Charity claims official child deaths figure is half the real number

There could be more than twice as many child deaths from
maltreatment in the UK than official records state, according to a
United Nations Children’s Fund report, writes
Clare Jerrom.

Previously published data credits the UK with one of the lowest
rates of child deaths through maltreatment, but the Unicef study
reveals that these figures could under-represent the true
situation.

The study combines national totals of child deaths from known
abuse and neglect with those child deaths that are recorded as
being of  “undetermined cause”. The charity assumes
that when no cause can be established, the death is likely to have
been caused by maltreatment that cannot be proved in court.

In the UK this more than doubles the death rate from 0.4 deaths
per 100,000 children to 0.9 deaths per 100,000 children, and the
report states that two children under 15 die from maltreatment in
the UK each week.

The report highlights that 80 per cent of child abusers are the
biological parents and poverty, stress, drug and alcohol abuse
appear to be the factors most closely associated with child abuse
and neglect.

‘Child
Maltreatment Deaths in Rich Nations’