April 3,2001

WASHINGTON (AP) - Reports of child abuse and neglect declined for the sixth year in a row, but there were still more than 800,000 victims, the government said Monday.

The Department of Health and Human Services said reported cases of child abuse, provided by the states, fell from just over 900,000 children in 1998 to an estimated 826,000 victims in 1999.

The Bush administration, promising more federal funds for prevention programs, called the results encouraging, but unacceptable.

"We must remain committed to ensuring that all children live in safe, permanent and loving homes," said HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson.

The president wants to add $200 million to a $305 million child abuse and neglect program called Safe and Stable Families, which aims to help abuse victims by speeding up the process of children being adopted into good families when there's no other option.

Bush, however, has proposed cutting $15.7 million from a smaller child abuse prevention program, leaving it with $71.8 million.

In a trend that began six years ago, the number of victimized children has dropped 19.2 percent from a record of 1,018,692 in 1993, HHS said.

In 1999, nearly 3 million reports of alleged mistreatment were referred to child protective services. Two in three of those referrals were investigated, yielding 826,000 abuse and neglect cases reported to authorities, the government said.

Parents were mainly responsible for abuse and neglect, accounting for 87.3 percent of perpetrators, according to HHS.

The government report is based on reported cases; separate studies have found that the number of victims may be higher. The report was issued as child advocates marked April as Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month.

Also on Monday, a private group came out with a report saying child abuse and neglect drains the United States of an estimated $258 million each day, or $94 billion a year, said Prevent Child Abuse America.

The group said the price tag includes hospital visits, court costs, and police hours, as well as indirect costs, such as special education and mental health care for mistreated children.

"We've known for years that abused and neglected children pay a terrible price," said A. Sidney Johnson, the group's president. "Now we have a better understanding about how much abuse and neglect is costing our society."