Coronavirus Fears of Increased Child Sex Abuse May Be Being Realized in USA

Why sudden drop in calls to child abuse hotline due to coronavirus is not good news

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Praying for children is more important now than ever!

Illinois child welfare officials fear a decline in Department of Children and Family Services hotline abuse reports is only because children are out of school, and teachers, social workers and counselors aren't able to see signs of abuse. ProPublica Illinois

By Duaa Eldeib

ProPublica Illinois

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.                                                                                                                             

The hotline receives about 950 calls a day during peak times -- about 6,650 a week -- according to a 2019 report.

The steep drop comes at a perilous moment for families. Child welfare experts worry that the uncertainty and anxiety caused by the coronavirus and the impact it will have on people's jobs, their ability to pay bills or make rent will put children in increased danger at home.

"The risk of child abuse and neglect just shot through the roof," said Kate Gordon Eller, an attorney and founder of The Gordon Foundation, a Chicago-based child welfare nonprofit. "The stress on everybody is growing every day. People are not able to maintain the same income. Then you have all these kids who are home all day. And it's indefinite."

The situation might worsen in the weeks to come. Strokosch said he expects to see the number of reports of abuse and neglect tumble further in the next week.

Following Pritzker's shelter-at-home order, which went into effect on Saturday, children are even more removed from the public eye, likely spending less time outside and with doctors and dentists, who are designated as mandated reporters because they are legally required to alert the state when they suspect abuse or neglect.

The system, he said, relies on people notifying the agency of these concerns, though DCFS has faced criticism when the hotline wasn't able to accept calls as they came in and was hampered by inefficiency and inadequate technology. School officials report allegations of abuse to DCFS more than most other categories of workers, including police or medical personnel, Strokosch said.

"If we had a family who was in crisis before, the additional pressure of COVID-19 puts them at greater risk," Strokosch said.

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.

"We're very concerned," Rivette said. "We know abuse happens in isolation, especially sexual abuse. All of these kids are staying home with family members, and those are the people most likely to abuse kids."

The center, which works with Chicago police and DCFS to interview children in sexual abuse investigations, also has seen its case numbers drop dramatically. The office went from 10 to 15 cases a day to three to four, Rivette said.