Child abuse cases drop in Sacramento County. Why COVID may have led to fewer reports

Child abuse cases decreased in Sacramento County last year. But officials say that doesn’t mean the abuse isn’t happening, it’s just going unnoticed.

In 2020, Child Protective Services received 24% fewer calls into its Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline, and opened 185 fewer cases during the course of pandemic, representing a 12% decrease. Investigations into complaints dropped, too, with child protective services staff investigating 430 fewer cases compared to 2019, a 5% decrease, the agency said in an email to The Bee.

The trend in child abuse comes on the heels of an explosion in domestic violence cases in the region, with a 58% increase in violent incidents last year. Like adult domestic violence victims, the pandemic has left many children isolated as a result of school closures, loss of sporting and extracurricular activities, and fewer interactions with people outside their immediate family.

The downward trend of child abuse cases is consistent nationwide and can be explained in part by the children having less contact with teachers and school staff, who are the largest group of mandated reporters who spot potential abuse, according to data from Sacramento County Department of Child, Family and Adult Services.

School closures and closures of other social service agencies resulted in fewer interactions with children. Schools and other mandated reporters make the majority of calls to the hotline,” a spokeswoman for the county’s child protective services said in an email.

In 2019, school personnel were the second-largest reporting party group, reporting more than 4,200 cases. But in 2020, the number of cased reported by school staff dropped by nearly half, with only 2,100 cases reported to child protective services.

“All reporting party groups decreased in 2020 as compared to 2019, with the exception of law enforcement. School personnel experienced the largest decrease, with 50% fewer reports attributed to school personnel. School personnel were the second largest reporting party group in 2019, but the fifth largest group in 2020,” the agency said in an email.

Fewer interactions with medical professionals during the stay-at-home order also had an effect on the decline in cases, a spokeswoman said, since healthcare workers are also mandated reporters.

In 2020, the majority of child abuse and neglect cases were reported by child care workers, clergy, foster parents, public assistance workers and other community service providers, the agency said. Law enforcement was the second largest group, accounting for more than 3,500 cases in 2020.

Beth Hassett, CEO of WEAVE, the largest domestic violence service provider in the Sacramento region, said that although the agency has received a record number of violent domestic violence cases, they’ve noticed a decrease in child abuse cases.

Hassett said WEAVE reports an average of 60 cases per year to Child Protective Services, but in 2020 staff reported only 27 cases.

“We’ve seen a steep decrease in number in CPS reports that are made,” she said.

“We’re really worried about the number of kids that are being abused and nobody is reporting it.”

This story was originally published March 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.