Deaths of Black children and infants in Sacramento are on the decline, county report shows
Sacramento County has seen a 18% decline in the deaths of Black children since 2013, according to a new report given to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
The county credits the work of the Black Child Legacy Campaign, which was created to reduce the death of Black children. In 2011, a report found that Black children were dying at twice, and sometimes three times, the highest rate out of any ethnicity in the area over the span of two decades.
The report identified the four leading causes of deaths: infant sleep-related deaths, perinatal conditions, child abuse and neglect homicides and third-party homicides.
The Black Child Legacy Campaign, created in 2013, is a collaboration between Sacramento County Department of Child, Family and Adult Services, Department of Human Assistance, Health Services Department, the First 5 Sacramento Commission and the Sierra Health Foundation.
“There is no one person who can do this work alone,” said Kim Pearson, the division manager for the Department of Child, Family and Adult Services, in a news release. “It is a collaborative system.”
Since 2013, these organization have spearheaded several programs to reduce deaths caused by sleep-related issues, perinatal conditions and child abuse and neglect. Regarding third-party homicides, the Black Child Legacy Campaign has seen a 38% increase in Sacramento County.
The First 5 Sacramento Commission has created the Black Mothers United program, which provides pregnant people with a coach. Among the 149 mothers who participated in the program, 91% of their babies were born at a healthy weight. Ninety four percent of mothers delivered their infants to full-term. Last fiscal year, there were no stillbirths from mothers in this program, marking the fourth year in a row where no infant deaths occurred.
To reduce the risk of sleep-related infant deaths, the Black Child Legacy Campaign created the Safe Sleep Baby initiative. This program taught parents and other guardians how to place their baby safely to sleep. The Black Child Legacy Campaign shared that they trained more than 800 parents. They also provided more than 500 cribs to families to ensure their infants were resting in safe conditions.
The Black Child Legacy Campaign has also launched the Cultural Broke Program, which provides families with community liaisons to assist them in understanding the Child Protective Services system. The goal of this (program) is to keep “families together, reuniting them and helping them navigate the child welfare system,” according to a news release.
The report presented to Sacramento County Board of Supervisors showed that 87% of cases assigned to a cultural broker were closed successfully, meaning children were reunited with their family, received or in the process of permanent housing or had their emergency response referrals closed.
Phil Serna, a Sacramento County supervisor, said that efforts to reduce the high rates of death for Black children will continue.
“There is always going to be work to do and we can’t rest,” Serna said.
This story was originally published October 26, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
