Naked City
Children at Risk
By Jay Trachtenberg, Fri., April 28, 2000
Right: 1999 Child Fatalities by Cause
The Travis County Child Fatality Review Team's 1999 Annual Report trumpets mostly good news on a topic most of us shudder even to contemplate. In 1999, there was a 26% decrease from the previous year in the number of overall child deaths in Travis County -- 94 deaths compared to 127 in 1998. Within the overall decline, there was a substantial drop in accidental deaths -- car wrecks, drownings, suffocations, etc. -- 16, compared to 30 in 1998.
Along with the generally positive findings of this latest report, however, comes the sobering news that African-American children continue to be at greater risk than children of other ethnic groups. Although they comprise only 13% of the total population of children in Travis County, 20% of all child deaths (natural and accidental) in 1999 were African-Americans.
In combining the three previous annual reports generated by TCCFRT, 1996-98, about 25% of all child fatalities in the county were the result of accidents. In 1999, that figure declined to 17%. Nine kids were killed in motor vehicle accidents, down from 17 MVA deaths in 1998. Of the nine traffic deaths, six of the victims were not properly restrained. For unknown reasons, once again twice as many girls as boys died in traffic accidents. And all but one of these female MVA fatalities were minorities.
The second highest cause of accidental deaths to children in Travis County was from drowning; still, the number of drownings dropped from six in 1998 to four in 1999. And for the first time in five years, there were no child fatalities from accidental asphyxiation or suffocation.
There were only three child victims of homicide in 1999 -- down from eight in 1998, and the lowest figure in several years. Unfortunately, African-American children continue to be at higher risk in this category, accounting for two of the three child homicides. 1999 also marked the third consecutive year with no gang-related child fatalities in Travis County.
Suicides remain a perplexing problem in the Austin community. The four incidents in 1999 were the same total as in 1998, compared to only one in the three years between 1995-1997. All four suicides in 1999 were boys: three white and one Hispanic. Of the eight suicides in the last two years, seven were boys.
Rounding out the total were 70 deaths (75% of the total) attributed to natural causes, and one of undetermined cause.
The Travis County Child Fatality Review Team is made up of professionals from a diverse group of community organizations representing medical and health services, law enforcement, and child protective services. It is one of 37 such teams operating throughout Texas.
Based on the 1999 report, the team's recommendations for preventing deaths from motor vehicle accidents include:
The team's recommendations for preventing suicides include:
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