Kids could face a heightened risk of abuse and neglect as school closures keep them at home and away from the biggest group of hotline tipsters — educators.
Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable U.S. children could face a heightened risk of abuse and neglect as coronavirus-related school closures keep them at home and away from the nation’s biggest group of hotline tipsters — educators.
Some experts, like Sophie Phillips, chief executive officer of TexProtects, a Texas-based child abuse prevention advocacy group, fear that parents still required to work outside the home may leave young children on their own. The National Child Abuse Hotline also has seen a 10% surge this week in calls and texts, said spokeswoman Daphne Young. Rather than reporting abuse, however, some of the callers are anxious parents seeking help with child care and frightened children stuck at home with their abusers, Young said.Child protective service agencies across the U.S. received 4.3 million reports alleging abuse and neglect of 7.8 million children in 2018 alone, according to the most recent data available from the U.S.
Of youth who are sexually abused, 90% know the perpetrator, said Chris Newlin, executive director of the National Children's Advocacy Center. Staying home could make those children more vulnerable. “He’s going to be on his own for who knows how long,” Weinrich said. “We don’t necessarily know what’s going on in those houses.”
"It's important for parents not to be exposing their kids to crisis, crisis, crisis, crisis," he said."What they hear is, 'Oh my God, am I gonna die?'" But for now that’s only an option in low-risk cases, said Nadereh Salim, CEO of Children’s Network of Southwest Florida, a nonprofit agency that contracts with the Florida Department of Children and Families to provide child welfare services in the Fort Myers area.
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