A new report shows a dramatic drop in the number of kids being killed by their parents or caretakers across LA County over the past 30-plus years.
The report, from the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, says there's been a 73 percent drop since 1989.
ICAN executive director Deanne Tilton-Durfee says in that period nearly 1,000 kids have been killed by a parent or caretaker.
"Over a half of the children, 524, died from head trauma, multiple trauma and blows to the torso. Many of these fatalities resulted from excessive discipline of very young children," she says.
She credits the decline in child killings on many factors including declining birth rates, violence prevention programs, better communication between government agencies and the safe surrender program.