By Dr. Bob Sege, 4/26/22, https://positiveexperience.org/category/blog/
This week marks the end of April, child abuse prevention month. During the pandemic, we have learned a lot about how to prevent child abuse. Data from the pandemic show a story of hope for children and families. Let’s put this new knowledge into action.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I and many others in the field worried that child abuse would skyrocket. Children were at home with their parents, with no one at school to keep a watchful eye on them. Parents faced isolation, unemployment, stress, and the immediate collapse of their usual supports.
But – we were wrong. Child abuse plummeted during the pandemic. Reports to child welfare agencies fell by 50-70% – a far steeper fall than could be explained by school closures. Each year, only about 20% of reports come from educators. Although the data is not yet in, we hope that the decline in reports to child welfare also represent a reduction in racially-biased reports against families of color. But the data shows that emergency department visits for child abuse fell 40%, and hospital stays fell by one-third.
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