February 11, 2004
The Honorable Wade Horn, PhD
Assistant Secretary for Children and Families
Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
Dear Assistant Secretary Horn:
On behalf of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Child Abuse Task
Force, we are writing to thank you for requesting a significant increase for
child abuse prevention activities in the President’s FY 2005 federal budget. CCD
is a coalition of approximately 100 national disability organizations working
together to advocate for national public policy that ensures the self
determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children
and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society.
Federal funding to help states and communities protect children and prevent
child abuse and neglect has been woefully inadequate. Current appropriations for
the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), the only Federal program
focusing on primary prevention activities, are only at half the authorized
amounts. In fiscal 2004, basic state grants are funded at $22 million,
discretionary grants at $35 million, and community-based grants at $33 million.
These levels of funding demonstrate a complete disregard for prevention, when
compared to billions of dollars spent on foster care and institutionalization at
the far end of the child welfare services continuum.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of children remain in serious jeopardy and
are even at risk of losing their lives. Over 900,000 children are confirmed as
abused or neglected each year. States report that nearly half of the child
victims or their families in confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect receive
no treatment or any other kind of services following investigation of a report.
Deaths from child maltreatment remain unacceptably high: an estimated 1,300
children died of abuse or neglect in 2001 alone; near-fatal child maltreatment
leaves another 18,000 children permanently disabled each year.
Without adequate family support, children with disabilities, are almost four
times more likely to be victims of neglect, physically abused, experience
emotional abuse, or be sexually assaulted than children without disabilities. In
addition, child maltreatment has been shown to be a significant cause of serious
disability in children. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect
determined that 36.6 percent of the substantiated cases of maltreatment in a
1993 study sample caused disabilities. Other studies have shown that significant
proportions of children in foster care may have serious health and developmental
problems.
The Administration’s FY2005 includes a doubling in funds for the Child Abuse
Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) basic state grants and Title II
community-based child abuse prevention grants. State grants would increase to
$42 million; the community-based prevention grants would increase to $66 million
in 2005. CAPTA discretionary grants for research and demonstrations would be
reduced to the level of $27 million, with the elimination of the $8 million in
additional spending that is included in FY04 for earmarks. While the increases
do not represent full funding, the requested increase in the President’s budget
is a step in the right direction to begin to close the gap between what federal,
state and local dollars currently allocate to protect children and treat child
victims.
In addition, revisions to Title II of CAPTA will help ensure that funding is
dedicated to community-based child abuse and neglect prevention activities, such
as respite, that can keep families out of the CPS system and avoid more costly
foster care.
If you need more information about the relationship between child abuse and
disabilities, please contact one of us Jill Kagan, National Respite Coalition,
at 703-256-9578 (jbkagan@aol.com), or Kim Musheno, Association of University
Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), 301-588-8252 (kmusheno@aucd.org).
Sincerely,
Kim Musheno, Association of University Centers on Disabilities
Co-Chair, CCD Child Abuse Task Force
Jill Kagan, National Respite Coalition
Co-Chair, CCD Child Abuse Task Force