IOWA News

Crisis Child Care, a unique program in Marshall County that provides
temporary child care for families in need of support, is celebrating its
20-year anniversary in the county."Crisis Child Care is very
important because when emergency situations arise, it gives families an
option so that their children do not have to put in less-than-ideal
situations," said Stephanie Whitmore, Crisis Child Care Program director
with Marshall County Child Abuse Prevention Services.The program
recognizes that every family, regardless how much they plan for
emergencies, may run into a situation where they could use some help,
Whitmore said. Families can utilize the program for children who are up
to 12 years old and reside in Marshall County.Because the program
is totally confidential, names are not released. However, one recent
participant in the program said, "When I was in my accident, Crisis Care
was right there. I was hospitalized and had no one to help with my
kids. My kids had a great time."The program is free for families,
and the providers are all registered and contracted with CAPS. These
providers participate in a variety of trainings and certificates.The
child care is just one of the services offered through the program."We
are also working with the family to understand what the issues are and
if any follow-up services are needed," Whitmore said.The program
is mainly funded through grants, but CAPS also does some fundraising for
it.A Walk-A-Thon for Crisis Child Care is planned from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m. June 19 at the track at Franklin Elementary School.There
will be free refreshments, T-shirts for $6 and raffle tickets for many
different prizes for $1 each.

Iowa child abuse, neglect cases in '11: 8 deaths, but many mysteries

Experts decry the lack of public information about the cases.

10:33 PM, Dec. 31, 2011

The deaths of at least eight young children in Iowa in 2011 allegedly resulted from abuse or neglect.

The state has conducted child abuse investigations in all eight cases, but
Iowans know little about those deaths. In five cases, the cause of death
hasn’t been disclosed or isn’t known yet, and authorities won’t even
release the names of the dead children in three cases.

Neither the number of deaths, tallied through Dec. 1, nor the lack of information released about them was unusual, however.

In fact, child abuse prevention advocates say budget cuts, slower data
collection by the state and confidentiality roadblocks mean Iowans know
less about child deaths today than they did about similar cases in the
last several years.

But two national advocates, who usually oppose
one another in their approaches to better child protection, agree that
the lack of information available about child maltreatment deaths is a
nationwide problem.

Both advocates say that more information
should be released in cases of alleged abuse and that data should be
standardized, in an effort to reduce abuse deaths.

The secrecy and confidentiality surrounding death reports is particularly disturbing
because three recent peer-reviewed studies have found abuse fatalities
are underestimated by 50 to 300 percent, according to Michael Petit, a
former commissioner of Maine’s Department of Human Services.

“Confidentialitylaws were designed to protect children. They don’t,” said Petit, who
founded the national advocacy group called Every Child Matters after
previously working with the Child Welfare League of America. “They
shield the public from understanding how inadequate the current child
protection system is.”

Richard Wexler, executive director of the
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said no state in the
country is open enough about child abuse cases.

He advocates opening most child abuse hearings in court and releasing all records
kept by state agencies and law enforcement that shed light on such cases.
“If you are serious about openness, you’ve got to be able to see the whole picture,” he said.
Authorities block release of names

Iowa law has allowed the results of child abuse investigations to be
made public in fatal or near-fatal abuse cases, following a series of
high-profile deaths from 2000 to 2005.

But the law also allows county prosecutors to block the release of reports when criminal
investigations are ongoing, and authorities have repeatedly done so —
including in seven of the eight fatalities in 2011 allegedly caused by
abuse or neglect.

The scant details provided by law enforcement
suggest two of those children most likely died of asphyxia or
suffocation. One died of head trauma while in the care of his father.

Iowa’s Department of Human Services declined last month to make public any
additional information about any of the deaths but one: Council Bluffs
infant Lane Thomas, who died while sleeping in the care of his sitter.

DHS officials declined to release the names of three of the eight children
who were known to the state — but not to the public — after county
prosecutors blocked the release of child abuse investigations.

The agency also declined to reveal how many of the eight children who died
were known already to the child welfare system because of prior abuse.

Every year, at least one or two children already known to the state’s child
welfare system dies. DHS spokesman Roger Munns said the number was
similar this year. From 2005 to 2009, six of 47 children who died had
some prior connection with the child welfare system.

Child death prevention experts say the statistics that are collected suggest Iowa’s
child death figure is low compared with totals in other states.
Iowa child deaths related to abuse or neglect peaked last in 2003, when at least 16 children were killed, the Register found.
Budget cut affects data on child deaths

From 1995 to 2009, Iowa had a child death review team that researched
cases annually. But that group lost all of its $40,000 in state funding
in 2009.

Since then, a volunteer group has been meeting under the
direction of the state medical examiner’s office in hopes of reducing
child deaths. But without a full-time coordinator to analyze reports and
gather information, progress has been slow.

“We’re in the final
stages of working on a joint report for 2008 and 2009, and should have
something to report in the next couple of weeks,” John Kraemer, director
of forensics operations for the medical examiner’s office, said in
December. “In January and February, we will work on 2010.”

Kraemer said 19 volunteers serve on the team, representing a mix of specialties from domestic violence to pediatrics to trauma.

However, no new findings or recommendations related to the prevention of child deaths in Iowa have been issued since 2007.

The research and recommendations of the child review death team previously
helped lead to numerous changes in state law, new policies in child
protection, and public awareness campaigns aimed at saving more lives.

Among them: a renewed focus on the safety of newborns, who were six times
more likely to die than other children, according to the child death
team’s statistics; and a nationally recognized campaign to thwart shaken
baby syndrome, which the team found was a leading cause of homicide in
young children.

Steve Scott, who heads Prevent Child Abuse Iowa,
said the information is sorely missed. His agency formerly tried to
track deaths on its own, but information reported in newspapers was “hit
and miss,” he said.

While the volunteer child death review team
hopes to issue new research this year, the slow flow of information and
lack of interest hinders both state and national attempts to improve
prevention efforts, Scott and others said.

Dr. Mariannette
Miller-Meeks, who heads the Iowa Department of Public Health, said her
agency is examining how the research was transferred to the
quasi-independent medical examiner’s office. However, she said, she has
neither asked for the research to be returned to the health department
nor asked for money in her budget to expedite the research.

Tim Albrecht, Gov. Terry Branstad’s spokesman, said no decisions regarding
funding for the child death review team have been made for next year.
“Budget hearings for all departments are ongoing,” he said in a statement. “We will review all departments and their programs.”
Pressure building for national effort

States voluntarily report data to the National Child Abuse and
Neglect Data System. But nearly half of states report only maltreatment
deaths known to child welfare systems. Many children who die from abuse
are never known to state systems, according to a Government
Accountability Office report that was published in July..

Every Child Matters, Petit’s group, has been working with members of Congress
to try to modify existing confidentiality laws to “allow policymakers,
the press and the public to understand better what protection policies
and practices need to be improved in the aftermath of a child’s death,
while still protecting the rights of children and families.”

While child abuse death rates overall have declined during the last decade,
the number is still unacceptable, Petit said. The number of abuse deaths
during that time is greater than the number of U.S. military members
who have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

“Even to this day, even after the death of 25,000 kids (in 10 years), there is no national
press coverage on this issue,” Petit lamented.

A bill pending before a Senate subcommittee on which Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin serves
would mandate creation of a comprehensive national strategy for reducing
child fatalities that are the result of abuse or neglect.

“The Senate HELP Subcommittee on Children and Families has just had a hearing
on relevant issues and we are continuing to explore next steps,” said
Kate Cyrul, a Harkin spokeswoman.