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Children Need Protection and Care More Than Ever
•In 1996, an estimated 3,126,000 children were reported abused or neglected.1 From 1987 to 1996, the total number of children reported abused
or neglected increased 45%.2
•Every day more than 3 children die as a result of abuse and neglect. In 1996, an
estimated 1,046 children died of abuse and neglect; 82% of the children were under 5 years
old and 43% never reached their first birthday. From 1985 to 1996, the rate of child
fatalities due to abuse and neglect increased 20%.3
•At the end of 1996, an estimated 502,000 children lived in out-of-home care--family
foster care, kinship care, or residential care--up 92% since 1982.4
•In 1995, 30% of all children in out-of-home care were between the ages of 1 and 5.5
•Children in foster care may wait three years or more to find permanent homes.
Children wait almost a year from when they are legally free for adoption until they are
placed in an adoptive home. In 1995, 27,115 children in foster care were adopted. Children
still in care at the end of 1995 spent a median of 22 months in out-of-home care.6
•With more than one-half million children in out-of-home care, there were 164,980
licensed family foster homes in 1995.7
•Violence occurs against both women and children in the same family. Various studies
indicate that between 50 and 70% of men who assaulted their wives also abused their
children.8
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Health Deficits, Lack of Insurance Impede Children's
Development
•More than 11 million children lack health insurance.9 The
majority of uninsured children with asthma and 1 in 3 uninsured children with recurring
ear infections never see a doctor during the year.10
•Mental health problems affect 1 in 5 young people at any given time.11 Approximately 60% of children in out-of-home care have moderate
to severe mental health problems. A substantial number of these children have
psychological problems so serious that they require residential placement. Despite this
level of need, less than one-third of children in the child protective system are
receiving mental health services.12
•Children from families involved with alcohol and other drugs tend to enter
out-of-home care at a younger age and remain in care longer than other children.13
•As many as 80% of drug exposed infants will come to the attention of the child
welfare system before their first birthday.14
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Child Care Needs Include Availability, Quality
•More than 13 million children younger than 6--including 6 million babies and
toddlers--spend some or all of their day being cared for by someone other than their
parents.15
•More than 60% of women with children under age 6 and more than three-quarters of
women with children between the ages of 6 and 17 were in the labor force in 1995.16
•The Government Accounting Office estimates that in the year 2002, the current
school-age child care supply will meet as little as 25% of the demand in some urban areas.17
•Although there are many high-quality programs throughout the country, much of the
child care currently available is of poor quality. Seven of 10 centers provide mediocre
care, and 1 in 8 provides care that is so inadequate that it threatens the health and
safety of children. Only 1 in 7 centers provides a level of care that promotes healthy
development.18
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Many Children and Families Face Harsh Economic
Conditions
•One out of 5 (20.5%) children lived below the poverty line in 1996. The rate was
down slightly from the 1995 rate (20.8%) but remained disproportionately high. Children
made up 27% of the nation's population in 1996, but 40% of the poor. Nearly 1 in 4
children under age 6 (22.7%) lived below the poverty line in 1996.19
•The child poverty rate in 1996 was almost twice as high as that for elderly
Americans. The poverty rate for children in the U.S. increased 36% between 1970 and 1996.
During the same period, the poverty rate for those 65 years and older decreased 56%.20
•Over the past three decades there has been a significant rise in income inequality.
According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the household in the top 5 percentile in 1994
had 8 times the income of the household in the bottom 20th percentile, compared with 6
times as much in 1968.21
•Poverty among children in the suburbs has sharply risen. Between the late 1970s and
early 1990s, the rate of poverty for young poor children living in the suburbs grew by
nearly 60%, compared with urban (34%) and rural (45%) areas.22
•Without government programs, 57.6 million people would have been poor in 1995. But
when government benefits are counted--including food stamps, housing assistance, school
lunch support, and benefits provided through the Earned Income Credit--the number of poor
people drops to 30.3 million, cutting the size of the poverty population nearly 50%.23
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Serious Violence By Juveniles Down; Other Dangerous
Behaviors Up
•The nationwide rate of juvenile violent crime fell for the second consecutive year
in 1996 and the rate of homicide by juveniles decreased for the third year in a row.24 Less than one-half of 1% of all persons ages 10 through 17 in
the United States were arrested for a Violent Crime Index Offense in 1995.25
•The overwhelming majority of juvenile arrests have nothing to do with violence. In
1996, only 5 out of every 100 juvenile arrests were for violent crimes. The most serious
crimes, murder, non-negligent manslaughter and rape, represented less than three-tenths of
1% of juvenile arrests.26
•A Sacramento County, California study found that children ages 9-12 who were
referred to child welfare were 67 times (6,700%) more likely to be arrested than other
9-to-12-year-olds. Fully half of all children arrested were from the 1.4% of all children
who were known to child welfare.27
•Violence is an increasingly dangerous threat to young people. In 1995, a child was
killed by firearms every 100 minutes, and a total of 5,254 children (ages 0-19) were
killed by firearms during the year.28
•The rate of illicit drug use among young people was 10.9% in 1995.29 Since 1991, illicit drug use among 8th graders has more than
doubled. More than half of 8th graders nationwide say they have used alcohol, while 1 in 5
report being drunk during the last year. By 12th grade, half the students surveyed say
they have been drunk during the past year, while almost a third report being drunk within
the past month.30
•Smoking has substantially increased since 1991, particularly among junior high
school students. Half of all 8th graders have tried smoking, while regular smoking has
jumped 50% among this age group in the past five years. One in 3 high schoolers smokes
regularly, while 1 in 8 smokes at least half a pack a day.31
•After increasing steadily between 1986 and 1991, the birth rate for 15- to
17-year-olds declined slightly each year from 1991 to 1996. At 54.7 births per 1,000
females ages 15-19, the teen birth rate has not yet declined to the level reached in the
mid-1980s (50.2), and declines in some states are quite small. However, declines are now
apparent in all states.32
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Cost-Effective Investments in Children Save Dollars
and Lives
•By improving infants' health, early and comprehensive prenatal care saves $3 for
every one dollar invested.33
•Childhood immunizations save on average $10 for every one dollar invested in
hospitalizations and other treatments.34
•For each dollar spent for substance abuse treatment services, more than $11 are
saved in social costs.35
•Treatment of substance abusers in the California public system in 1991 saved $1.4
billion in reduced criminal activity and health care utilization over a two-year period.
About $209 million was spent providing this treatment,a 7 to 1 ratio of benefits to costs.36
Outpatient treatment of substance abuse costs only 1/10 as much
as incarceration.37
•High quality programs for young children living in poverty have lasting benefits and
a significant return on investment. A longitudinal study of one such high quality program
found a $7.16 return for each dollar invested. Some of the savings were due to reduced
special education and welfare costs and higher future worker productivity.38
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References
(1) National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse (NCPCA). (1997). Current trends in child
abuse reporting and fatalities: The results of the 1996 annual fifty state survey.
Chicago: Author.
(2) NCPCA 1997.
(3) NCPCA 1997.
(4) Tatara, T. (1997). Voluntary cooperative information system. Washington, DC: American
Public Welfare Association.
(5) Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). (1997). State agency survey. Washington, DC:
Author.
(6) CWLA 1997.
(7) CWLA 1997.
(8) McKibben, L., De Vos, E., & Newberger, E. (1989); "Victimization of mothers
of abused children: A controlled study." Pediatrics, 84:531; Start, E., &
Flitcraft, A. (1988). "Women and children at risk: A feminist perspective on child
abuse." International Journal of Health Services, 18:97.
(9) U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1997). Current population survey. Washington, DC: Author.
(10) Newacheck, P.W., et al. (1996). "Children's access to primary care: Difference
by race, income, and insurance status," Pediatrics, 97, 26-32. Based on data from
National Medical Expenditure Survey 1987.
(11) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration. (1996). Fact sheet: Conduct disorders in children and
adolescents. Washington, DC: Author.
(12) Halfon, N. et al. (1994). "National health care reform, Medicaid, and children
in foster care." Child Welfare, 73(2), 99-115.
(13) Feig, L. & McCullough, C. (1997). "The role of child welfare." In M.
Haack (Ed.), Drug dependent mothers and their children: Issues in public policy and public
health. New York: Springer.
(14) Curtis, P. & McCullough, C. (1993). The impact of alcohol and other drugs on the
child welfare system. Child Welfare, 72(6), 533-542.
(15) Carnegie Corporation of New York. (1996). Years of promise: A comprehensive learning
strategy for America's children. New York: Author.
(16) U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unpublished data from March 1995, p. 4. Cited in
Child care basics. Washington, DC: Children's Defense Fund, 1997.
(17) General Accounting Office (1997). HEHS-97-75, Washington, D.C.: Author.
(18) Child Care Bureau. (1997). Child Care Bulletin, Issue 16. Washington, DC: U. S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
(19) Lamison-White, Leantha. (1997). Poverty in the United States: 1996. U.S. Bureau of
the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P60-198. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office.
(20) Lamison-White 1997.
(21) U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1996). A brief look at postwar U.S. income inequality.
Washington DC: Author.
(22) National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University. (1996). Cited in
Community nutrition institute newsletter.
(23) Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (November 15, 1996). The safety net delivers:
The effects of government benefit programs in reducing poverty. Washington, DC: Author.
(24) U.S. Department of Justice. (1997). Cited in Johnson, K., & Fields, G. (October
3, 1997). "'Young and the ruthless' never materialized." USA Today.
(25) U.S. Department of Justice, OJJDP. (February, 1997). Juvenile justice bulletin.
Washington, D.C.: Author.
(26) U.S. Department of Justice. (September 28, 1997). Crime in the United States: 1996
uniform crime reports. Washington, D.C.: Author.
(27) Child Welfare League of America. (1997). Sacramento County community intervention
program: Findings from a comprehensive study by community partners in child welfare, law
enforcement, juvenile justice, and the Child Welfare League of America. Washington, D.C.:
Author.
(28) Children's Defense Fund. (August, 1997). "Child gun deaths drop for first time
in more than a decade." CDF Reports, Vol. 18, Issue 9. Washington, DC: Author.
(29) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (1996).
(30) Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. (1997). Substance
abuse and the American adolescent. New York: Author.
(31) Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse 1997.
(32) Centers for Disease Control. (1997). Cited in "CDC: Teen Birthrate Down;
Prenatal Care Up." (September 11, 1997). HandsNet forum: www.handsnet.org.
(33) Brown, S. & English, A., et al. (August, 1994). Health care reform: What
America's children need.
(34) Brown, S. & English, A., et al. 1994.
(35) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
(1994). Treatment for alcohol and other drug abuse: Opportunities for coordination.
Technical Assistance Publications Series 11.
(36) Gerstein, D., Johnston, R., Harwood, H., Fountain, D., Suter, N., & Malloy, K.
(1994). Evaluating recovery services: The California drug and alcohol treatment
assessment: General report. [Submitted to the State of California Department of Alcohol
and Drug Programs].
(37) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
(1994).
(38) Schweinhart, L., Barnes, H., & Weikart, D. (1993). Significant benefits: The
High/Scope Perry preschool study through age 27. (Monographs of the High/Scope Educational
Research Foundation, 10).
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Children
Need Protection and Care More Than Ever
