Congressman Geoff Davis (R-KY), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on child deaths due to maltreatment. The hearing will take place at 10:00 am on Tuesday, July 12, 2011, in Room B-318 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
In view of the limited time available to hear from witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) as well as other experts on child abuse and neglect and child fatalities due to maltreatment. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.
BACKGROUND:
According to State reports, over 1,700 children died nationally in FY 2009 due to maltreatment. However, research has shown that these reports may substantially understate the number of child victims each year. To gain a clearer understanding of this issue, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reviewed what is known about the circumstances of child deaths and near deaths due to maltreatment, State approaches to gathering and reporting this information, and what the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is doing to support the collection and accurate reporting of this information. GAO will testify about the findings of their review at the hearing.
There are currently several sources of data about child deaths due to maltreatment. First, since the 1970s, States have participated in a voluntary national data collection system reporting data on investigations of maltreatment and information on abused children. This system, called the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), is used by HHS to prepare annual reports on child maltreatment. Second, the nongovernmental National Center for Child Death Review (NCCDR) acts as a resource center for state and local teams that review cases of child deaths. These teams collect and report information on child fatalities from all causes, and 37 States currently report data to the national database. The NCCDR uses this data to focus attention on child fatality risks and to develop strategies to prevent fatalities in the future. Third, States also have data on child fatalities from sources such as law enforcement reports, death certificates, or medical records.
In announcing the hearing, Chairman Davis stated, “Any child’s death is tragic, but the death of a child from abuse and neglect is especially troubling. Current data on the number of child deaths from maltreatment appear incomplete, and the difficulty in even compiling complete information undermines States’ ability to develop effective strategies to prevent these tragedies from repeating. I look forward to hearing from GAO on the findings of their report as well as other experts on how we can improve our understanding of both how many children die from maltreatment and more importantly how we can use this information to do a better job preventing such tragedies in the future.”
FOCUS OF THE HEARING:
The hearing will review data on child deaths due to maltreatment, determine how to improve the accuracy of this data, and review how improving the accuracy of this data may help prevent future fatalities.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit for the hearing record must follow the appropriate link on the hearing page of the Committee website and complete the informational forms. From the Committee homepage, https://waysandmeans.house.gov, select “Hearings.” Select the hearing for which you would like to submit, and click on the link entitled, “Click here to provide a submission for the record.” Once you have followed the online instructions, submit all requested information. Attach your submission as a Word document, in compliance with the formatting requirements listed below, by the close of business on Tuesday, July 26, 2011. Finally, please note that due to the change in House mail policy, the U.S. Capitol Police will refuse sealed-package deliveries to all House Office Buildings. For questions, or if you encounter technical problems, please call (202) 225-1721 or (202) 225-3625.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
The Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record. As always, submissions will be included in the record according to the discretion of the Committee. The Committee will not alter the content of your submission, but we reserve the right to format it according to our guidelines. Any submission provided to the Committee by a witness, any supplementary materials submitted for the printed record, and any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any submission or supplementary item not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
- All submissions and supplementary materials must be provided in Word format and MUST NOT exceed a total of 10 pages, including attachments. Witnesses and submitters are advised that the Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
- Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
- All submissions must include a list of all clients, persons, and/or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears. A supplemental sheet must accompany each submission listing the name, company, address, telephone, and fax numbers of each witness.
The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special accommodation needs in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.
Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.waysandmeans.house.gov/.