Child Abuse Cases Grow in Number and Severity

Because of stricter reporting rules, the number of child-abuse investigations in Orange County is on the rise, and the severity of the abuse has reached new levels, officials said Tuesday.

County social workers have investigated nearly 1,700 more reports of child abuse in the first nine months of this year than they did during the same period in 1996--a 10% increase.

Michael Riley, the county’s director of children’s services, attributed the increase in part to new welfare reform laws that require judges to report to the Social Services Agency any incidents of “confirmed” domestic violence.

Social workers are then sent out to determine whether the children in the homes identified by the judges are being physically abused or otherwise harmed by watching their parents fight.

“The emotional impact can be quite traumatic of observing their father beat their mother,” Riley said. Children who witness such violence can develop post-traumatic stress disorder, which can cause anxiety, nightmares and mild depression, he said.

Social workers investigated 2,838 reports of child abuse in September alone, 207 more than in September 1996. From January to September of this year, 30,970 abuse reports were investigated compared to 29,278 for the same period last year.

Riley and other officials said welfare reform laws have given the county a new avenue in which to monitor the well-being of children in troubled homes.

“Even if we don’t bring a child into custody, he or she is brought to the attention of the system, where service can be provided,” he said.

The increase in child-abuse reports comes after two straight years of decline in reported cases. In 1996, the number of cases had dropped by 9% over the previous year.

In another statistic that troubles officials, the number of children brought into protective custody has increased by 30% over the previous year--to more than 200 cases during certain months.

Michael McMichael, a children’s services program manager who deals with juvenile courts, said the increase indicates a growing severity in the type of child-abuse cases that social workers are encountering.

Only in the most serious cases are children placed in the custody of the court. Almost all of these children end up at the Orangewood Children’s Home, the county’s only emergency shelter for abused and neglected kids. Orangewood is overcrowded and hit record-high daily populations several times this year.

Officials said that more and more children referred to Orangewood have been seriously injured or sexually abused by their parents. These children tend to develop the types of behavioral problems and emotional scars that make it more difficult to place them in foster homes.

County officials said The Times’ series earlier this week on young children suffering at the hands of drug-addicted parents had a familiar ring.

Riley and McMichael said that 70% to 75% of the child-abuse cases the Social Services Agency deals with involve parents who have drug or alcohol problems.

“Drug usage is often evident in the parents of children suffering from abuse,” Riley said. “Alcohol has been around a long time, but we also see people addicted to methamphetamines and heroin.”