About 1,580 children died from abuse and neglect in the United States in 2014, according to childwelfare.gov.
To put it another way: An average of four children died in our country daily that year from abuse or neglect.
A recently released report from the Indiana Department of Child Services brings the problem closer to home. The report, for the state's 2014 fiscal year, found that 66 Hoosier children died as the result of abuse or neglect.
Here are some more troubling statistics:
• Nearly half of the children who died were age 1 or younger.
• The majority of the abuse deaths were caused by head trauma.
• Substance abuse was a risk factor in about 30 percent of the deaths.
While none of the deaths reported were in Madison County, a total of three came from adjacent counties Grant and Delaware.
And we have had our tragic stories here in the Anderson area. Some were high profile:
• A 12-year-old girl died after, allegedly, being run over by a lawn mower in November 2015. The girl's legal guardian, Denell Roberts, faces a murder charge. A jury trial is scheduled to start Tuesday.
• After authorities found a 15-year-old Anderson girl locked in a filthy room and barely alive, Anderson's Steve and Joetta Sells — the girl's grandparents and caretakers — were each sentenced to 24 years in prison.
• In April, Anderson's Kim Robinson and Stephen Auker were sentenced to 20 years in prison each for neglect of their 29-month-old twin daughters. Authorities said the girls, because of neglect, were two years behind in physical and cognitive development.
While these cases are disturbing, in part, because of the apparent intentionality of the neglect or abuse over the course of time, other acts of fatal neglect can come from inattention or a single act of carelessness. Every summer, heart-wrenching stories surface of kids perishing in the heat after being left in cars.
More commonly, children don't have the proper supervision around water. The majority of the 54 cases of Indiana children dying from neglect in 2014 were caused by drowning.
It's easy to feel powerless when confronted with these anecdotes and statistics. But there truly is something you can do about it.
First, take good care of your own children, giving them the attention, shelter, food, education, health care and other necessities they need to flourish.
Next, report suspected neglect or abuse to the Indiana Department of Child Services or to the local police.
The easiest path sometimes is to turn away, reasoning that it's none of your business. But think of it this way: By making it your business, you could save a child's life.