Texas Department of Family and Protective Services releases child fatality report
TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — The Department of Family and Protective Services and the Office of Child Safety recently released its annual report on child fatalities for 2022.
It begins by reminding that with more than 7 million children in Texas, "the safety net that exists to protect children and help them reach their greatest potential begins at home."
The report reviews the different causes of death and identifies risk factors and commonalities across confirmed child abuse and neglect fatalities. It also analyzes different points of DFPS involvement where a child died and how often past involvement corresponded to the abuse or neglect.
Some of its general findings include:
- In 2022, 182 children died due to abuse and neglect in Texas.
- Dallas and Denton Counties had the same number of child fatalities last year – 7.
- Tarrant County had 13 child fatalities and Harris County had 28.
- The most common causes of fatalities involving neglect were drowning, unsafe sleep, and physical neglect and medical neglect deaths.
- There were decreases in most causes of child deaths including in vehicle-related, unsafe sleep, neglectful supervision and drownings.
The report identifies specific risk factors associated with child maltreatment and how often those factors appeared in confirmed child deaths. These risk factors include children who are 3 or under, families with a history of child maltreatment, substance abuse, parental mental health concerns and domestic violence in the home. Children with special needs or medical concerns also may be at heightened risk for abuse or neglect.
The report also described victims:
- Children 3 years of age and younger continue to suffer the most confirmed child abuse and neglect-related fatalities. It's a trend that has continued for the last decade; making up almost 80% of all confirmed child abuse and neglect deaths.
- During 2022, children 3 years old and younger made up 61% of abuse and neglect deaths, with male kids making up more than half of all confirmed abuse and neglect-related fatalities.
- In 2022, Hispanic children accounted for the largest percentage of children who died from abuse or neglect. The per capita rate for African-American children who die from maltreatment continues to be higher than any other ethnicity in Texas. That is also true across the United States.
The report also identifies who is abusing and killing children, with a father or boyfriend as the most common perpetrator. Physical abuse resulting in death most often involved blunt force trauma, or deliberate infliction of harm.
Parents continue to be the most common perpetrators though.
Domestic violence is often a precursor to child maltreatment and often an indicator to larger issues in the home, according to the report.
A history of domestic violence was identified in 107 case reviews. And for the 63 child fatalities where the family had a history of domestic violence, 66% of those child deaths were due to physical abuse.
As with other risk factors, the report sites concern that people are underreporting active domestic violence either to the department, law enforcement or to community providers.
The Office of Child Safety also determined that in 2022, there were 19 confirmed child fatalities due to abuse or neglect that happened during an active stage of service with DFPS.
Prevention and Early Intervention
The following resources target specific issues that lead to child abuse and neglect, including fatalities.
- Get Parenting Tips on how to connect with community-based resources.
- Don't be in the Dark on selecting regulated child care.
- Videos: Animated and real-life videos for parents of all ages.
- Local Support: Resources for concrete support in your area.
- Free Downloads: Colorful resources, including an annual calendar with parenting tips for each month of the year.
