Report: COVID-19 Pandemic Has Been Eclipsing Child Abuse Cases

LANSFORD, PA (FNN) – ABC News reported that the Associated Press (AP) analysis of state data reveals that the pandemic has taken away many of the safety nets for millions of Americans–many of the children like nine-year-old Ava Lerario from Lansford, PA.

Ava was her father’s princess but lived in a home full of turmoil. Her father, Marc Lerario, had an explosive temper and her mother, Ashley Belson, struggled with drug addiction.

The AP analysis found that reports of child abuse, investigations, and upheld allegations and interventions have fallen at an astonishing rate, leaving the most vulnerable at risk.

The analysis found more than 400,000 fewer reports during the pandemic and 200,000 fewer child abuse and neglect investigations and assessments compared to the same time period of 2019. That’s a decrease of 18% in total reports and investigations.

The AP used public records from all 50 states’ child welfare agencies and compared more than a dozen factors in 36 states, as not every state provided data for total reports or investigations. They compared March to November 2020 with the same time period from 2018 and 2019.

The AP found signs in several states that officials are dealing with an increase in urgent and complex cases, though most agencies didn’t provide thorough data on severity.

Amy Hartfield, an expert in child abuse deaths with the Children’s Advocacy Institute said a loss in reports means a greater potential for harm because “there has not all of a sudden been a cure for child abuse and neglect.”

With children out of the public eye and the system of relying on teachers, police, and doctors to report potential abuse and neglect to Child Protective Services (CPS) failing during the pandemic – it has become too late for many: like the diabetic 15-year-old girl in Wisconsin who died of medical complications despite 16 CPS reports in her lifetime or the eight-year-old Nevada boy who drank a chemical that was stored in a soda bottle, and the teen in Phoenix who was beaten with a bat by his father.

Schools are the top reporters of child abuse, a school’s staff is trained to identify the warning signs of abuse and neglect and are mandated by law to report any possible abuse or neglect. The AP found that reports from schools dropped 59% when schools went to online learning because of the pandemic.

By comparison, there was only a 4% drop in reports from non-school sources. In many cases, school reports remained low even after some face-to-face instruction resumed.

In an ABC News article, Kurt Heisler, who oversaw the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System during the Obama administration said, “The pandemic and the resulting isolation reminds us that we cannot rely solely on a system that only responds after a child is hurt. What happens when we don’t have mandated reporters in front of children? It reminds us that we need another way to support and reach these families.”

This is not just a problem in the United States. Japan saw record numbers of child abuse victims and the UK reported a major increase in the number of maltreatment suspected deaths and serious injuries.

Ava’s school closed on March 13 and little Ave lost her refuge. Her mom, Ashley, who supported the family lost her waitressing job and her dad, Marc, went into a deep depression after his mother died of COVID-19 in April 2020.

Ashley’s drug addiction spiraled and Marc, unmedicated for bipolar disorder, slipped into extreme bouts of paranoia. School officials say it doesn’t appear Ava ever logged on to her virtual classroom.

On May 26, 2020, Ava’s brother found her body in her bed. She had been shot in the head while she slept by her father. Marc also shot and killed Ashley before turning the gun on himself.

No red flags were raised in Ava’s case, even though her father had a criminal record which included domestic violence, prior reports to CPS, and her absence from her classes.

According to the principal of Ava’s school, Robert Palazzo, nearly one-quarter of families didn’t participate in virtual learning and the usual truancy rules that would have required the school to report her absences to CPS didn’t apply because of new state guidelines. Palazzo said that the school tried to reach Ava’s family at least five times about her absences via letters, emails, and phone calls.

Pennsylvania’s Office of Children, Youth, and Families has acknowledged missteps in Ava’s case. The agency noted in a report that it didn’t know there were guns in the house or about any criminal history. However, the agency declined to answer specific questions about the case, citing privacy laws.

Palazzo, a former school psychologist, has advocated for Carbon County to adopt the Handle with Care protocols, a national initiative that prompts law enforcement to notify the school if police are called to a student’s home.

AP analysis suggests officials are dealing with more severe cases of abuse in several states, based on a look at priority response times, families previously involved with CPS, and deaths or serious injuries.

Maryland saw about 1,500 more reports involving prior victims than in March to September the previous year despite fewer reports of child abuse. While Nebraska, which also had far fewer reports, had dozens more reports that required a 24-hour response – which is given to the most urgent cases- than in 2019.

Many states said that the number of reports is coming up, although slowly, over the past year, but it is too soon to know the ongoing effects of the pandemic on child abuse.

AP analysis showed that the percentage of reports that were investigated further remained steady. This suggests that there were likely untold numbers of cases of abuse that are going unreported, with at-risk kids remaining invisible without the attention of an in-person classroom environment, experts and some state officials said.

Ava’s death was one of 105 child fatalities investigated for child abuse in Pennsylvania in 2020, that’s 11 more than in 2019. Pennsylvania also had 11 more near fatalities – a 67% increase. Other states also saw an increase in deaths possibly related to abuse including, Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas and Maryland according to the AP’s analysis.

In Pennsylvania’s official report of Ava’s death, they suggested social workers do criminal background checks first when following up on reports and they urged schools to track attendance during the pandemic and report unresponsive parents to CPS for welfare checks.

April is Child Abuse Awareness Month and a good time to remind ourselves – If you suspect child abuse or neglect, report it. It’s too late for Ava but you just might save a child’s life.

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Lynn DeJarnette is a contributing writer for Florida National News. | info@floridanationalnews.com

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