A report from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services reveals deeply troubling statistics about child maltreatment fatalities, with substance use emerging as a predominant factor in drug-related child deaths across the state. The Fiscal Year 2024 Child Maltreatment Fatalities and Near Fatalities Annual Report provides stark evidence of how parental substance use, particularly marijuana, contributes to preventable child deaths.

The Shocking Reality of Child Deaths Substance Use

According to the Texas report, 60 of the 99 child fatalities caused by abuse or neglect involved a parent or caregiver actively using a substance and/or under the influence of at least one substance that affected the ability to care for the child. This means 60.6% of child abuse and neglect deaths involved substance use. Authorities identified methamphetamine and alcohol use in a total of 15 child fatalities, while they identified marijuana as the most common active substance in drug-related child deaths and noted its prior use in 28 cases.

The data paints a grim picture of how child deaths substance use directly undermines child safety. Caregivers impaired by substances caused many of the most common fatal neglect cases, including drowning and unsafe sleep. In FY 2024, children 3 years of age and younger made-up 70.7 percent of confirmed child abuse and neglect fatalities, highlighting the extreme vulnerability of our youngest citizens.

The Failure of Permissive Drug Policies

These findings directly challenge the narrative that legalization and “harm reduction” approaches protect families. The Texas data demonstrates that permissive drug policies, particularly marijuana legalization, are adding to an already unacceptable escalation of drug-related child deaths. With marijuana identified as the most common substance in child fatality cases, the push for legalization appears to be placing adult recreational desires above children’s fundamental right to safety.

The document you provided on UN Rights of the Child CRC Article 33 emphasizes that “member states shall take all appropriate measures including legislative administrative social and educational measures to protect children from the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and to prevent the use of children in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances.” It further states that “the message is clear that children must be protected from the very presence of drugs.”

The Catastrophic Failure of “Harm Reduction” for Children

The concept of “harm reduction” has catastrophically failed when it comes to protecting children from child deaths substance use. The UN Rights document notes that exposure to drug use and drug-using environments ranks among the seven globally recognised adverse childhood experiences, causing acute, chronic, and potentially intergenerational harms.

The Texas report provides concrete evidence of this failure:

• More than half (56.5%) of child fatalities involved families with prior Child Protective Services involvement
• Child deaths substance use was a factor in 60.6% of child abuse and neglect deaths
• The youngest and most vulnerable children bore the brunt of this crisis
• 56.5 percent of the confirmed drug-related child deaths involved either the child or the perpetrator having prior history with CPS

The Intersection of Multiple Risk Factors

The Texas report reveals a devastating pattern of co-occurring risk factors in child deaths substance use cases. In FY 2024, 53.5 percent of child fatalities involved a parent/caregiver who reported active mental health concerns, often combined with substance use. Domestic violence was present in 35 families where children died. The report notes that “the co-occurrence of substance abuse, domestic violence, and mental health concerns with child maltreatment is prevalent.”

Particularly disturbing is the finding that unsafe sleep fatalities often involved substance use. The report specifically states that “Delilah was found unresponsive after co-sleeping with her mother and a friend, who were under the influence of illegal substances and alcohol.” This pattern repeated throughout multiple case summaries of drug-related child deaths, demonstrating how impaired caregivers cannot provide safe environments for infants.

Enforcing Article 33: An Absolute Imperative

The UN document asks critical questions: “who is it that actually believes our children or grandchildren will be better off on drugs or who believes here their children or grandchildren will be better off with easier access to drugs and finally even more disturbingly who believes our children’s future society can only be better with drug use being legalized?”

The Texas data on child deaths substance use answers these questions definitively: No child is better off when adults have easier access to drugs. The Eindhoven Declaration seeks to reiterate and reinforce the United Nations mandate to protect all of our children from drug use in all of its forms and in all of our societies. This is the only way forward for a healthier safer productive and more resilient future for this and further generations.

The UN document correctly identifies that “it is this disturbing context of intergenerational harms it is substance use that can have both a causal and coral impact on all the other six adverse childhood experiences under the genres of abuse neglect and household dysfunction.” The Texas data confirms this, showing how substance use creates cascading failures in child protection leading to drug-related child deaths.

The Reality of “Prior History” and System Failures

The Texas report reveals another troubling dimension of child deaths substance use: many of these deaths were preventable. CPI or CPS had previously engaged with the child or the perpetrator in 56.5 percent of confirmed child fatalities. This indicates that, even when authorities recognised warning signs and took action, substance use still posed lethal risks to children.

The report documents heartbreaking case after case where substance use led directly to drug-related child deaths:

• Children left unsupervised and drowning while caregivers were impaired
• Infants dying in unsafe sleep conditions with intoxicated parents
• Physical abuse escalating to fatal injuries when perpetrators were under the influence

Protecting Children’s Rights

The evidence from Texas on child deaths substance use demands immediate action:

1. Strengthen enforcement of UN CRC Article 33 – Children have an absolute right to be protected from drug exposure
2. Reject legalization efforts – The data clearly shows that increased access to drugs leads to more drug-related child deaths
3. Prioritize children’s rights over adult recreational desires – No amount of tax revenue or personal freedom arguments can justify the death of even one child
4. Support the Eindhoven Declaration – Join the global movement to protect children from all forms of drug exposure
5. Recognize the failure of “harm reduction” – When it comes to children, the only acceptable level of harm is zero

As the UN Rights document powerfully states about child deaths substance use, “it is important to note that it is this disturbing context of intergenerational harms it is substance use that can have both a causal and coral impact on all the other six adverse childhood experiences.”

A Clear Message from the Data

The Texas report notes that “67.6 percent of children who died from abuse or neglect in FY 2024 were too young for school and not enrolled in day care.” These were society’s most vulnerable members, completely dependent on adults for their safety and survival. Adults who chose substances over supervision caused fatal drug-related child deaths.

The UN document clearly portrays substances as an enemy of a child’s right to health, safety, well-being, development, and their ability to become their best human self. The Texas data on child deaths involving substance use confirms this beyond any doubt. Every statistic tells the story of a child whose life ended because adults prioritised drug use over the child’s safety.

The Time for Action is Now

The Texas report serves as a sobering reminder that when we fail to protect children from drugs, we fail them utterly. The time for permissive policies and “harm reduction” rhetoric has passed when it comes to preventing drug-related child deaths. Our children deserve nothing less than complete protection from the harms of substance use, as guaranteed by Article 33 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

As the UN document concludes, “it’s time children’s rights were again confirmed and reinforced as a priority not the faux rights claims demanded by drug users.” The Texas data on child deaths substance use shows the deadly cost of ignoring this imperative. With 99 children dead in just one state in one year, how many more must die before we act?

The question is not whether we can afford to enforce these protections against child deaths substance use – it’s whether we can afford not to. The lives of our children hang in the balance. The evidence is clear, the mandate is absolute, and the time for excuses has ended. We must protect our children from the presence of drugs in all its forms, or we will continue to count drug-related child deaths as the price of adult indulgence.]

Source: Fiscal Year 2024 Child Maltreatment Fatalities and Near Fatalities Annual Report