FORT BRAGG — The rate of child homicide committed by parents or caregivers in North Carolina has dropped over the past decade, but children in Cumberland and Onslow counties – home of the state’s large military bases – are still twice as likely to be killed by a parent or babysitter as children living elsewhere in the state.
A study released Tuesday by Action for Children North Carolina found that both military and non-military families in those counties have higher-than-average rates of child-homicide.
The good news in the report, said Tom Vitaglione, senior fellow with Action for Children, is that a decade of trying to reduce the problem has had some effect. At a press conference on Fort Bragg, Army and local social service workers discussed the work that has been done to prevent child deaths and where problems remain.