Today at Fort Bragg’s Stryker Golf Course, in conjunction with Action for Children, North Carolina, findings and programs were elaborated upon as the new figures were released.
Fort Bragg and Cumberland County’s Department of Social Services have implemented programs to help reduce homicides by parent/caregivers of children and the numbers showed an improvement for military families.
Action for Children, North Carolina found that between 2001 and 2010 there were 251 homicides by parent/caregiver (HPC) of children from birth through ten years of age in N.C. that represents a 13.6% decline from the 1985-2000 period.
Of the 22HPCs in Cumberland County, 10 were of children in active military
families. While each death is tragic, this was a 16% decline from the prior
period. There were 12 HPCs in civilian families, a 9.1% decline.
“Fort Bragg has taken an active role in reducing the stress placed on our
Families and providing even better support by implementing and reviewing the
effectiveness of our Army Community Support programs and by coordinating our services with those of Womack Army Medical Center, our chaplains and the
Cumberland County Department of Social Services,” said Thomas M. Hill, Fort
Bragg’s Family Advocacy Program Manager. “One of the many benefits of these
programs has been our ability to reduce abuse cases, including child
homicides. But we won’t rest on any laurels, we will continue to find ways
of improving our effectiveness and increasing our assistance to our
Families”
“Despite the enormous stress that military families have been under in the
past decade of war, the HPC rates in active military families dropped by a
remarkable 16% in Cumberland”, said Tom Vitaglione, a senior fellow with
Action for Children, North Carolina. “While the HPC rates for civilian and
military families in Cumberland County remains unacceptably high, the fact
that this media release is occurring at Fort Bragg is an indicator of the
commitment of civilian and military leaders to continue making progress in
the reduction of these rates. Children and families are relying on that
commitment.”