= = = = = Department of Health and Human Services = = = = =
              H H S c o o p
                              H H S c o o p
                                               H H S c o o p
   = = = = = = = = = = September 19, 1996 = = = = = = = = = = =

_________________________________________________________________

A Message to HHS Employees:

This week, the Department released startling new data on child abuse
and neglect.  The report is designed to estimate the actual number of
abused and neglected children in the United States, including cases not
reported to child protective services.
Instead of relying only on official reports of abuse and neglect, the study
also bases estimates on information from more than
5,600 community professionals who come into contact with maltreated
children in a variety of settings.

The National Incidence Study (NIS), which is funded by the
National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, estimates that the number of
abused and neglected children grew from 1.4 million in
1986, when the last NIS report was conducted, to over 2.8 million in
1993.  During the same period, the number of children who were
seriously injured quadrupled from about 143,000 to nearly
570,000.

The report also estimates that in 1993, only 28 percent of the children
identified by the study as harmed by abuse and neglect were
investigated by state child protective services, a significant decrease
from the 44 percent investigated in 1986.

Child abuse prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution is
primarily a state responsibility, but the Department has taken strong
measures to help the states.  This week we announced $23 million in
new grants for child abuse prevention programs in all
50 states and we are working to give states more flexibility to test
innovations in the delivery of family services.

I find it shameful that so many more children are in danger and that
proportionately fewer incidents are investigated.  As a nation, all of us
--states, schools, health care professionals, communities and families --
must commit ourselves to preventing and investigating child abuse with
far greater effectiveness.

Here is another HHScoop.

                                   /s/
                              Donna E. Shalala