8th of May 2009
By Alana Rocha (WICHITA, Kan.)
Nearly 54,000 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect were made in Kansas from 2007 to 2008. Eight of those kids died in Wichita last year alone.
The numbers have prompted a community-wide response team to educate new parents and make the public aware of the problem.
It could start at day one. Babies are unpredictable additions to your life who are not yet able to tell you what's wrong.
So when they cry, you try to figure it out or some make it stop however they can.
In 2008 eight children died at the hands of abuse or neglect. Police determined crying triggered the abuse in three of those deaths.
Cyndi Chapman manages the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Wesley Medical Center. She says, "If we can save one kid from being killed or abused, absolutely we've done our job."
Last fall hospital workers along with police and outreach groups got together to address the problem. The result - The Wichita Child Abuse Fatality Community Response Team.
In a news conference Thursday leaders laid out the specifics.
Chapman says, "We do teaching, but we haven't really made that first step to ramp it up and show that the kids are the most important thing to us."
Most babies sleep the first 24 to 48 hours after birth. So nurses say parents never leave the hospital here fully knowing what to expect when they get home.
The information offered through this program should help.
New parents at area hospitals will be shown a DVD explaining why babies cry and the dangers of Shaken Baby Syndrome.
They're then given a survey and the team follows up three months later.
"You can't stop a baby from crying," Gary Perry said. Perry lost this three year old granddaughter Natalie Pickle in November.
He says he knows the toll it can take.
Perry says, "My granddaughter was, a victim of this shaken baby. It does have a huge impact on your life."
And knows the response team is an important step to take.
"I think it's a good effort. It's a beginning, it's a start, that typically younger people having children don't know, don't understand why babies are crying," he said.
And sometimes there's no reason, babies just cry.
Team leaders say they plan to lay out more resources over the next three to six months.
The case involving Natalie Pickle is still under investigation. No charges have been filed.
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