Child abuse deaths are down in Hampton Roads, but not enough is being done, new report says

Fourteen children in Hampton Roads died last year from abuse or neglect by a caretaker, according to a report from the Eastern Region Child Fatality Review Team released this week.

That's about 35 percent of the 40 total child deaths due to abuse in Virginia between July 2017 and June 2018. Seven other cases are pending around the state.

It's fewer than the prior year, when there were 16 child abuse deaths in Hampton Roads, including a pending case. In Virginia, there were 45, not including eight pending cases and one under appeal, according to the report.

The Eastern Region Child Fatality Review Team has been studying child abuse deaths for the past 25 years and hasn't seen a lot of improvement, said co-chair Betty Wade Coyle.

"The numbers are the same," she said. "They're dying differently, but they're still dying."

In the early years, the causes were more physical and now the majority seems to be neglect, she said.

Of the cases this year, five of the fourteen children didn't live to see their first birthday and another five were younger than 3 years old, according to the report by Coyle. Eight of the 14 had previous or current contact with social services.

Officials discussed the report and relevant legislation in a news conference Friday. A major cause for concern is the opioid crisis, which "is simply causing that to escalate, causing deaths to escalate, causing kids to be abused and neglected," Coyle said.

"The numbers go up in every category because of that, and it's huge."

Officials are addressing it by trying to "make it engaging for folks to come and get help instead of the shame factor," said Gail Davidson, the chairman of the team.

"We know if we treat it as a disease, which it is, and look at it that way, it's not like you can make the choice to stop. It's an addiction," she said.

Del. Mike Mullin, who was at the news conference, said the work group studying the opioid issue is taking a multi-agency approach so that, for example, a person with children who gets Narcan to treat an overdose is also connected to Child Protective Services and the Department of Social Services.

A recent child abuse case many in Hampton Roads will remember, Norfolk's 11-year-old Heaven Watkins, has spurred a new legislation that officials hope will bring changes to how child abuse allegations are reported.

Heaven was beaten to death in Norfolk. Her mother, Latoya Smith, in October pleaded guilty to felony homicide and felony child abuse.

"Heaven's Law," a bill sponsored by Mullin, requires that if a person has been accused of child abuse or neglect, investigators check with the child abuse and neglect central registry of any state the person has lived for at least the past five years.

Before Heaven and her family moved to Virginia, they had lived in Minnesota. Heaven had been taken from her mother there in 2015 after social workers investigated allegations of abuse.

Coyle said while there has been impact in some areas, "there are too many preventable deaths taking place."

Based on the cases from 2018, the Eastern Regional Child Fatality Review Team made several recommendations to the state and localities, including:

-- Make child fatality data collection around the state more uniform and release it to the public faster.

-- Continue to develop adequate resources to help families who face poverty and substance abuse as soon as there is a pregnancy.

-- Explore strategies to address parental substance abuse in a more uniform and proactive manner.

-- Explore the reasons behind high rates of turnover in social service agencies and make addressing these issues the highest priority. The team also recommends making critical incidence debriefing services available to local social service workers and other first responders immediately after an incident.

-- Make it easier for child protective services to do background checks.

-- Educate parents on what to look for in child care and how to monitor the care of their children.

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