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REMARKS BY:		DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:			Annie Casey Foundation-University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
DATE:			June 8, 1997

And one kid in the front row shouted, "Oh yeah, what channel are you on?"

From an early age, our children know something every politician eventually learns - sometimes the hard way. And that's the power of the press. I've never hid my love of the press. As a child, long before I ever knew there was a job called the Secretary of Health and Human Services, I dreamt of being the next Ernie Pyle.

Yet, when I told people that I was coming to Baltimore this evening to talk to journalists about child abuse and neglect, a lot of them said, "Why? The media has nothing to do with public health." I will tell you what I told them: Believe it or not, you are part of the public health system. People are reading your articles and listening closely to your words. They're learning about great changes and discoveries in medicine -- and about new ways to improve the health of our citizens -- or even save their lives.

And that's why I'm here -- to talk to you about one of our nation's most important, tragic and preventable public health crises: The abuse and neglect of children.

When I was thinking about what I wanted to say to you tonight, I ran across a wonderful children's story called, Saving Sweetness by Diane Stanley. It's about a little girl who runs away from an orphanage and the sheriff who is sent to bring her back.

After several exasperating attempts to find and return the little girl to the orphanage - the sheriff does what any child reading this book would expect him to do. He adopts the little girl. And then he adopts every other child in the orphanage too.

Children love these kinds of happy endings. Endings where children get saved by caring adults. Because in the wonderfully uncynical view of the world that children embrace, they're the only kind of endings that make any sense.

I know a teacher who asked some kids, "What makes you feel safe and happy?" One nine year old child wrote, "It makes me feel safe when I'm with my loving mother and father." That's what every child deserves.

But when it comes to having a loving nurturing family, we both know that many children are like the proverbial kid who goes to the store to buy something costing a dollar and can only come up with a nickel and two pennies. These children come up short. They come up short because they are neglected, abused or sometimes terrorized. Because they are left to fend for themselves. They come up short because help arrives too late.

I'm sure many of you have read Dorothy Allison's brilliant novel, "Bastard Out of Carolina." In it, a young girl named Bone is raped and beaten up by her step-father, Glen. And, in the last, heart-wrenching scenes, Bone's mother apologizes for what has happened, but leaves her nevertheless. Leaves her for the man who has hurt them both. What could be more horrible? Too often the answer is found not in art, but in life.

How often do we wake up to headlines like this from the Orlando Sentinel on May 27th: "Malnourished Baby Dies As Mother Has Nails Done." Or this, from the New York Times on May 19th: "Mother and Grandmother Charged With Fatally Poisoning Girl, 5."

And how many of us can ever forget the story of little Elisa Izquierdo, a six year old who was beaten to death by her mother? Whenever a tragedy like that occurs, as a nation we're compelled to ask, "How could a anyone do such a thing to a child?"

But, as a nation, we also have to end the blame game and ask: What can we do to prevent these kind of atrocities from happening to children in the future? Because while these shocking fatalities generate the most attention, they are only tell part of the story.

Every day, there are children being abused, neglected and abandoned in every part of our country, in every type of family, in every kind of community. Children being denied basic care and basic caring. Children whose stories can be less dramatic, but equally damaging. And tragically, all of their numbers are growing.

In April, we released a report called Child Maltreatment 1995. It told us that in 1995, there were one million officially substantiated cases of abuse and neglect in our nation. And that 80 percent of those perpetrators were the very people kids trust the most to protect them -- their parents and other relatives. Remember, those are just the cases that were reported AND verified.

Given what we know about the increasing burdens on our child welfare system. And about the cries for help that are never heard or reported, we must ask ourselves: How many abused and neglected kids don't even make it onto the radar screen. How many more children are falling through the cracks?"

Our 1996 National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect tries to answer those questions -- and its results have confirmed our worst suspicions. It estimates that as many as 2.8 million children were abused or neglected in 1993. And it's not just the number of cases.

When we read stories about little girls like Nadine Lockwood who was starved by her mother, her lifeless, weightless body left to die, we get the sense that the level of abuse -- the intensity of abuse -- is also growing. In fact, between 1986 and 1993, the number of children who were physically abused nearly doubled. And the number of children who suffered serious injuries from child abuse and neglect quadrupled -- to more than half a million in 1993 alone. What's even more heartbreaking is that almost three-fourths of those children were never served by an overwhelmed child protective service.

So, who is protecting them? These aren't someone else's children - and this isn't someone else's problem. This is our problem -- an American problem -- and together we must solve it. Because, while that ending has already been written for Elisa Izquierdo and Nadine Lockwood, the fate of countless other children still hangs in the balance.

So, how can we rewrite their stories today to give them happy endings tomorrow? Let me be frank: This isn't a Hollywood movie -- and there are no easy answers. If there were, someone would have already proposed them.

We do know this: Just like no Band-Aid would cover Elisa's wounds, no Band-Aid will heal the wounds of the ailing child welfare system and the families it serves. But, over the past few decades, we have learned a great deal.

While the headlines still focus our nation's spotlight on the extreme child abuse cases -- cases that end in hospitalization or death -- our research shows us that neglect is far more common and can sometimes have equally devastating, long-lasting consequences.

We know that today child abuse often goes hand in hand with drug and alcohol abuse. While abuse rears its ugly head in all kinds of families, we know that it is more likely in single-parent families, in families living in poverty, or in families where one or both parents was abused themselves.

As Frederick Goodwin will point out on Tuesday, recent scientific breakthroughs have shown us that early trauma can have a dramatic effect on a child's cognitive, social, and emotional development. And, above all else, we have learned that we can't solve this problem by only focusing on the parent and the child -- and we certainly can't solve it with rigid ideologies or quick fix answers.

Too often, we don't even have all the facts about a child abuse story before the blame game begins. And too often, those pointing the fingers are armed with misleading -- or even outright false information. In the aftermath of tragedy, how many times have we heard someone say that they couldn't protect the child because federal rules prohibited them from doing so?

Nothing could be further from the truth. And let me tell you why: There are no federal rules that prohibit local agencies from protecting the safety of the child. I repeat, there are no federal rules or regulations that prohibit ANYONE from protecting the safety of a child. And there are no federal laws that prohibit states from disclosing information to those who need it -- if that information will protect the safety of the child.

To the contrary. The safety of the child is -- and must always be -- our first consideration.

Yet, for a very long time in this country the pendulum on the best approach to child welfare has shifted back and forth between two seemingly opposing camps. On one side, you have the family preservationists -- those who believe that the focus must be on maintaining or reunifying families. The other camp believes that family preservation is at odds with a child's safety. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.

We wanted to end this false debate. We wanted to chart a common sense, balanced policy that would help us use the tools of both family preservation and adoption to reach the goal that everyone in this country wants: permanent safe homes for every child. Happy endings for every child.

And, as Carol Williams will talk about on Thursday, that's exactly what we've done with our Adoption 2002 plan. We have said, "Yes, the best chance children have in this life is with parents who love them -- and we must do our best to give them just that." But, we cannot ever leave our children in unsafe homes -- never. Doing so is morally wrong.

The truth is, we know that not all happy endings for children can be written the same. Some will stay with their biological families. Others will be adopted. That means we need to operate on two different tracks -- by supporting existing families when possible and creating new families when necessary.

And that means we need a strategy focused on what I call the three P's: prevention, protection, and permanency.

First, prevention. One of my favorite parts of this job is the countless number of kids I get to meet. But, let me tell you, I've never met a kid who didn't need -- more than anything -- a family that loves, supports, and guides them. There's no better safety net in this country. Yet, the only people who have it tougher than kid these days are parents -- parents trying to balance the joys and demands of family and work. And parents dealing with modern-day teenage minefields like drugs, eating disorders, and AIDS.

So instead of just talking about family values, we set about enacting policies that really valued families. How? By raising the minimum wage and expanding the EITC. Providing more -- and better quality -- child care and Head Start. Passing the Family and Medical Leave Act and beefing up child support enforcement. And now helping give people the tools they need to get off welfare and stay off. All to help parents succeed at work and at home.

But, what about when they don't? What about when parents fail their most important obligation -- and place their children in harm's way?

That leads me to my second point: Protection.

We have the first national domestic violence hotline in the nation [1-800-799-SAFE] -- a toll free number where families in trouble can turn for help. But, that's just one piece of the puzzle.

We must move quickly and decisively to recognize when kids are in danger -- and move even more quickly to get them out of danger. And, yes, when appropriate, that must include taking kids out of abusive or unsafe homes. At the same time, when the heart- wrenching decision is made that a child can never return home, we must shorten the road between foster care and permanency.

Which is my third point -- permanence. We need to make foster homes what they were meant to be: temporary places of refuge.

I'll never forget the letter the President got from a 12 year old boy from Iowa. It said, "Dear Mr. President. My name is Rollie. I like to play football and basketball. I've been waiting eight years for an adoptive family. I'm hoping for a family with pets, a brother and a sister, and nice parents." It is time to give Rollie and every other child in foster care what every child in America deserves -- loving parents and a healthy, stable home.

With our "Adoption 2002," strategy, we want to double the number of children adopted annually by the year 2002, to move them there much more quickly, to continue to break down racial and ethnic barriers to adoption, and to support the families that choose to open their hearts and their homes to these children.

Not a very controversial proposition. It shouldn't be anyway. In fact, the House recently passed the Adoption Promotion Act of 1997 -- which incorporates many of the recommendations from Adoption 2002. And the Senate will be considering a similar bill soon.

Does that mean we have all the answers? Hardly.

That's why we've used our Congressional authority to give six states the flexibility they need to test innovative strategies for protecting children and giving them permanent homes. It's why we're providing all states with more technical assistance, more flexibility, and focusing on the only bottom that matters: results.

For example, programs like Family PRIDE in El Paso or Hawaii's early home-visiting model are successfully identifying families at risk and addressing their problems. And cities like Jacksonville and St. Louis are revamping their child protection systems and renewing community partnerships to keep children safe.

But, we'll never win this battle if the government -- whether it's at the federal, state, or local levels -- acts alone. We need a seamless system so that no child ever falls through the cracks. Because every time a child suffers from neglect, abandonment, or abuse - whether we read about it in the paper or hear it happening in the apartment down the hall, all of us live with the consequences.

None of us can ever look the other way. Just like our children's favorite fairy tales, it is all of our responsibilities to try to give their stories happy endings. And that includes you.

Many of you have helped - or may one day help - bring shameful cases of child abuse out of the shadows and into the light of public scrutiny. And when brought to light, stories about child abuse have not only raised awareness, but also promoted action on the federal, state and local levels.

For example, as I'm sure Nick Scoppetta will point out tomorrow night, the wide media attention on Elisa's case helped clarify public disclosure laws and prompted an audit of the New York City Child Welfare Administration's child protective services. And reporting on the tragic circumstances of Megan Kanka's brutal rape and murder - led to passage of Megan's Law which just celebrated its one year anniversary.

So have we come a long way? Absolutely.

From Elisa and Megan, we know that while events create the story, the story can also create events. Events that save lives.

But we still have a long way to go. Because too often we only hear about the most brutal cases. Too often, the most sensational story simply becomes the current poster child for abuse and the impetus for a finger-pointing game when blame is rampant and solutions are not. Too often, as our research has shown, the public has a poor understanding of the problem and those who work day and night to solve it.

But you know -- and I know -- that our greatest weapon against child abuse and neglect is the commodity you produce every day: knowledge. That's why this week you'll be hearing from experts like Douglas Besharov, Lisbeth Schorr, and Howard Davidson. And, it's why I have come to here tonight -- to ask you to use your tremendous skill and power to help us meet three challenges.

First, we must give the public balanced views of the problem and its solution. Yes, we need to hear about the horrible cases of violent and deadly abuse. But we also need to know about the subtler, but equally devastating, cases of neglect and emotional abuse.

And, to solve this problem, we need to learn about what's failing, yes -- but we also need to learn about what's working -- about the successful programs and strategies around this country and the countless parents and children, who, with a little help, have averted tragedies or created new beginnings.

My second challenge for us is to move beyond the blame game and increase understanding -- by peeling back the layers of this complex problem. By not just focusing on one family and one child -- but on a community. And by not just asking who or what failed -- but why it failed -- and what we need to do to make it work. By humanizing the victims, the perpetrators, and the professionals who devote their lives to protecting children, and examining the links between child abuse and poverty, drugs, and family history, we can give the public a greater understanding of abuse and neglect -- and we can move beyond just punishment to problem-solving.

Finally, and perhaps most important, once we have the public's attention, we need to give them information that will spark not just their outrage - but their involvement. That means offering sidebars and other information on recognizing and preventing child abuse, and how to find help at local hotlines, clinics and community centers.

I know that you work on tight deadlines, that your schedules can be grueling, and that up- to-date information isn't just lying around the office. So I've come here to offer more than challenges. I've come to offer help.

Our Department has up-to-date information and statistics about child abuse. We have access to the best experts on issues ranging from domestic violence to substance abuse and from child health to poverty. We have information about approaches that are improving child protection services.

You write the story, and we'll be there with the accurate information you need on any topic - anytime. That's why I'm going to make sure all of you get a number you can call at HHS - and our web site address - so you will have the facts you need when you need them.

Anne Frank wrote, "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." In those words, we can hear the voice of a child who still believed in happy endings.

We know, of course, that not all stories end happily. That was certainly true for Elisa. And it will certainly be true for many of the children you report on. But Anne Frank was right: None of us need wait a single moment to start improving the world - especially the world of children.

That's why, together, we must make fighting child abuse a lifetime commitment. We must share our wisdom. We must speak and write with courage. And we must be the authors of - if not the happy ending every child expects, then at least the hope for a better future that every child deserves.

Thank you.