ATLANTA – A report released Friday shows 120 children died during the first nine months of 2012 in situations in which their families had received services from Georgia’s child protection agency within the last five years.
The report is the first in a series that will be issued quarterly to track the deaths and help state authorities, parents and others identify ways to prevent them, said Clyde Reese III, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Services. State officials must inform federal authorities of child deaths related to abuse or maltreatment, but the new reports look at a larger group of fatalities. Reese said the reports will use a consistent methodology, allowing for meaningful comparisons.
“The problem that I saw was that we weren’t always looking at the same kind of data, so it’s very hard to look back and see trends,” he said.
Natural causes were cited in 34 percent of deaths, the single-largest category, according to the report. Accidents accounted for just over a fifth of fatalities, while the manner of death was undetermined in 18 percent of cases. Homicides accounted for 13 percent of the deaths, and suicides made up 3 percent. Investigations were still pending in 11 percent of the total fatalities.
Officials said the report was triggered by a desire to compile better information, not by a single incident or crisis. But federal officials have penalized Georgia for the performance of its child welfare system over the years and it has been the target of lawsuits intended to improve foster care in metro Atlanta.