HOUSTON — The death of a 9-month-old boy allegedly at the hands of his father is the latest in a disturbing trend of child fatalities, a KHOU 11 investigation has found.
Those who are dying the most from physical trauma are also the youngest.
An analysis of Child Protective Services child fatality investigations reveals a statewide spike in the number of infants dying of physical trauma.
In 2018, CPS investigated 78 Texas child fatalities related to physical trauma with 28, or 36%, of those victims under one year of age. In 2022, that jumped to 55%--41 infants, accounting for more than half of all Texas child physical trauma deaths. Ten of those infants died in the Greater Houston area.
“I think for any Texan, you’re going to say, this is unacceptable,” said Dr. Robert Sanborn, CEO of the research and advocacy of the nonprofit Children At Risk.
The question is: what’s driving the upward trend?
“So two things come to mind: I think we’ve seen emerging from the pandemic there seems to be a rage among people,” Sanborn said. “We see it on the road, people are much more aggressive, much more angry, and I think that stress that we’re seeing in the population parents are absolutely feeling it.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Family and Protective Services said younger children are especially vulnerable because they don’t attend school where someone might notice injuries and they can’t speak for themselves.
Sanborn said the other concern is the child protective system itself. Death cases often involve previous CPS history, but are assigned to underpaid social workers with overwhelming caseloads.
“Without the staffing, without the funding for CPS to do its work, these kids are falling through the cracks,” Sanborn said.
Statewide, 901 child deaths were investigated by CPS last year, which included physical trauma deaths along with drownings, hot car deaths and other causes. More than 200 of those deaths were in Greater Houston.
If you suspect abuse or neglect of a child, call the Texas Abuse Hotline at 1-800-252-5400 or submit the information online.
Editor's Note: After publication, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services cited the agency’s fiscal year 2022 annual report, which states in the vast majority of physical abuse fatalities, abuse in the family was never reported to CPS or CPS had not involved with the family for two years, before the child who died was born.