Nearly two-fifths of the young people who died in the District of Columbia were from families already known to the city’s child welfare system, a new government report has found.
The Child Fatality Review Committee reviewed each of the 157 deaths of people 22 years old or younger in 2006 and its report, published earlier this month, provides often horrifying glimpses into the squalid ends of some of D.C.’s children.
Fifty-nine of the dead children were from families that had already been reported to child welfare agencies for abuse or neglect.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty promised to rebuild the city’s child welfare infrastructure after the discovery of the bodies of four young sisters in a squatter’s house in Southeast.
Banita Jacks, who is charged with killing her daughters, had been reported to welfare officials several times before marshals discovered her daughters’ bodies while trying to evict the family.
The child fatality report suggests the Jacks case may only be an extreme example of a much larger problem.
Most of the children and young people who died in 2006 died from natural causes, but the child fatality report found that more than a quarter of the families had been accused of abuse or neglect multiple times.
The report tells disturbing stories such as that of “AB,” a 2-month-old boy who died on a warm June day after vomiting. The cause of AB’s death is still officially unknown, the report states, but the “scene of the incident was … unkempt and dirty” and “the entire apartment had soiled clothing, trash, food and other debris strewn about.”
Fenty expressed outrage at the failure of city services in the Jacks case and fired six bureaucrats. But in the years before he became mayor — including the year covered by the most recent child fatality report — Fenty was chairman of the D.C. Council’s Human Services Committee and had authority over most of the health and child welfare agencies that he now wants to clean up.
Nevertheless, some are hoping that Fenty is serious about reforming the system.
“I think the Jacks case highlights how far we have to go and how little we have done to improve the chances of youth in our city,” said D.C. Council Member Phil Mendelson, D-at large, and chairman of the council’s judiciary committee.
Mendelson and Tommy Wells, D-Ward 6, are scheduled to hold hearings on the child fatality report early next month.
The report also concludes that one of the biggest threats to D.C.’s young people is other young people.
Of the 37 young people who died in 2006, 34 of them were killed by other youth, the report found.
The report recommends public education aimed at parents and training for 911 dispatchers to help them coach parents through emergencies.
Child deaths
157 children and young people died in D.C. in 2006.
By the numbers:
– 93 died before their first birthday
– 59 from families already known to child welfare officials
– 44 from families with multiple complaints about abuse or neglect
– 15 from families with “active” cases
– 37 were victims of homicide
Source: Child Fatality Review Committee’s annual report
