INDIANAPOLIS — Community leaders are concerned after court records show at least nine people have been charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death charges since January.
“All child abuse and neglect are preventable,” Jeff Wittman, Prevention Program Manager for Prevent Child Abuse Indiana, a Division of the Villages, told WRTV.
The most recent case? Marion County prosecutors have charged a woman with Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Death after a 10-month-old little girl died from a fentanyl overdose.
Court records were unsealed last week.
“We want to have a call to action to say there is another way. We can all do preventive things in our home each and every day,” Heather Wildrick-Holman, the assistant director at Firefly Children & Family Alliance told WRTV.
Child neglect awareness advocates say it is as simple as calling the state hotline to report signs of abuse or neglect
“Every person in the state of Indiana is a mandatory reporter of child abuse and neglect,”
In the child fatality report just released for calendar year 2023, the Indiana Department of Child Services investigated 261 child deaths. 21 percent of those deaths were determined to be a direct result of caregiver maltreatment, according to the 2023 Child Abuse and Neglect Fatality Report.
20 deaths were due to abuse, and 36 fatalities were due to neglect, according to the report.
“So, step up, do something and help children and families be successful,” Wittman concluded.
For more information on Prevent Child Abuse Indiana, click here.
For more information on Firefly Children & Family Alliance, click here.
On Friday, Firefly Children & Family Alliance will turn the canal in downtown Indianapolis blue to raise awareness for Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The event starts at 11:30 a.m. in the morning.
