Naked City

According to the 2002 annual report of the Child Fatality Review Team, released late last month through the auspices of the Children's Advocacy Center, a total of 130 minors died in Travis Co. in 2002, up from 124 in 2001. Since the start of CFRT reports in 1996, there has been an average of 121 child fatalities per year in the county.

As in years past, the clear majority of child deaths (75%) result from natural causes; the report focuses on the remainder, due to accidents (19%), homicides (2%), suicides (1.5%), and undetermined causes (1.5%). Accidental deaths increased from 22 to 25 over 2001; the biggest threats to children include car accidents and asphyxiation. There were also two drownings and three fire-related deaths in 2002.

Eleven children died in motor-vehicle accidents, one less than in 2001; nine of these were boys, nine were either unrestrained or unprotected (not wearing a bicycle helmet), and in perhaps the report's most significant finding, nine were Hispanic. Hispanic children comprise only 39% of all children in Travis Co.; the findings imply a need for outreach to the Hispanic community about the importance of child seats and the need for adolescents to buckle up.

Six children died in 2002 from accidental asphyxia or suffocation, an increase from four in 2001. Three of these deaths were positional -- where, for instance, a child gets caught between a mattress and the wall. The other three resulted from overlays, when a sleeping parent rolled over on a child. Alcohol and drugs are often associated with these types of deaths.

Eight children died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, a significant increase from the three SIDS cases in 2001. But there were only three child homicides in 2002, compared to six in 2001; one of these deaths resulted from child abuse, and none were gang-related. There were five child suicides in 2002, one more than the previous year -- only two of these youths under 18.