Missouri has 5th highest rate of kids dying from abuse or neglect
ASSOCIATED PRESS
10/21/2009
KANSAS CITY, Mo.— A new report by a national child-advocacy group says Missouri had the country's fifth-highest rate of children who died from abuse or neglect in 2007.
The Washington-based Every Child Matters Educational Fund released a report Wednesday showing that five children die each day in the U.S. from such causes.
Fifty children in Missouri died in 2007 as a result of abuse or neglect, which is a rate of 3.5 per 100,000 children. Kentucky had the highest rate at 4.09 per 100,000 children.
Child-welfare advocates say the lack of uniform record-keeping and data collection methods mean the actual number of deaths could be up to 50 percent higher.
The report blames inadequate resources and a high number of vulnerable children for a 35 percent rise in such deaths nationwide since 2001.