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With schools, day care centers and preschools around Illinois shut down as part of statewide efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, calls to the Department of Children and Family Services’ abuse and neglect hotline have dropped dramatically over the past week.
But child welfare experts and others don’t believe this decline reflects a decrease in abuse; on the contrary, many fear that children are now at a greater risk of being hurt as families, many facing additional stress over work and health issues, hunker down in isolation.
Because children aren’t in school or child care, the teachers, social workers and counselors most likely to spot signs of abuse and who are required by state law to report those allegations, can’t.
“Unfortunately, we know there aren’t changes in the number of children being abused or neglected,” DCFS spokesman Jassen Strokosch said.
During the week of March 9, before Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order to close all schools, DCFS received 6,672 reports of abuse and neglect via the statewide hotline — 91% by phone and 9% through an online reporting system.
Pritzker’s school shutdown order went into effect the following Tuesday, March 17, and as parents began to lose their jobs or were ordered to work from home, the number of hotline reports plummeted by 45% to 3,675 that week, the DCFS figures show. […]
Research shows that the risk of child abuse rises in times of economic stress, said Char Rivette, executive director of the nonprofit Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center. And reports of abuse and neglect typically drop during the summer when children are at home or when other events keep children away from school, such as the Chicago Public Schools teachers’ strike late last year, Rivette said. But the unprecedented nature of the current crisis has left workers particularly uneasy. […]
DCFS’ Strokosch said the agency needs family members and neighbors now more than ever to report their suspicions to the hotline.
“Do not assume that someone else will report it,” he said. “You might be the only person seeing it.”
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 24, 20 @ 10:50 am
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The reality of families being together has challenges, some are of the comically fun type… others can be very dark.
As we try to find our own ways, the most vulnerable and those needing a guardian angel, they might not be able to signal distress as they could before.
This will be sometime later to see, and now hope we can help those in need.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Mar 24, 20 @ 11:36 am
Yes, now is the time to be a helper to those near you by being watchful. Children with abusive parents and adults with abusive romantic partners need their neighbors to report what they see and hear. These things happen in all socioeconomic groups.
Comment by Urban Girl Tuesday, Mar 24, 20 @ 12:10 pm
Don’t forget the elderly and people with disabilities….
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, Mar 24, 20 @ 12:22 pm