Item 4.  CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION
 

POLICY RECOMMENDATION:  The 2008 Children's Agenda supports providing services to additional families by increasing funding for the continuum of child abuse prevention programs, such as Children First, Strengthening Families, Office of Child Abuse Prevention and Oklahoma Parents as Teachers.

Reduce Child Abuse

In Oklahoma, there were 13,827 confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect in FY 2006. Sensational media reports leave the impression that most maltreatment is perpetrated by strangers, or boyfriends of the mother, and are the results of long-term torture and violence. Here are the facts:

• 85% of confirmed cases of child maltreatment are from neglect; 11% are physical abuse; 4% are sexual abuse
• The most frequent cause of neglect (20%) is due to substance abuse by the caretaker
• 49% of the perpetrators are the biological mothers; 30% are the biological fathers

These statistics point to the need to focus our efforts primarily on vulnerable families to provide parent education and support. In order to tailor approaches to the individual needs of children and their families, Oklahoma has adopted several effective programs to help decrease the incidents of child abuse and neglect. But state budget cuts of a few years ago caused severe cutbacks to these programs, leaving many vulnerable families with no support.

Children First is a statewide public health nurse home visitation service offered through local health departments to first-time low-income pregnant women who enroll prior to the 28th week of pregnancy. Services continue until the child is two years old. In FY 06, Children First served 2,564 families.

The Office of Child Abuse Prevention uses the Healthy Families America approach. These community-based family resource and support programs serve pregnant women after the 28th week of pregnancy, parents expecting their second (or subsequent) child and parents of newborns. Current funding levels allow for only 23 programs, covering less than half the state.

Strengthening Families is a new collaborative effort between OSDH and Smart Start Oklahoma. Federal and private funding has allowed 40 individuals to be trained on ways to teach early child care providers about child maltreatment and how to support parents in times of stress.

Parents as Teachers (PAT) is a voluntary program of parent education that provides practical information and guidance to parents regarding the development of language, cognition, social skills and motor development of children. PAT is currently in only 99 out of 539 school districts.

FISCAL NOTE
The Oklahoma State Department of Health is requesting $3,000,000 to expand services through its Office of Child Abuse Prevention, including the Children First program and the Strengthening Families program. The State Department of Education is requesting $3,074,936 for the Parents as Teachers program. Total request: $6,074,936.