Defense Department officials say they are digging into the potential factors behind a recent increase in child neglect, and building more preventive programs.
Incidents of child neglect in the military last year were up 14 percent over 2013.
"We're looking into why," Kathy Robertson, the department's Family Advocacy Program manager, said in a recent briefing to the DoD Family Readiness Council. "Why did we have this huge increase in child neglect? What does it mean?"
Officials have proposed a DoD-wide study on military-related risk factors for child neglect to help shore up future prevention efforts.
In the civilian world, such factors include unemployment, financial problems and lack of housing. But in the military, at least one person in the family is always employed, and the military always provides for housing for troops and their families.
Defense officials will address questions of whether more resources and personnel are needed for family advocacy initiatives, and an expert has been hired to do a data process analysis, reviewing whether available data reflects both parents being involved in neglect of a child, possibly following the return of the active-duty member from deployment.
According to DoD data, 63 percent of the child abuse and neglect cases in 2014 fell into the neglect category. The two most prevalent forms of child neglect are lack of supervision and exposure to physical hazards.
Substantiated child abuse and neglect incidents among military families totaled 7,676 last year, an increase of 687 over 2013. In addition to the 63 percent of cases categorized as neglect, 21 percent involved physical abuse, 12 percent involved emotional abuse and 4 percent involved sexual abuse.
As of Oct. 1, officials are using a new system to evaluate the severity of incidents, with an objective severity scale to gauge the case as mild, moderate or severe. Officials say that will help identify trends and inform determinations on whether, and where, more resources may be needed.
cut for space can follow up more later: kj In fiscal 2014, there were 30 children who died from child abuse and neglect. Two of those victims were previously reported to FAP, and five alleged abusers were previously reported to FAP. Most of the children were under the age of 5; 18 were less than 1 year old. There were 20 active duty members who were allegedly involved in the deaths. In fiscal 2013, 31 children died from child abuse and neglect.
Every military installation with command-sponsored families, both in the continental U.S. and overseas, has a family advocacy office, and there are more than over 2,000 family advocacy staff members worldwide.
Family advocacy officials are part of a coordinated community response system that also includes military and civilian law enforcement, civilian Child Protective Services, civilian and military medical personnel, chaplains, and others with a role to play in preventing, identifying and responding to problems.
While DoD is required to report incidents of child abuse and neglect to civilian CPS officials, those officials are not required to inform DoD when they're working on incidents involving military families — an issue on which the DoD State Liaison Office has been contacting state legislators.
Defense officials have taken some new measures to prevent child neglect, including launching a new social media campaign aimed at raising awareness of resources to protect and strengthen military families.
Other new initiatives include:
- "Thrive," a new program to be tested as a pilot at 10 installations, probably starting early next year, is designed for all families, not just those that have experienced incidents of child abuse and neglect. The program uses technology to interact with parents, sending them text messages, vignettes and scenarios, along with classroom sessions.
- "Purple crying period" materials for military families. "Purple crying" lasts from about two weeks of age until about three or four months of age, when babies cry for long periods, and nothing seems to soothe them. Traditionally referred to as "colic," this is actually a normal development phase, according to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome. The term "purple crying" refers to an acronym that describes the characteristics of the phase, not to the baby’s coloring during the crying. DoD is piloting a program in which it pays to provide the national center's materials on the purple crying period to military families.
- Infant Massage, a pilot program to help military parents soothe, and form bonds with, their babies. It’s for both parents, but may especially help fathers who were deployed when their babies were born.
- Family Foundations, another pilot that focuses on the relationship between parents before and after a child is born. Four sessions are held before birth, four more after.
Previously launched educational campaigns focus on "safe sleeping" to prevent accidental death when the mother or father falls asleep while nursing or holding the baby; and electronic distractions where child abuse or neglect happens when parents are hooked on gaming or other activities involving electronic devices.
For decades, the services have had New Parent Support programs in place, helping young families properly care for their babies. Robertson said officials track families for a year after they finish the program, and 96 percent do not have an incident of child abuse or neglect over that span.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
