New local projects target child abuse, neglect

The first national study of neglect or abuse in infants has turned up shocking results. About 1 in 50 infants in the U.S. is a victim of non-fatal child neglect or abuse, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday.

More than 91,000 infants were victims of abuse and neglect from Oct. 1, 2005, to Sept. 30, 2006, according to the CDC. Focusing on children younger than 1, the study found that nearly a third were 1 week old or younger when the abuse or neglect occurred.

Most of these cases involved neglect, and may partly reflect families without health insurance that are not getting adequate care for their children, according to one source who saw the data. We can only speculate why children so young and vulnerable are being victimized. Picture a newborn returning home with an exhausted parent who feels overwhelmed, has no support network of family or friends and no health insurance.

Now, with the economy taking a downswing, and food prices and unemployment rising, we can expect the level of abuse to rise with the growing misery. But here in the Triangle, two new programs are reaching out to provide help to parents in the hopes of stemming the tide of abuse.

• Through Durham Connects, a public health program launched in January for all families in Durham, licensed public health nurses visit newborns in their homes, starting when the infants are 2 to 6 weeks old. The nurses check infant and maternal health, parenting readiness, family financial stability and child care. These are areas where researchers have found that, if problems exist, there is an increased risk of child maltreatment. The nurses also give the families referrals for additional support services and information as needed. Because the program is provided to all families regardless of income, no stigma is attached to it. A collaborative research effort to discover ways to reduce community rates of child maltreatment, the program is model for others to follow. Now, why not expand it to allow for newborn visits in their most vulnerable first week of life?

• The $7 million shaken-baby prevention research project brings together child abuse prevention experts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Injury Prevention Research Center and the School of Medicine and Duke University Medical Center. Announced in January, it aims to educate every parent of a baby born in North Carolina each year about the hazards of shaking and give them alternatives to use when they feel they need a break from a crying baby. The first such statewide project in the U.S., it seeks to remedy an apparent problem in North Carolina. In a survey of parents of children younger than 2 in North Carolina, researchers found that more than 2,000 of the children are shaken by a caregiver each year and that serious injuries result for some.

As national attention turns to child abuse, the Triangle, with its wealth of researchers and medical universities, can lead the way in providing community solutions to help parents care for their children. Of course, a national system that provides health insurance for all families would also go a long way to easing the suffering of some of the most vulnerable members of our society.