MANSFIELD — Richland County Children Services has seen a decrease in referral calls for child abuse compared to the months when school was held in-person with teachers.
The reason for that is what concerns child care professionals.
“The numbers are not reportable yet, but we can tell by the day-to-day (calls),” said Nikki Harless, executive director at the organization. “We’re getting less calls.”
Teachers are mandated reporters when they see a bruise or any other signal that may be evidence of abuse. Since teachers aren’t in classes and students began learning virtually last month, the reports of abuse have dipped.
“We get 17 percent of our referrals from schools and preschools,” Harless said.
Last year, January saw a total of 87 referral calls. The calls kept climbing during months with school in session. Referral calls peaked in the final month of school at 123, and saw an immediate decrease in June with just 90 calls.
“As students get to summer, teachers reach out to help,” Harless said. “When May comes around, the teachers call about those who they are worried about.
“We tell them not to wait until the last minute, but many teachers think if they can see them the next day, they can monitor it.”
According to www.childwelfare.gov, the most common professional report sources were education personnel (19.4 percent), legal and law enforcement personnel (18.3 percent), social services staff (11.7 percent), and medical personnel (9.6 percent).
The remaining reports were made by nonprofessionals (17.3 percent), such as friends, neighbors, and relatives, or by unclassified reporters (17.0 percent), a category that includes anonymous and unknown reporters.
So far this year, schools and day care lead as the Richland County’s largest referral creator, followed by self referrals, other agencies, hospitals, law enforcement and family relatives.
Caseworkers, deemed essential employees by Governor Mike DeWine, are still working to check up on their on going cases — in person or virtually.
“With three months of summer, we are worried,” Harless said. “We still respond to the calls we do get. All of our caseworkers are still working their cases.
“It helps a little that the schools are having parents and students show up to get meals. There are also some teachers delivering food to homes.”
Other nearby counties are seeing a similar drop in referrals during the shutdown.
Knox County Children Services has seen a 50-percent decrease in referrals thus far, according to Danielle Swendal, Knox County Children Services program administrator.
“We’re seeing the same thing (as others). There are not eyes and ears on these kids everyday like there has been,” Swendal said. “They are not having contact with anyone outside the home unless law enforcement is being called to the house or a community member or family member has knowledge.”
“This is definitely not a good thing and we do worry about what is happening out there that we don’t know about.”
The order has had an impact beyond the classroom.
“It’s not just schools that are mandated reporters,” said Andy Nigh, Crawford County Child Protective Services Administrator. “Preachers, youth ministers, attorneys, coaches are also mandated reporters.”
Nigh said though they didn’t have exact numbers, it was clear their case load had dropped.
“We’re preparing for a large increase in reports after the shutdown is over,” said Cassandra Holtzmann, executive director at Crawford County Childrens Services. “What we are trying to do is sure up the cases we have now and work with the prosecutor’s office to close as many cases as we can.”
Nigh said he has seen predictions suggesting an influx in cases could come immediately after the Stay-At-Home order is over and last until Fall when school starts up again.
Crawford County Childrens Services are also working to fill as many vacant case workers job openings and train them to be able to handle the load, Holtzmann said.
In the meantime, she hopes communities listen to the governor’s request for those who see signs of abuse to speak up on behalf of the child.
“We want people to report,” she said. “If you see something, you need to report it. An adult can be a hero to a child by reporting something they see.”
