Iowa child advocates are reporting a first-ever drop in child abuse cases, but still call the latest statewide report “grim.” The report from “Prevent Child Abuse Iowa” found falling figures, but numbers that were still far too high, according to the group’s executive director Steve Scott.The report found about 10-thousand children were abused by their caretakers in Iowa last year. Of those, 65-hundred were physically hurt, a thousand were sexually abused and ten were murdered. Scott says it’s encouraging to see the slight decline in the numbers.On average last year, about four of every 100 Iowa children were suspected victims of abuse. Scott says the key is focusing more efforts on preventing child abuse before it starts. For more information, call 800-CHILDREN or surf to: www.pcaiowa.org