Child deaths from abuse, neglect drop in Texas

AUSTIN - The number of Texas children who died from abuse or neglect appears to have dropped for the third consecutive year in the fiscal year that ended last month, state officials this week told a legislative committee.

The decline is welcome news for a state that in recent years has led the country in that type of tragedy, but advocates said it may be partially explained by a change in the official definition of neglect.

John Specia, commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services, told the state House Select Committee on Child Protection that a preliminary look at data that will be finalized this winter indicates that 149 children died in the last 12 months as a result of confirmed abuse or neglect. That is down from 156 in the fiscal year that ended in September 2013, 212 in the fiscal year before that and 231 in the one before that.

Notably, just three of the confirmed fatalities in the just-ended fiscal year were children in foster care, a stark dip from last fiscal year's record high of 10, Specia said.

Overall, reported child fatalities have dropped from 973 in fiscal year 2011 to 773 in the 2014 fiscal year, the commissioner said.

"This is pretty staggering to go down from 1,000 to 773 at a time when the population is increasing," said state Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, in response to the testimony.

Specia attributed the trend to renewed attention on the issue of child abuse as well as investment in some prevention programs.

However, Madeline McClure of the anti-abuse advocacy group TexProtects said there may be reasons that are less impressive.

"Other factors may be at play including a stricter definition of Neglectful Supervision Fatalities, and that medical professionals are better at keeping children alive who are near-fatal," said McClure, executive director of the Austin-based group.

The issue of child abuse has gotten extra attention this year after the spike in abuse or neglect deaths of foster children, from two in fiscal year 2012 to the record 10 in fiscal year 2013.

Texas has also recently ranked first in the nation in total child abuse or neglect deaths - although notably, not in per-capita deaths - in the Child Maltreatment report put out by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

House Speaker Joe Straus created the select committee this spring. Monday was its last meeting before issuing recommendations.

Among those who testified was Susan Dreyfus, a former state health official in Washington state and Wisconsin and current member of the National Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities.

Dreyfus said after the meeting that while she could not comment specifically on the Texas numbers, the national commission has found that reports of child abuse are dropping across the country.

"However, in many cases, recent changes in law or policy call into question whether these declines show a true drop in fatalities," she said. "This is difficult when we cannot be confident that the same types of deaths are being counted in each state and each locality, in the same way, from place to place and year to year."