News

August 22, 2013
Approximately 1,700 children die of maltreatment every year in the United States, according to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System; however, researchers estimate that the actual number of child fatalities due to abuse and neglect is nearly double that number. During a 13-month health policy fellowship at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), an MU nursing researcher will investigate better ways to identify child maltreatment deaths on death certificates then use this data to estimate a more accurate number of child fatalities due to abuse and neglect nationally.
 

August 22, 2013
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The agency charged with protecting West Virginia's children from abuse and neglect suffers from high staff turnover, consistently fails to do timely investigations and appears unwilling to fix its many shortcomings, according to a legislative audit. 

August 14, 2013
FRANKFORT, KY. — State child-welfare officials said Tuesday they would release records from a previously undisclosed investigation that had found medical neglect in the case of a Louisville infant who subsequently died. 

August 7, 2013
Hours after Texas Child Protective Services removed 5-year-old Tristen from the care of his mother and placed him in a foster home, Tristen's foster parents took him to see a psychiatrist, citing concerns the young boy was depressed. That day, a psychiatrist prescribed Tristen three medications: one for anger, one for depression and one to help the 5-year-old relax. 

August 9, 2013
WRU researchers trace inner-city women's health issues to childhood traumas Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have traced chronic health problems of adult inner-city women to traumas from childhood abuse and neglect. 

July 31, 2013
Some of the children were killed, while others were left severely injured — shaken, beaten, neglected at the hands of parents or others charged with their care. 

FRANKFORT — Child-protection workers told a Franklin Circuit Court judge Tuesday they feared people would not report child abuse and children would be psychologically scarred if uncensored social-worker case files were released to the public.

July 28, 2013
In a public courtroom, Jeff Noble was tried and convicted of manslaughter in the 2010 death of 20-month-old Destiny Tincher. He already is serving a 10-year sentence.

Yet the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services is withholding some details from its investigation of the case — including some already accessible in other public documents — arguing that it is acting out of concern for the mother's mental health and because it may give Destiny's father information “that could escalate the hostilities between the families.” 

July 24, 2013
The ingredients to make it are easily available in hardware stores and pharmacies, and now more children of methamphetamine addicts than ever are falling victim to abuse and neglect as more and more addicts start their own at-home drug laboratories, the Daily Mail reports. 

July 24, 2013
For all of us, the ability to bounce back from life's blows is both essential and remarkable. How do we nurture this strength in the kids who need it most