CHILD HOMICIDE RATES DROP.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON Staff Writer

The number of Los Angeles County children who fell victim to homicide and suicide dropped to historic lows in 2004, while those who died while sleeping with a parent jumped 20 percent, a report issued today found.

The annual child death report by the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect found that 30 children were killed by a parent, relative or other caregiver - the lowest point since ICAN began tracking the data in 1990.

ICAN Executive Director Deanne Tilton Durfee credited the improvement to prevention and early intervention efforts by the child protective system along with campaigns about shaken-baby syndrome and the dangers of corporal punishment.

``We really have focused a lot on improving the safety for kids,'' DCFS Director David Sanders said. ``We have made a number of improvements in the department to get (the number of child deaths) down. We think those improvements have had an impact. But we still have a ways to go.''

Durfee said she is troubled by three separate cases in 2004 and several since, in which men whose wives or girlfriends had left them murdered their children out of revenge.

``The children are caught in the crossfire of anger and vindictiveness between two partners,'' Durfee said. ``It has to be addressed. We are conducting a domestic violence death review now.''

The number of suicides dropped to a low of 13, well below the 15-year average of 25.

Accidental deaths dropped 25 percent from a record 147 the prior year to 110.

The report for the first time identified a trend of increasing deaths of infants who sleep with their parents, rising from 30 in 2003 to 36 in 2004.

In one case, authorities found a 3-month-old boy dead after sleeping in bed with his mother and cousin. He found was surrounded by and laying on boric acid, used to kill roaches.

Children are often found dead in bed as a result of loose bedding, getting stuck between the bed and the wall, an intoxicated or overweight parents who rolls over on them, or a mother who falls asleep while nursing and smothers the baby.

``There is a lot of cultural support for sleeping with your baby and a lot of cultural support for breastfeeding,'' Durfee said. ``This is more than all the children killed in 2004. We've been trying to get First 5LA to do a safe sleeping campaign.''

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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