For the first time, an East Anglia University (UEA) study has come closer in establishing the number of children that die each year in the UK from maltreatment.
The UEA team and researchers from Warwick University were asked by the Government to analyze serious case reviews (SCR) between 2009 and 2011. The Department for Education has just released the shocking findings, revealing that each year, around 85 children are killed by neglect or abuse.
Dr Marian Brandon, from UEA’s Centre for Research on the Child and Family, who is the study’s leading author, announced:
“This report produces a number of new insights alongside the more familiar messages. We now know for the first time that around 85 children die each year as a result of abuse or neglect. Every single death is a shocking and distressing waste of a life, but we have to live with the reality that not all of these deaths can be prevented.”
Leading researcher, Dr Peter Sidebotham from Warwick University said:
“While there is evidence that overall rates of child abuse fatalities have fallen over recent years, we must not be complacent. There is much we can learn from each child’s death. The lessons from this research can help us all strive to protect other children and support families.”
The findings also revealed that the number of children who were under a child protection plan at the time of their death had fallen from 16% in 2007-09 to 10% between 2009 and 2011, despite the fact that the number of children on child protection plans is increasing.
Dr. Brandon declared: “There is clearly no place for complacency, but it is good to see improvement here.”
The researchers also discovered another possible sign of improvement in the protection of babies, with a fall of 46% in SCRs involving infants from 2007 to 2009 to 36% from 2009 to 2011.
The report is the fourth consecutive two-yearly analysis conducted by the research team of UK SCRs. The greater number of SCR overview reports over this two-year period enabled researchers to investigate other areas that were previously not possible and to conduct a more comprehensive and in-depth research.
The findings revealed that the total number of children below the age of 17 who were killed by violence or maltreatment was estimated as 85 children a year, or 0.77 in 100,000 children. 50 to 55 of these deaths were directly attributed to violence, abuse or neglect, whilst the remaining 30 to 35 children died from the consequences of maltreatment, but not as primary cause of death, for instance, by accidents, sudden unexpected deaths in infancy and suicide.
Written by Grace Rattue