California has seen a dramatic decrease in child homicide rates over the last three decades, far over national numbers.
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Phil Reese, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Sacramento State University and correspondent at Kaiser Health News told KCBS Radio that a big reason for the decline in Child Homicide rates is California’s surrender laws.
"So in 2001, the state passed a law that said that parents could turn over their children if they were 3 days old or younger without fear of prosecution they could do this confidentially," Reese explained.
Reese said that since the law has been in place the number of infants found abandoned has dropped from an average of 18 a year in the last 20 years to about two in the last five years.
To help prevent child homicides there are agencies and non-profits that give home visits to new mothers particularly mothers who are at risk of abandoning or hurting their child, "a lot of the experts I talked to said it made a difference," he added.
"We need insurance companies and public agencies to start covering the costs of these home visits that help prevent child homicides," he said.
He said there need to be improvements in mental health care for parents and more programs to prepare pregnant parents for the difficulties of having young children.
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