Child abuse reporting drops
Harder for teachers to pick up signals virtually
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio has seen 20,597 fewer reports of child abuse and neglect during the coronavirus pandemic than during the same period last year, but experts say that does not mean incidents are going down.
Like elsewhere across the U.S., it’s most likely that they are being reported less frequently than when children were around people required to report incidents since the shutdown, said Lindsay Williams, executive director of the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund.
When schools closed in March because of COVID-19, there was a roughly 50% decrease in the overall number of child abuse and neglect reports from across the state, Williams said.
“That’s not because child abuse and neglect was no longer happening,” she said. “It was because children were no longer seeing teachers, school personnel, day care providers, coaches and those individuals that are ’mandated reporters’ and would typically make those observations that would be indicators of potential concern and reporting those concerns.”
A mandated reporter is someone required by law to report when they suspect or know that child abuse is occurring. Teachers, child-care workers, health-care workers, clergy and others are among mandated reporters in Ohio.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services received 78,706 reports of child abuse and neglect from March to August, down from 99,303 reports last year during the same period.
“We absolutely have been concerned that abuse and neglect is going undetected during these times,” said Dr. Kristin Crichton with the Center for Family Safety and Healing at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.
Financial issues due to layoffs and unemployment, lack of routine and being home more are contributing to the stress families are experiencing during the pandemic.
Financial hardships play a key role in child abuse. The Great Recession was tied to an increase in the risk for child abuse, especially among households with a social father where the male romantic partner is not related to the mother’s child, according to a 2016 report, The Great Recession and Risk for Child Abuse and Neglect.
“Physical abuse rates increase during times of financial stress, and with so many parents losing jobs and sources of income, parents can be stressed,” Crichton said.
Setting goals, adjusting expectations and maintaining a consistent schedule are tips to reducing the stress on families at homes, Crichton said. Getting support from neighbors, family and friends can also be beneficial to reducing stress.
With some school districts doing remote-only or hybrid learning, it can be harder for mandated reporters to detect signs of child abuse and neglect, Williams said.
“We know that a majority of reports to children services come from mandated reporters like teachers and daycare providers,” Crichton said. “These kids aren’t seeing (those reporters) in person right now, so there’s a risk for kids being abused or neglected not being recognized and having more severe outcomes.”
Online learning can make it challenging for teachers to recognize signs of abuse or neglect over a computer screen, Crichton said.
Anyone can help a child if they suspect abuse.
“We are encouraging the public to help us be those eyes and ears, and if they see or are aware of a concerning situation and feel like that call needs to be made, to feel empowered to go ahead and make that call,” Williams said.