Oklahoma Highest in Child Abuse Fatality

The Government released a new alarming statistic about child abuse deaths. Oklahoma ranks number 1 for the most child abuse deaths in the nation. At the Help-In-Crisis Child Advocacy Center, theyve already seen thirty child abuse cases since January. The Help-In-Crisis Executive Director, Deana Franke, says "Its just heartbreaking to think about what that statistic means...those are people, they are children: they have faces, they cry, theyre sad. According to the new report Oklahoma had forty-one children die from child abuse between 2004 and 2005. Franke says shes glad the statistic is out! She says, "Im hopeful that when people are forced to look at how bad it is, that there will be changes made, that it will get better for kids in our state" Why Oklahoma, you might ask. Franke says, "I dont know if its the wild wild west and we still think that women and children are property, and we can treat them that way." Franke says that to stop the abuse we need more education. She says, "We need to put money into prevention, early education before people ever get close to becoming parents." According to the new statistic, Oklahoma has nearly four times more child abuse deaths than the national rate.