90,000 Babies Abused or Neglected in the First Year of Life

By Anastacia Mott Austin

A new report released in the CDC’s April 4th Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report shows that a high number – 90,000 - of young babies are abused or neglected during the first year of their lives. The majority of the neglect occurs in the first weeks and months of life.

The study involved a collaboration between the CDC and the Administration for Children and Families, and drew its results from a database of abuse and neglect claims provided by child protective services in 45 different states. The statistics provided were from the fiscal year of October 1st, 2005 to September 30th, 2006.

Most of the cases reported (about 87%) involved neglect, not outright physical abuse. Neglect is defined as a lack of adequate basic care, such as food, clothing, housing, and access to medical care. Though infant deaths through neglect or abuse were not looked at in the report, federal records indicate that about 500 infants died due to those causes during the same time period.

Experts say that many of the cases involved the issue of maternal drug use, and the first week of a baby’s life is when maternal blood tests come back that may show drug use. It’s considered neglect if a newborn has drugs in its system.

The study is troubling to the CDC, and to others. "We weren’t surprised by these numbers, but we certainly were distressed," 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 in ways that are largely preventable."

And some say that it’s just the tip of the iceberg. The study reflects the number of cases that were actually reported to protective services, and many experts say that there are likely many, many more that are never reported.

"I'm sure these numbers underestimate the problem," said Dr. Desomond Runyan, pediatrics professor at The University of North Carolina School of Medicine. "Agencies investigate cases that come to their attention, because they're flagrant and are reported."

A third of the babies studied, or 29,181, suffered abuse or neglect during the first week of life.

Worried new parents who are struggling to figure out their newborn need not worry about being included in neglect statistics. "Things like abandonment and newborn drug addiction would qualify as neglect, not things like parents learning how to be parents," said Rebecca Leeb, an epidemiologist at the CDC.

Dr. Runyan, speaking to reporters, said that maternal drug abuse prevention and early education are the keys to prevent these tragic statistics from continuing: "Family planning and education in the schools about parenting and delaying having children until people are a little bit older are the things that probably would have the most dramatic impact on reducing the incidence of abuse and neglect," said Runyan.