Suicides and suicide attempts are on the rise among adolescents and officials pointed to mental health awareness and other factors in an effort to combat that trend as data was presented by the Los Angeles County Inter-Agency on Child Abuse and Neglect, Monday, June 11.

LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey and Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell listen to ICAN Executive Director Deanne Tilton Durfee speak. The Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect held a press conference downtown Monday, June 11 to discuss trends and statistics related to child abuse, deaths and safe surrenders in LA County. (Photo by John McCoy, LA Daily News/SCNG)

LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey speaks at a press conference held by the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect June 11 to discuss trends and statistics related to child abuse, deaths and safe surrenders in LA County. (Photo by John McCoy, LA Daily News/SCNG)

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The Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect held a press conference to discuss trends and statistics related to child abuse, deaths and safe surrenders in LA County. Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell talked about what the county is doing to combat these issues. (Photo by John McCoy, LA Daily News/SCNG)

Dr. Clayton Kazan, Medical Director of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, speaks. The Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect held a press conference downtown to discuss trends and statistics related to child abuse, deaths and safe surrenders in LA County Monday, June 11. (Photo by John McCoy, LA Daily News/SCNG)

Dr. Clayton Kazan, Medical Director for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, speaks. Listening to Kazan are District Attorney Jackie Lacey, far left, Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell and ICAN Executive Director Deanne Tilton Durfee. The Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect held a press conference downtown to discuss trends and statistics related to child abuse, deaths and safe surrenders in LA County Monday, June 11. (Photo by John McCoy, LA Daily News/SCNG)



LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey speaks at a press conference held downtown by the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect to discuss trends and statistics related to child abuse, deaths and safe surrenders in LA County Monday, June 11. (Photo by John McCoy, LA Daily News/SCNG)

Through three reports released Monday, officials presented data from 2016, comparing it to the previous year as well as a decade ago.

The agency also looked ahead at figures coming in for 2017, and child suicides are anticipated to be on the rise, said Deanne Tilton Durfee, executive director of ICAN.

Officials have projected 26 child suicides occurred in Los Angeles County in 2017, nearly double the 14 in 2016.

Durfee said the agency has found that issues with social media, depression and relationships – the loss of an important relationship or a conflict in a relationship – have been the biggest contributing factors to adolescent suicide.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department worked more than 100 cases of an adolescent attempting suicide in 2017, she added.

“Most don’t leave suicide notes, but these kids show signs,” Durfee said.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Sheriff Jim McDonnell, Los Angeles County Fire Department Medical Examiner Dr. Clayton Kazan and Brandon Nichols, chief deputy director of the Department of Child and Family Services, also spoke at an ICAN news conference in downtown Los Angeles where the data was discussed.

The reports also looked at total adolescent deaths, which include homicide, accidents and undetermined deaths. Those totals increased from 189 in 2015 to 222 in 2016, Durfee said.

Of those deaths, 68 percent were of children 5 or younger, she said.

But while the overall numbers increased, within those numbers were encouraging signs.

In 2016, the agency reported its lowest number ever in adolescent deaths by parent or caregiver with 14, which continued an overall downward trend which started in 1991, when 61 child homicides were reported, officials said.

That number was nearly cut in half by 2006 and promises to be at another all-time low – projected at seven – when figures come in for 2017, Durfee said.

“That flies in the face of the national trend,” Durfee said. “We are making a difference.”

ICAN also released the Safely Surrendered and Abandoned Babies report on Monday. According to the report, 159 newborns were safely surrendered in the county and no abandoned newborns were reported in 2016. By comparison, in 2006, 14 abandoned newborns resulted in 11 deaths, Durfee said.

“We believe that knowledge about these issues will contribute to more effective interventions by all agencies,” Lacey said. “There is evidence that the awareness of these issues does make a difference.”

Lastly, the agency discussed a concern with the loss of funding for its Infant Safe Sleep Program, which started four years ago in response to a large number of infant deaths due to unsafe sleeping environments, including co-sleeping or cluttered cribs.

The agency brought the number of infant deaths down to 24 in 2016, but with no funding, that number is anticipated to double to 47, Durfee said.

“The grieving parents of these infants tell us that they just didn’t know that sleeping with their babies was dangerous, much less fatal,” McDonnell said. “So we need to communicate loud and clear, far and wide, don’t sleep with your baby, don’t wake up to a tragedy.”

Officials hoped the reports would lead to greater communication between agencies in order to more effectively combat child abuse and neglect.

“We need to work on our ability to communicate between systems so that we can have the appropriate level of suspicion and have our antennas up high enough and to be able to provide the experience that when cases are missed the system can get smarter,” Kazan said.

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According to the Los Angeles County Departments of Public Health and Mental Health, suicide prevention resources include the National Suicide Prevention Center Hotline, (800) 273-8255, or see www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org