Reporting of child maltreatment during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in New York City from March to May 2020.
Child Abuse Negl
; 116(Pt 2): 104719, 2021 06.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-753789
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
School closures and other public health responses have decreased the extent that children interact with mandated reporters and other professionals trained to detect child maltreatment.OBJECTIVE:
To assess associations between the pandemic public health response and the number of allegations of child abuse or neglect.METHODS:
This study analyzed monthly data from New York City of the number of child maltreatment allegations, stratified by reporter type (e.g., mandated reporter, education personnel, healthcare personnel), as well as the number of Child Protective Services (CPS) investigations warranting child welfare preventative services. SARIMA models were trained using data from January 2015 to February 2020 to predict expected values for March, April, and May 2020. Observed values were compared against predicted values at an alpha of .05.RESULTS:
Substantially fewer allegations of child maltreatment were reported than expected in March (-28.8 %, deviation 1848, 95 % CI [1272, 2423]), April (-51.5 %, deviation 2976, 95 % CI [2382, 3570]), and May 2020 (-46.0 %, deviation 2959, 95 % CI [2347, 3571]). Significant decreases in child maltreatment reporting were also noted for all reporter subtypes examined for March, April, and May 2020. Fewer CPS investigations warranted preventative services than expected in March 2020 (-43.5 %, deviation 303, 95 % CI [132, 475]).CONCLUSIONS:
Precipitous drops in child maltreatment reporting and child welfare interventions coincided with social distancing policies designed to mitigate COVID-19 transmission. In light of these findings, educators and healthcare providers must be especially vigilant when engaging online with children and their families for signs of child abuse and/or neglect.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Child Abuse
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Child
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Child Abuse Negl
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.chiabu.2020.104719
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