No New Federal Funding Seen to Combat Child Abuse : Health: Administration plan calls for a series of high-profile events to focus attention on what a U.S. report last year called a ‘national emergency.’

The Bush Administration intends to call attention to the tragedy of child abuse and neglect through a series of high-profile events but it will not propose funding any new programs to combat the problem, according to a draft of the planned initiative.

Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan “wishes to make the issue of child abuse and neglect a very high priority of his tenure,” states the initiative, expected to be unveiled by the White House later this month. A copy of the draft was obtained by The Times.

He will do so through speeches, appearances and meetings and by attempting to influence activity at the state and local levels and by the private sector, according to the document.

“He plans to highlight the child abuse issue in a number of high visibility appearances during the coming year,” the draft says. “These include discussion of the issue in speeches and visits to child abuse prevention and treatment programs in cities where he is scheduled to make appearances.”

But the initiative does not propose any new resources or programs to address what a federal report issued last June called “a national emergency.”

At that time, the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, established by Congress in 1988 to examine the scope of child abuse in this country, condemned current efforts as failing to protect the nation’s children.

The panel said the “failure to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect” has cost the nation billions of dollars and the range of agencies dealing with the problem has not expanded to meet a huge increase in cases.

Deanne Tilton-Durfee, executive director of the Los Angeles County Interagency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect and a member of the advisory panel, praised the Administration for its willingness to publicize the issue.

“This is the first time a Cabinet secretary has ever focused on this as a national priority,” she said.

But Tilton-Durfee said she also hopes that, “by recognizing the national emergency, the Administration will logically follow up with a commitment of desperately needed programs and funding.”

Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), who chairs the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, said that she had not seen the Administration initiative, but agreed that more resources are needed.

“They say the right words, but words don’t provide any real comfort to a child who is being abused,” Schroeder said. “You don’t need to convince people (that) child abuse is bad. It’s not like cigarette smoking, which at one point was socially acceptable. There’s no place in America where it’s socially acceptable to be a child abuser.

“Talk doesn’t cure it,” she said. “You need a multidisciplinary approach, and that isn’t cheap.”

In a related development Tuesday, an advocacy group reported that there were more than 2.5 million reports of child abuse and more than 1,200 abuse-related fatalities in 1990, a 31% increase since 1985 and a 38% increase in fatalities during the same period.

The statistics showed that 39 of every 1,000 American children were reported to have been maltreated last year, while at least three children died each day from abuse. The figures are based on an annual telephone survey of child welfare officials in the 50 states by the Chicago-based National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse.

The Administration’s draft initiative says that the Department of Health and Human Services intends to sponsor a series of national and regional meetings with leaders from business, state and local governments, education, volunteer associations, churches and health-care organizations. The goal of the sessions is to find ways “that members of society can work together” to address child abuse in a coordinated fashion, it states.

Sullivan “also plans to write to all governors . . . asking them to increase the priority of child abuse and neglect prevention in their states,” the draft says.

Public service announcements will be produced, “with the secretary asking the public to get involved,” according to the draft.

The department will try to increase coordination among its programs and “improve service delivery to vulnerable families and children,” the draft says. It notes that the department intends to review its full range of programs for their impact on child abuse, including health services, health care financing, child welfare and the Head Start program for disadvantaged children.

“It is important that the secretary call attention to this problem, which lies at the root of so many of the social problems that the department’s programs address,” the draft says.

Meanwhile, the Senate began hearings Tuesday on reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, which provides federal funding for state and community-based grants. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate subcommittee on children, family, drugs and alcoholism, said that the new legislation provides for $200 million, three times the current level of funding.

But, Dodd said, “even though it’s a substantial increase, it does not meet the need.”