largest military bases, 58 child abuse homicides occurred during these years, of which 35 were in military families. Stated another way, Cumberland and Onslow account for 2% of NC’s counties, 7% of NC’s children, and 15% of NC’s child abuse homicides.

In Cumberland County (Ft. Bragg and Pope Air Force Base), the annual child abuse homicide rate for children of military families was approximately 5.0 per 100,000 children (0-10) over the same 16-year period. Rates were also higher (4.4) than the state average for non-military children in Cumberland County indicating community-wide problems and needs.

For Onslow County (Camp Lejeune/New River Air Station) children of military families, the annual child abuse homicide rate was approximately 4.9 per 100,000 from 1985 through 2000. As with Cumberland County, rates were also higher (3.2) than the state average for non-military children, again indicating problems broader than those stemming from the military installation itself.

Child abuse homicides are neither inevitable nor acceptable, and all are preventable. Although military installations have many laudable programs and interventions to reduce child abuse and other family violence, strategies with sufficient effectiveness may be lacking, missing, inadequate and/or programs may also be undermined by other influences on military families as well as among civilian families.

Action could and should be taken at the local, state and national levels to reduce child abuse homicides within North Carolina military families and the communities surrounding installations and within the rest of our state and nation. The data in this report have been presented to numerous military and public groups in the past two years. Though there have been a number of new initiatives due to our findings, we believe more needs to be done as the problem continues. We also need to learn if this is a national problem and are now seeking a wider audience.

Most importantly:

There should be a national study of all installations to determine whether the higher child abuse homicide rates in these NC military families are also found in military families in other states.

The Department of Defense must initiate a data collection system for victims of family violence, both children and adults, that captures all cases. The data should include appropriate epidemiological detail and be available to the public for prevention research.

Current prevention, treatment, and support services available to military families should be examined for effectiveness and expanded with a coordinated response to family violence to reduce both spousal and child abuse.

The North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute is a non-profit, independent organization based in Raleigh. Since 1983, NCCAI has worked to make North Carolina a better place in which to be a child and to raise a child. More available at www.ncchild.org.

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http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=military&Story=6579598

Fayetteville NC Observer

Published on: 2004-09-24

Defense Dept. to seek more child abuse data

By Andrew Barksdale
Staff writer

The Department of Defense plans to seek more information about fatal child-abuse cases involving military families, a spokesman said Thursday.

Lt. Col. Joe Richard, a Pentagon spokesman, said the government is in the final stages of requiring military installations to notify the Defense Department of any deaths related to child or spousal abuse. The department will use the data to spot trends.

Additionally, he said, each branch of the military hopes to establish by the end of this year child fatality review committees to identify ways to prevent abuse. The Defense Department and the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative of Arizona began training military leaders this summer on how to set up the review committees.

The N.C. Child Advocacy Institute says a national study of child-abuse homicides is needed if officials are going to better understand the issue. The institute found that over a 16-year period, children in military families in Cumberland and Onslow counties were twice as likely to be killed by their parents or other caregiver than children statewide.

Marcia Herman-Giddens, a pediatric physician associate and a senior fellow with the institute, said young, poor families are most at risk of child abuse. In almost every case of abuse in the study, the father, stepfather or boyfriend was responsible for the child's homicide, she said.

"The bottom line is we don't really understand clearly what causes someone to lose control or deliberately lash out," she said.

The rate of child abuse homicide among families with at least one active-duty parent in Cumberland County was 5 per 100,000 from 1985 to 2000.

The statewide rate during that period was 2.2.

Herman-Giddens said she began sharing this data with military and congressional leaders two years ago but has received little response. She said the military, however, has expanded programs aimed at reducing child or spousal abuse.

"Regrettably, our data show that more needs to be done," she said.

Tom Vitaglione, executive director of the nonprofit institute, said he doubts that the military trend is unique to North Carolina.

"We are worried that this is not just a North Carolina problem but a national phenomena," he said.

The institute, which is based in Raleigh, held a news conference Thursday at the Cumberland County Department of Social Services. No one from the military attended, but Fort Bragg officials have invited the press to attend a discussion this morning on the topic. Col. Al Aycock, garrison commander of Fort Bragg, is among the scheduled speakers.

In a phone interview after Thursday's conference, Richard said the Defense Department "has been working on initiatives that address and achieve the goals of the institute's recommendation for a national study."

Richard said the military offers a variety of programs to pregnant women, their spouses and parents of young children aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect.

Dean Mitchell, chief of staff for Congressman Mike McIntyre, said the institute's call for a national study of military installations "is meritorious and deserves serious attention."

McIntyre, a Democrat from Lumberton, is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and co-chairman of a congressional task force on children and families.

Dr. Howard Loughlin, chairman of the board of directors for the Fayetteville Child Advocacy Center, said the issue is a community problem that affects more than just military families.He said the institute's study does not identify the risk factors, but he hopes those answers will come from a task force that the local Board of Social Services began forming this summer on the issue.

Staff writer Andrew Barksdale can be reached at barksdalea@fayettevillenc.com or 486-3565.