Task Force To Prevent Child Deaths Announces Progress

A Colorado Springs special task force met for the second time this week with a goal of helping caregivers prevent child deaths, abuse and neglect.

Ten children were homicide victims in the city last year, contributing to the record high of 32 total homicides.

Just a moment of losing control can change your baby’s life forever is the theme of an educational video from Memorial Health System. The task force shares that theme, hoping that people most at risk will learn from it.

“(For) parents who made a bad decision at a moment in time,” said El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark. She helped organize the task force, along with District Attorney Dan May.

“(Caregivers) get frustrated,” said May. “There’s money issues, they may be overseas, and this is trying to say is there a way to prevent that type of situation?”

The task force is targeting young parents or other caregivers in their early to mid 20s. Representatives from Memorial said at least eight of the 10 child homicides last year had something in common.

“They died from abusive head trauma — and that means either shaken, tossed or hit on the head. Their brains are very fragile,” said Sally Duncan, Memorial’s injury prevention specialist. “When this happens is when someone who is inexperienced with children, or very frustrated, feels like they can’t solve the crying of the baby.”

What makes this task force unique, said May, is it’s represented by a wider cross-section of the community. Even the military is involved.

In its two meetings, the group has discussed many topics and ideas.

For example, members want to consolidate several child abuse hotlines into one number. The task force also wants to make resources and education easily available, and reduce the 13,000 calls made to child abuse and neglect hotlines last year.

The task force next meets on March 9.