Number of Drug-Addicted Babies Decreases : Health: The 10% decline in the county in 1990 is the first on record. But it could also be linked to a change in reporting.

The number of babies reported as being born addicted to drugs in Los Angeles County dropped by 10% during 1990, the first decrease since such statistics have been kept, according to a study to be released today.

Experts called the finding encouraging, but also cautioned that the statistics may reflect, at least in part, a decline in reporting. As one county doctor said, “The battle is not won.”

The numbers are contained in a comprehensive child abuse report to be released by the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. They show that in 1990, county hospitals reported 1,313 infants born drug-addicted, compared to 1,458 the previous year.

“It is encouraging because it is the first time ever that we have seen a decrease,” said Dr. Michael Durfee, who runs a child abuse prevention program for the county Department of Health Services and has been compiling statistics on so-called “drug babies” since 1983. “At least there isn’t this sense that it isn’t only going up.”

At Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, which reports more cases of drug-exposed infants than any other hospital in the county, doctors are seeing “a stabilization in terms of numbers,” according to Dr. Xylina Bean, associate director of neonatology. During the 1980s, she said, reports of drug-addicted infants were increasing at a rate of 20% a year.

Still, Bean said, 11% of all children born at the medical center are addicted to drugs or alcohol. “What we have developed is a chronic core group (of pregnant drug-abusing women),” she said. “We are seeing less first-time users but more repeaters. . . . The battle is not won.”

Bean also noted that a philosophical shift may have contributed to a decline in reporting. The current philosophy is that infants born addicted to drugs are not automatically considered victims of child abuse or neglect. A state law that took effect in January--after the newly released numbers were recorded--instructs hospitals to report infant drug addiction only when there is other evidence that the baby is at risk of abuse.

The study also found a disturbing racial imbalance among children born addicted to drugs. According to the document, black children account for 65% of all those born addicted to drugs and alcohol, even though blacks account for only 11% of all births.

By comparison, 52% of all babies born in the county are Latino, but Latinos constitute just 18% of the drug-addicted infant population. Anglos account for 27% of all births, but just 15% of drug-addicted infants.

The report was compiled by the the child abuse organization, which is made up of representatives from more than two dozen county agencies. Sheriff Sherman Block is the chairman. The study, which is to be made public by Block at an afternoon press conference, offers a wide-ranging look at the state of child abuse in Los Angeles County.

The council found that 108,911 children were reported as possible victims of abuse in 1990, that 46 children were killed by their caretakers and that while more child abuse-related homicide cases were prosecuted by the district attorney in 1990 than in 1989, those convicted received substantially lighter sentences.

The study also recorded a slight decrease, for the second year in a row, in the number of child abuse cases reported by educators. Although student enrollment increased by 0.6%, the study found that county school officials reported 1% fewer child abuse cases in 1990 than 1989. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, reports of child abuse dropped 8.1%.

Police child abuse investigations, however, are on the rise, the study showed. The Los Angeles Police Department investigated 5,131 child abuse cases in 1990--a 19% increase over the previous year. Arrests were up 29%. The Sheriff’s Department reported a 23% increase in child abuse cases.

The council also found that the county’s Juvenile Dependency Court--which orders children removed from parents’ custody and determines when, or if, they can be returned home--is becoming increasingly burdened. For the fourth year in a row, more children are entering the Dependency Court system than are leaving it.

“We are still in crisis,” said Deanne Tilton, the council’s executive director. “The system is still swimming uphill and the resources aren’t there either to prevent children from coming in or, once they are in, to get them out.”

In a separate study, the council examined 46 cases in which children were killed by their caretakers. The study found a link between child abuse deaths and poverty; in nearly 59% of the cases, the family had received welfare assistance from the Department of Public Social Services.

Yet only 22% of the children killed had been under the protection of the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services.

Tilton said the numbers illustrate a need for the county to improve its methods of identifying children who are in danger of abuse before they get hurt. To that end, the council offers several “action items” on its list of recommendations, among them the creation of a countywide computerized child abuse data base.

According to Tilton, a variety of agencies--law enforcement, welfare officials, children’s authorities--often will come into contact with the same family. But because the agencies don’t share information, child abuse may go undetected. The council has already written a proposal for a computer system that would be available to all these agencies, and is seeking $400,000 in start-up funding from the county.

The council also hopes to draft a plan for “neonatal home visitation,” in which public health nurses might visit newborns who have been identified as child abuse risks, including those born addicted to drugs.

“We’ve got to realize where the problems start, and they don’t start in the coroner’s office,” she said. “They start in the maternity room. . . . You cannot always predict when a child will get hurt. But you can prevent it in a number of cases by intervening at an early stage.”