283 Improving US national data on child maltreatment fatalities

Underascertainment of child maltreatment fatalities by death certificates, 1990-1998.

OBJECTIVE Child fatality review teams have emerged across the United States in the past decade to address the concern that systems of child protection, law enforcement, criminal justice, and medicine do not adequately assess the circumstances surrounding child fatality as a result of maltreatment. METHODS We compared data collected by a multidisciplinary child fatality review team with vital ...

Commentary: the review of child maltreatment fatalities: snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

IN THE UNIVERSE of reported cases of abuse and neglect, the children who die as a result of the acts of commission or omission by their caretakers are a very small minority. Less than one per thousand of all cases reported to Child Protective Services agencies in the United States are fatal, nevertheless, it is these cases that make the headlines and are the ultimate failure of our society to p...

Pediatricians' Role in Preventing Child Maltreatment Fatalities: A Call to Action.

At least 1500 children die every year at the hands of those who are supposed to care for and protect them. We say “at least” because we do not have reliable data about the number of deaths from child maltreatment. There is no national standard for counting these deaths, and the data about child fatalities come from multiple sources that do not coordinate or share data. Most experts, including t...

Improving Pool Fencing Legislation in Queensland, Australia: Attitudes and Impact on Child Drowning Fatalities

Four-sided, non-climbable pool fencing is an effective strategy for preventing children from drowning in home swimming pools. In 2009, the Queensland Government introduced legislation to improve the effectiveness of pool fencing. This study explores community attitudes towards the effectiveness of these legislative changes and examines child (<5 years) drowning deaths in pools. Data from the 20...

Multilevel developmental perspectives on child maltreatment.