Study finds nearly 1 in 50 infants are abused
In Utah, the rate among children younger than a year old 1 in 100 is half of the national rate reported in the study, according to state Division of Child and Family Services figures.
Researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted more than 91,000 infant victims of abuse and neglect from Oct. 1, 2005, to Sept. 30, 2006. In that same time period, 1,039 infants in Utah were abused, according to DCFS.
Most of the cases involved neglect, not physical abuse.
State statistics for abuse of children a week old or younger matched the national number, as nearly a third of the victims were newborn.
The chief contributing factor is domestic violence. However, maternal drug use was a contributing factor nationally and locally in the child neglect cases. About 18 percent of those cases in Utah were neglect due to alcohol use, including fetal alcohol syndrome and neglect due to methamphetamine abuse.
"That is the story here," said Dr. Howard Dubowitz, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
The information came from a national database of cases verified by protective services agencies in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Other studies have looked at national child abuse and neglect cases, but this is believed to be the first to focus on infants, said study co-author Rebecca Leeb, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The results mirror what a study in Canada found, said Leeb, a CDC epidemiologist.
"We certainly were distressed" by the study's results, said Ileana Arias, director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
"It's a picture you don't want to imagine that this number of infants is being mistreated," Arias added.
Only about 13 percent of the newborn cases were counted as physical abuse, meaning the large majority involved neglect.
Federal officials define neglect as a failure to meet a child's basic needs, including housing, clothing, feeding and access to medical care.
Things like abandonment and newborn drug addiction would qualify as neglect, not things like parents learning how to be parents," Leeb said.
Duane Betournay, DCFS executive director, said Utah may have half the national rate of abuse, but the severity of the incidents and time of abuse are about the same.
Recent comments
Immunize your kids. Seriously. We have vaccines to prevent all of...
RE: good mom | April 4, 2008 at 6:48 p.m.
Autism isn't caused by immunization; that is also another persons...
BTW | April 4, 2008 at 5:15 p.m.
Maybe you aren't as "good mom" as you claim to be. Did you even read...
To: good mom | April 4, 2008 at 5:12 p.m.
- World datelines 10:55 p.m.
- Experts to advise on arthritis options 10:54 p.m.
- Pakistani refugees returning home 10:54 p.m.
- Uighur women leading protests 10:53 p.m.
- 7 beheaded by Islamists in Somalia 10:53 p.m.
- Deaths raise British doubts on war 10:53 p.m.
- Obama: Global collapse avoided 10:52 p.m.
- 10 years after the flood 10:50 p.m.
- Utahns among Texans' investors 10:45 p.m.
- RSL plays hardball, Yura stays put 10:44 p.m.
- LDS seminary principal arrested
- Jazz talking Boozer trade?
- Reactions on Boozer speculation
- Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
- Blazers offer Millsap 4-year deal
- Jazz in back of line for free agents
- A primer for the 6th Potter film
- Okur signs two-year extension
- Jazz won't meet Lopez on Europe trip
- Restaurant destroyed by fire
- Letters: Palin mistreated
142 - Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
141 - LDS seminary principal arrested
137 - Jazz talking Boozer trade?
136 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
123 - Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
94 - Fairness of BCS debated
81 - Blazers offer Millsap 4-year deal
78 - Chaffetz eyes challenging Bennett
74 - Letters: Single-payer system best
71
By now you've probably read about the investigation that showed just how...
Here's BYU's press release on Jonathan Tavernari's big game for the...
Thank you, Bishop Wester, for all of the goodness you add to our community.
Why is everyone coming down on Millsap? He's only 24 years old, hasnt hit...
> Every single student I know with whom he came in contact adored him. I...
Very intelligent, chrismatic, and socialy gifted people easily eliciting the...
Boozer doesn't have that much value until he gets games under his belt. Calm...
IF BOOZER AND MILSAP ARE WORTH 12.8 AND 8 MILLION A YEAR THEY HAVE TO BE...
I have an idea, lets tax the people who go to years and years of school and...
Your right borhter pratt is a good man but its still a crime that hurt more...
I hope everything goes well for the owner and the family and the employs god...
Just give you an example? Hows this: all of these social programs and huge...

