New report: Child abuse and neglect on the rise

Kalamazoo, MICH. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - There is a new report out Tuesday morning that paints a not so good picture for children in Michigan.

According to "Kids Count in Michigan" the rate of child victims of abuse or neglect in Michigan rose by more than one-third during the past decade.
    
That means 32,500 children in the state in 2010 were confirmed as abuse or neglect victims.

 
The report's authors say the risk of abuse or neglect rises with more children living with chronic health conditions and family stress associated with social and economic problems.
    
Groups involved in the report include the Michigan League for Human Services and Michigan's Children. The annual Kids Count report provides a county-by-county snapshot of income, health, education and other measures related to child welfare.

The study was broken down by county.

The report ranks counties on 16 indicators of child well-being (with No. 1 being the best), though data is not available to rank smaller counties on all 16. Trends over time are available for 15 indicators, with nine indicators improving and six worsening.

Among Kalamazoo County‟s best rankings was 13th of 39 counties for teen deaths with a rate of 47.5 deaths per 100,000 compared with the statewide rate of 55.6 per 1,000.

The county‟s worst ranking was 74th for confirmed victims of abuse/neglect with a rate of 30 victims per 1,000 children compared with the rate of almost 14 per 1,000 statewide.

In Kalamazoo County child abuse and neglect jumped 75 percent over the past decade while nearly half of Kalamazoo K-12 children qualify for free and reduced price lunches.

In Kent County, child abuse and neglect almost doubled over the past decade while almost half of Kent County K-12 children qualify for free and reduced price lunches.

In Calhoun County child abuse and neglect was up 39 percent over the past decade while more than half of K-12 kids qualified for free and reduced price lunches.