A three-year-old boy shot himself in the head after coming into possession of an unlocked Ruger 9mm semi-automatic pistol belonging to his father.

4-year-old girl found dead stuffed in garbage can.

A 3-month-old baby was found blue, motionless and alone on his first day at an unlicensed day care center where caregivers abandoned six infants. He did not survive.

They are among 190 children whose deaths last year are being investigated for suspected abuse and neglect by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. That’s a nearly 30% increase from the previous year and the highest number of suspected child neglect and abuse deaths in Tennessee in nearly a decade, according to a Lookout analysis of DCS data.

More than two-thirds of the children came to the attention of DCS caseworkers within three years of their death. In some cases, DCS actively investigated the family when the child died. In other cases, the children died after DCS had ended its involvement with the family and closed the case.

At the time of their deaths, there were eleven children in DCS’s care, including a 16-year-old girl who escaped from a DCS facility and subsequently overdosed on heroin in a public park.

Under federal law and a 2012 court order, DCS is required to publicly release child death case files it investigates. These files document all of DCS’s interactions with the child and his or her family and the agency’s final determination of whether the death was the result of abuse or neglect.

It could be years before the public can see those records. The agency’s review of suspected abuse deaths from 2021 is still not complete. Case files for all but 19 child deaths from 2023 have not yet been made public.

Delays prevent access to children’s data

A DCS spokesman attributed the delay in investigating the animal cruelty allegations to several factors:

DCS must wait for the Child Protection Investigative Team, made up of local district attorneys, law enforcement and other members, to investigate the child’s death and consider whether to refer the case for criminal prosecution, a process that can take months or even years, DCS spokeswoman Ashley Zarach said in response to emailed questions.

The agency is also struggling with delays in providing autopsy results, toxicology reports and medical records.

New rules introduced this year to speed up autopsies on children who came to DCS’s attention before their deaths will help speed up the process, DCS says.

Asked to explain the increase in suspected child abuse deaths last year, Zarach said there “does not appear to be a causal relationship or statistical significance to any increase/decrease in deaths year over year.”

“The number of deaths does not reflect data trends when compared to other allegations of abuse/neglect,” Zarach said, noting that the number of child deaths during the pandemic has remained steady despite a significant decline in reports of child abuse.

She added that infant deaths related to unsafe sleeping appear to be on the rise, and an increase in fentanyl use and accidental shooting deaths may also be partly to blame.

Zarach did not respond when asked whether any of the social workers were disciplined for their work with children who ultimately died.

“Needles in a Haystack”

The deaths of children previously known to child welfare agencies have become a hot political issue in recent years, pitting advocates against those who want to limit the state’s power to break up families.

Naomi Schaefer Riley of the Lives Cut Short Project, which documents child deaths from abuse nationally, said the current emphasis on supporting family preservation “at all costs” fails to protect the most vulnerable children and may contribute to higher death rates from abuse and neglect.

“The pendulum may be swinging too far in that direction,” Riley said.

Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Welfare Reform, takes a different view.

Reports of an increase in child deaths that are already known to social services agencies often prompt state agencies to become more aggressive in removing children from their families.

That would be a mistake, Wexler said, noting that reports of child abuse deaths represent only a fraction of the cases agencies like DCS routinely handle.

For example, in fiscal year 2022-23, Tennessee DCS conducted more than 66,000 child abuse investigations and received more than 100,000 calls to its hotline, according to the agency’s latest annual report.

“These (child deaths) are needles in a haystack. So what do we do every time there’s an increase? Report more kids, make the haystack bigger,” said Wexler, who warned against such “knee-jerk” reactions that expose more kids to the trauma of being removed. DCS has tools beyond removal to help families in trouble, including referrals for substance abuse counseling, parenting classes and connecting families with other state services.

DCS data analyzed by Lookout shows that the number of child deaths currently under investigation by DCS in 2023 outnumbers all other child deaths in Tennessee, which increased by 6 percent in 2023, compared to a 29 percent increase in suspected child abuse deaths.

Black children were disproportionately represented, making up 39% of all suspected abuse deaths last year, while black children under the age of 18 make up 21% of all children in Tennessee.

In 2023, boys made up a disproportionately large group of victims of suspected deaths due to abuse or neglect.

Zarach said the higher percentage of boys “seems to be a continuing trend.”

Prematurity is more likely in male babies, who may also have higher rates of sudden death, according to some studies. Boys also have higher rates of physical abuse and accidental shootings.