FACSAFOUNDATION.ORG SHATTERING THE SILENCE TOUR DOCUMENTARY PROJECT Volume 2 January 2015 | Page 45

The data collection system on child deaths is so flawed that no one can
even say with accuracy how many children overall die from abuse or
neglect every year. The federal government estimates an average of about
1,650 deaths annually in recent years; many believe the actual number is
twice as high.
Even more lacking is comprehensive, publicly available data about the
number of children dying while the subject of an open case or receiving
assistance from the agencies that exist to keep them safe - the focus of
AP's reporting.
'We all agree that we cannot solve a problem this complex until we agree it
exists,' said David Sanders, chairman of the federal Commission to
Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities, whose members are traveling
the country studying child deaths under a congressional mandate.
States submit information on child abuse deaths to the federal government
on a voluntary basis - some of it comprehensive, some of it inaccurate. In
some cases, states withhold information about child deaths in violation of
the terms of federal grants they receive.