Many working to prevent abuse

Kids today will shape the future only if they reach it. Fortunately, area children at risk of violence, abuse and neglect have a lot of adults in their corner these days, in part because Wichita’s shocking eight deaths of young children from maltreatment of 2008 mobilized advocates to organize and act.

More than double that of any year in the preceding decade, the loss of so many innocent lives led to the Wichita Coalition for Child Abuse Prevention, whose efforts are highlighted in the new final report of the national Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities.

Spanning 60 organizational partners, the coalition devoted special attention to the ZIP codes with the most child fatalities and the highest rates of substantiated abuse and neglect and poverty, the report notes.

Because several children were killed after being left with relatives or acquaintances, and one at a day care, the coalition worked to provide drop-in child care and expand home visiting programs.

Because half were killed by mothers’ live-in boyfriends, a new area fatherhood organization engaged fathers and boyfriends in child development and helped agencies be more father-friendly.

Because three deaths were triggered by the sustained crying of infants, more Kansans including Wichita high schoolers have been targeted with an awareness campaign about preventing shaken baby syndrome.

Child deaths in Wichita due to maltreatment dwindled after 2008 to one, two or none a year. Then “as if to remind leaders just how difficult this work really is,” the national report notes, four children in Wichita died from abuse in 2015.

That created “a renewed sense of urgency for all of us,” Vicky Roper, the coalition’s chairwoman and the director of Prevent Child Abuse Kansas at the Kansas Children’s Service League, told the Sedgwick County Commission on Wednesday.

The national commission’s report notes the deep cuts to local, state and federal funding for social services in the wake of the Great Recession, affecting groups in Wichita such as Parents as Teachers.

It will take strong leadership, both nonprofit and elected, to reclaim the lost dollars and ensure that the capacity of the prevention system reflects the need.

But the community has crucial new facilities to “carry us 50 years into the future, taking care of our children,” as County Commissioner Tim Norton put it when the county proclaimed April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Having raised $7 million, the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County soon will open its own, child-focused facility at the former Lincoln Elementary School on South Emporia. And the Wichita Children’s Home has moved to its new campus on East 37th Street North, having closed in on its own $12.5 million campaign.

The community can be proud of how so many caring adults have rallied to protect children. But the cause of ensuring kids not only survive but thrive will need more champions, resources and vigilance.

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Many working to prevent abuse."