After a dip in child abuse reports in 2020 during the pandemic, the Children’s Advocacy Center in Northwest Georgia has seen an influx of kids who are suspected to be victims of abuse in the first half of 2021.
Many providers in the area had predicted reports would drop amid the pandemic as students had less access to teachers and other mandated reporters who are key to spotting signs of child abuse.
“Those children just didn’t have an opportunity to have that outlet to tell,” said Anthony Dye, executive director of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Children’s Advocacy Center. “We kind of figured going into the pandemic back in March, we kind of knew that things were going to slip down. And then once they did return to school we figured, I hate to say it, but the floodgates were gonna open.”
Even though Dye said the numbers of cases weren’t as large as anticipated in 2020 right when schools reopened in the fall, now in 2021 referrals have begun to rise.
The Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit advocacy center, which covers Walker, Catoosa, Dade and Chattooga counties, has conducted 175 forensic interviews in 2021, compared to 107 in 2020 and 154 in 2019 in the same time frame. By the end of the year, it is projected to conduct 350, the highest number ever, according to Dye.