Reports of child abuse and neglect have plummeted by as much as 55 percent in South Carolina since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.
As schools and day care centers closed, parents became their children’s primary educators while dealing with money worries, a lack of a steady food supply–food stamp applications jumped to just almost 24,000 during first week in April, from just over 4,000 the first week in March –and other COVID-19-related issues that are risk factors for child abuse and neglect.
“We knew almost immediately this was going to be an issue,” said Amanda Whittle, an attorney and the director of the South Carolina Department of Child Advocacy. “The Coronavirus pandemic has taken children away from environments where people would spot abuse and neglect, and put children back at home with parents who are stressed.”
As life returns to normal, or at least sort-of normal, and evidence of such abuse comes to light, the state could see a spike in reports that could clog an already-backlogged judicial system. During the second week in April, the South Carolina Department of Social Services received 605 reports of abuse and/or neglect, down 55 percent from both the second week in March and the second week in April 2019.
Under South Carolina’s mandatory reporting law, certain professionals who suspect that a juvenile is abused or neglected are required to report their concerns to their respective county DSS. And because more than 70 percent of reports of abuse and neglect come from school personnel, medical personnel, social services, or adult protective services, reports have slowed because many services are either unavailable or very limited due to COVID19.
“Now is a critical time when everyone needs to be a reporter,” Whittle said.
Marilyn Matheus, a spokesperson for the DSS, said that DSS attorneys have worked with their counterparts at the Office of Indigent Defense, guardians ad litem, and family court judges to provide for the return of children to their families through consent order, when all parties agreed that return of the child to the family was safe. More than 150 children have been returned to their families since March 16.
Attorneys have also been able to use technology for adoption finalizations, and as of April 30, 33 children had achieved permanency through adoption finalization during the crisis, with another 37 children scheduled for finalization and permanency during the month of May.
In a recent memo to judicial officials, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote that it’s critical that child welfare agencies and the courts work together to ensure that “requisite judicial proceedings continue during this time of uncertainty.”
“Each is critical to ensuring the safety, permanency and well-being of children and youth who have been removed from their homes and placed into foster care or who may need to be removed from their homes,” the memo reads. “Prolonged or indefinite delays in delivering services and postponements of judicial oversight place children’s safety and well-being in jeopardy; may lead to unnecessarily long stays in foster care; and are inconsistent with statutory and regulatory requirements.”
The workflow of DSS court cases is interdependent and involves a wide range of groups, including guardians ad litem, indigent defense attorneys, clinical counselors, and programs that deliver services to families. They have have had to adapt quickly to deal with the crisis.
Before the pandemic hit, reporters had to call their respective county DSS office. Now, the state has set up a statewide reporting line. Emergency child neglect and abuse hearings are still required within 72 hours, and so DSS attorneys throughout the state have been asking for staggered in-person hearings, virtual hearings, and teleconference hearings if necessary. Some judges are asking DSS attorneys to try to settle any issues they can via consent order.
But the pandemic has affected everyone and everything, and so as courts start to ramp up their operations, DSS expects a delay in timely hearings on some child welfare matters. Samuel Weldon, an attorney with the the local DSS, said that Greenville County is holding live emergency hearings three days a week, but even before the courts halted many proceedings in March, his office had cases that were scheduled through June that filled its calendar, and now at least 300 cases have to be rescheduled.
“I am looking for guidance from the courts,” Weldon said. “If we are going to open the week of June 15, I need to know what the docket is going to look like … The courts want to settle all the cases they can, and we want to settle as many cases we can. Kids deserve to have permanency as soon as possible.”
Follow Bill Cresenzo on Twitter @bcresenzonclw