FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — More children were killed by their parents or guardians in counties with high military populations than anywhere else in the state, according to a study released today by a North Carolina nonprofit.
But officials said the numbers are an improvement from a similar report published a decade ago, which also showed a large disparity between homicides by parents or guardians in Cumberland and Onslow counties and the rest of North Carolina.
The two counties account for 6 percent of children up to age 10, according to the study, but 13 percent of the deaths by parents or guardians.
Action for Children North Carolina and Fort Bragg officials will discuss the study today on the military installation.
They also will explain programs that Fort Bragg and the county Department of Social Services have implemented in the past decade to help reduce homicides by parents or caregivers of children.
The report, “Collateral Damage on the Home Front: Ten Years Later,” found 251 homicides by parents or guardians between 2001 and 2010, a 13.6 percent decline from the last study, which looked at a 15-year span ending in 2000.
No such killings were reported in 35 of the state’s 100 counties, according to the report, and only seven counties had eight or more cases.
In Cumberland County, officials tallied 22 homicides by parent or guardian, 10 of which were in active military families.
For the past decade, officials on and off the military installation have tried to coordinate services and implement Policies and programs to reduce stress on families, according to a release from Action for Children.
“One of the many benefits of these programs has been our ability to reduce abuse cases, including child homicides,” Thomas M. Hill, Fort Bragg’s Family Advocacy Program Manager, said in the release. “But we won’t rest on our laurels, we will continue to find ways of improving our effectiveness and increasing our assistance to our families.”
Tom Vitaglione, a senior fellow with Action for Children, said the rates remain unacceptably high in Cumberland County, but said military and civilian leaders have indicated a commitment to continue making progress.
“Children and families are relying on that commitment,” he said.
In 2004, Action for Children, then known as the N.C. Child Advocacy Institute, released a study that showed children of military families in Cumberland County were 2.3 times more likely to be killed by their parents than children statewide.
That study found that children of military families in the country died of abuse at an annual rate of 5 per 100,000 while the statewide rate was 2.2 deaths per 100,000.
The new study shows a rate of about 4.08 per 100,000 in Cumberland County and 1.9 per 100,000 statewide.
Researchers noted similar trends in both studies for Onslow County, home to the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune.