Child abuse cases up 40 percent in Dallas County in past decade, study says

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http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20111128-child-abuse-cases-up-40-percent-in-dallas-county-in-past-decade-study-says.ece

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According to an 88-page report released by Children’s Medical Center Dallas, child abuse and neglect cases in the county have increased nearly 40 percent over the past decade. The report was prepared by the Institute for Urban Policy Research at the University of Texas at Dallas.

The tie that binds many of the cases is a failure by the adults in the children’s lives to report what they see, said Dr. Amy Barton, a clinical physician at the hospital’s Referral and Evaluation of At Risk Children, or REACH, program.

“Unfortunately, we see many kids like this — children who come in who have injuries of multiple ages,” she said. “This means that this child has been injured several times over a period of time, and people may have seen, but because they didn’t intervene, they are now in the ICU.”

“The severity in Dallas is worse, honestly,” Barton said.

Last year, 33,000 cases were reported in Dallas County, and 6,000 of them were confirmed. Each week, Barton sees between 20 and 35 abused children, with injuries ranging from bruises to broken rib cages and skull fractures.



This breaks my heart on so many levels.