Kentucky faces alarming surge in child poisonings and severe abuse cases
Kentucky children are increasingly ingesting and overdosing on unsafe substances like cannabinoids and fentanyl, with the rate increasing by more than 100% in the last five years, a new report shows.
The annual report from Kentucky's Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel shows an increase in physical child abuse as well among the 72 child fatalities and 176 near fatalities in fiscal year 2024. The panel only reviews fatal and near-fatal cases. There were nearly 15,000 cases of child maltreatment in Kentucky in 2024, according to a federal report released in January.
Findings show a lack of parental and caregiver education around the dangers of routine medications as well as system failures, including packaging of cannabinoids that fails to adequately communicate the risks products pose to children and mistakes made by the state in investigating allegations.
Dr. Christina Howard, a child abuse pediatrician and a member of the panel, said the ingestion and overdose cases investigated by the panel are 'absolutely preventable.'
While THC and medical cannabis products are available to adults, 'we do know that they can be dangerous to children when they're accessed,' Howard said. 'And I think that's kind of what we want the general population to know: You ... have things in your home that are dangerous. Tylenol can be dangerous to kids. Making sure that those are stored in a way that children cannot access them is very important.'
Packaging and marketing of these products also needs improvement, she said. They need to clearly communicate to consumers that products that may look appealing to children, like a cannabis brownie, can seriously hurt them.
The Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel was created in 2012 to conduct comprehensive reviews of child deaths and serious injuries from abuse or neglect. The independent panel of physicians, judges, lawyers, police, legislators and social service and health professionals meets regularly to analyze such cases. It produces an annual report on its findings and recommendations for improvements.
Key findings in the report include: - 98 children ingested or overdosed on dangerous substances. The most common substances in these cases were cannabinoids (28%), fentanyl (19%) and methamphetamine (16%). - 11 children died from ingestion/overdoses. The report does not identify which substances killed the children. - Nine children died from firearm injuries out of 11 cases of injury reviewed by the panel. - The rate of cannabinoid exposure to children in Kentucky has increased 720% in the last five years. In 2020, there were five cases of cannabinoid ingestion or overdose. In 2024, there were 41. - The majority of physical abuse cases (76%) were almost fatal for the child victim. - There was a 31% increase in physical abuse cases reviewed by the panel: 55 for fiscal year 2024, up from 42 the previous year. - Parental refusal of Vitamin K shots is 'increasingly common, often due to disinformation on social media and misunderstanding the risks involved,' the panel reported, calling this trend 'alarming.'
The report has a slew of recommendations, which include: - The Cabinet for Health and Family Services should develop and implement a comprehensive, standardized training curriculum on medical indicators of child physical abuse for both child welfare caseworkers and medical professionals. - The Kentucky Board of Nursing through the Licensed Certified Professional Midwife program, should develop a standardized protocol which includes the importance of vitamin K within parenting education and pre-natal medical visits. - The Department for Community Based Services should include a parent's refusal of the vitamin K shot at birth as part of the medical neglect criteria. - The Department for Community Based Services should encourage staff to continue to treat THC use as a high-risk behavior and follow policy accordingly. - The Department for Community Based Services should create a guideline to specifically address safe firearm storage assessments. - The Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Public Health and Office of Medical Cannabis should ensure consistency in child-resistant packaging requirements for hemp-derived cannabinoid products. Additional warnings should be required to inform the consumer that 'child-resistant' packaging does not mean 'child-proof' and these products may be harmful or potentially fatal to children. - The Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department for Public Health and the Office of Medical Cannabis should conduct an aggressive public safety campaign that educates caregivers, prescribers and retailers about the dangers the products can pose to children.
