Number of children abused or neglected in Colorado rises
The number of abused or neglected children in Colorado has risen over the past three years, even as the numbers in other states have declined — with 36 children killed by abuse in 2009, up from 27 in 2007.
After a dip between 2006 and 2007, the rates of confirmed child abuse and neglect in the state have increased: from 8.3 per 1,000 in 2007, to 8.6 in 2008, to 9.1 per 1,000 in 2009, the latest year for which statistics are available.
In 2009, 11,339 of Colorado’s 1.2 million children were maltreated, 641 more than the previous year, according to data collected by the Colorado Department of Human Services child welfare division and provided by the Kempe Center, which treats abused children.
During the past two years, 1,236 additional children were abused and neglected compared with 2007.
It is not uncommon for more children to get hurt by adults when a stalled economy piles stress on a family, child welfare experts say.
Still, states across the country — states where the economy is as bad as or worse than it is in Colorado — reported decreases.
That leaves state officials and child advocates stumped.
“Are there more abused kids in Colorado, and if so why? That’s not an easy question to answer,” said Lloyd Malone, executive director of the state’s child welfare division.
Regardless of the cause, state leaders should take notice of the trend, said Dennis Kennedy, executive director of Mount St. Vincent Home.
“I hope we can use this as an opportunity to make a concerted effort to really address this,” Kennedy said.
Mount St. Vincent works with the state to treat children emotionally and psychologically damaged by severe abuse.
Nevertheless, there might be a bit of a silver lining in the Colorado numbers, state officials say.
The increase might reflect a new effort to bring consistency to child-abuse investigations across the state and to set clear thresholds for what is and is not abuse or neglect.
Intense scrutiny
That theory is bolstered by statistics Malone cited showing that as the number of confirmed cases was going up, the number of overall calls alerting investigators to suspected child abuse held steady.
That means that investigators confirmed abuse in a higher proportion of referrals.
It could be that retraining efforts have helped investigators do a better job of recognizing abuse and neglect, Malone said.
The state and county agencies that investigate child abuse came under intense scrutiny in 2007 after several high-profile murders of children whose treatment had been previously investigated by various human services departments.
One result was a training academy for new child abuse caseworkers, said Ki’i Powell, the division’s research and evaluation manager. Another was greater state supervision of county practices.
Neglect is by far the most common form of child abuse.
Physical and sexual abuse accounts for about 20 percent of all cases, said Dr. Antonia Chiesa of the Kempe Center’s Child Protection Team.
Avoiding budget cuts
Chiesa said the team treated 494 abused children in 2009, an increase of more than 22 percent from the previous year.
County agencies charged with protecting children are consistently stretched thin. But as revenue shortfalls buffet government departments across the state, those that investigate child abuse are hanging on, Malone said.
“Our former governor and our current governor . . . have done a remarkable job in the face of horrific budget issues to protect the counties from significant cuts in child welfare,” he said.
Chiesa said if there is anything the public can do to counteract the trend of the past three years, it is to speak up.
“Talk to our leaders and legislators and say it’s important, and that in these tough times, we must maintain resources for our most vulnerable population, which is kids.”
-Karen Auge. Photo: Commerce Wire
In 15 years of child protection work I have never seen a case where a parent was in the system for leaving a kid in a car for 5 minutes, or for minor discipline issues or for any of the other lies people tell to minimize the injury to kids. Most agencies are so busy that dealing with major cases is almost more than they can handle. The idea that caseworkers are out there harassing innocent parents over minor stuff is urban myth. Mistakes get made of course, but it is still more likely that serious stuff gets missed than that minor things get persecuted. When the job market goes to pieces, the stress on the family often gets passed on to the kids.
And yes it cost money to help these kids. I know that there are folks on here who think that we need to terminate every penny of government spending and others who would just wash their hands of these kids, but a functioning society tries to protect its most vulnerable. Abused kids are more likely to cost money later in the form of law enforcement and prison costs. Even if money is all you care about, intervention now saves money later.
Do you have any data to back that up Brad, or is it simply what you’ve been telling yourself for 15 years?
The article I quoted states that, by 24 years of age, half of these kids don’t have jobs, only 6% have completed any college, 60% of males have been convicted of a crime, and 77% of the women have been pregnant.
…but a functioning society tries to protect its most vulnerable.
No, Brad, a “functioning” society does protect its most vulnerable, whereas a dysfunctional society makes things even worse for these kids.
May God, for those who believe, bless and protect the innocent children. All of us enters this world by not our own volition be it by mistake or design and should be nurtured and protected until we can provide for ourselves. It’s utopian thinking but hopefully this horrible stat will be erradicated by the next census not only for our State but for the other 49 as well.
If people want to stop funding programs that help stuggling families, that help children, then they’d better get ready to spend lots more on building new prisons. The uptick in child abuse is unaccepatble. It sickens me. I feel frustrated and don’t know what I as an average person can do. It’s not like I’ve witnessed abuse firsthand. Failing that, what can Joe Q. Citizen do to make this better? Any concrete ideas out there? It breaks my heart that children are suffering…and I don’t even have kids, but it still kills me to think about this going on, and in fact, gettting worse!
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Why is there even a proposal to cut funding to Planned Parenthood given these statistics? (The federal GoP budget zeros out Planned Parenthood – and not for abortions, which are privately funded, but for family planning services like condoms, vasectomies, birth control pills, etc.)
Unprepared parents are much more likely to abuse/neglect children.
Kyle Pruett, a child psychologist at Yale, estimates that we could greatly reduce these rates by creating more awareness in more boys of what raising a child requires (some men are excellent parents; many not so much). Encouraging boys, as we do girls, to focus on the needs of others, and to learn to balance conflict between earning money and tending others as girls do, would help them make smarter choices in sex. Also getting rid of sex discrimination in employment so girls can see a way through life besides needing to rely on a man’s money, or welfare, by having a child, would help.
Now that paternity can be proven and disproven, there is no reason not to move on from (a) the male breadwinner and male control of resources/ female dependent and responsibility for doing the unpaid work of raising children to (b) a more egalitarian model where both sexes earn and both sexes do the unpaid work of raising children.
Our children need this from us.
(I am amazed at the negative votes I’m getting on this. Who is opposed to this idea? Are these men who don’t want to look at how they are 50% responsible for bringing unwanted children into the world? Are these men who are too “important” to care for a child and focus on his/her needs? Are these men who don’t support wives, sisters and daughters in earning money? Are they ashamed of themselves and needing to strike out to avoid feeling that shame and guilt? Are these men who are scared of dealing with adult women who have economic autonomy instead of oppressed, submissive or dissociated women who trade sex for the promise, sometimes fulfilled – sometimes not, of economic support by the man for the rest of their lives? Are these women who don’t want to look at how they are 50% responsible for bringing unwanted children in the world? Or women who don’t want to look at how they may be using sex and/or having children in order to avoid taking economic responsibility for themselves?)
Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century, edited by Dr. Richard B. McKenzie
Unfortunately, there are many kids in foster care that will never be adopted because parents maintain rights to their kids even though they continue bad choices including substance abuse, neglect, and child abuse. These kids could benefit from well run orphanages instead of the foster care system we currently have. It’s one option.
The abuse and neglect that I have had personal acquaintance with knows no socio-economic distinction. It crosses all social categories and income brackets. It is insidious like a cancer. It’s impact on our children is horrendous. We can scapegoat a particular segment of society out of fear that perhaps it might be occuring within our own demographic. Failure to recognize this will result in the occurence and re-occurence. Awareness and a willingness to consider it with honesty is key. As a society, we can no longer afford to ignore the fact that abuse is prevalent throughout every spectrum of our society. Our legislators and lawmakers need to hear from us. Our concerned citizens need to be willing to take action. It is a societal issue for all of us and it is especially a life and death issue for so many of our most vulnerable little citizens, our children.