{"id":806384,"date":"2020-04-14T16:31:58","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T22:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=381774"},"modified":"2020-04-14T16:31:58","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T22:31:58","slug":"summit-county-officials-expect-spike-in-child-abuse-reports-after-shutdown-is-lifted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-county-officials-expect-spike-in-child-abuse-reports-after-shutdown-is-lifted\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit County officials expect spike in child abuse reports after shutdown is lifted"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"847\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pinwheel-Garden-1-1024x847.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pinwheel-Garden-1-1024x847.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pinwheel-Garden-1-300x248.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pinwheel-Garden-1-768x635.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pinwheel-Garden-1-1536x1270.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/04\/Pinwheel-Garden-1-2048x1693.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>CASA of the Continental Divide&#8217;s pinwheel garden on Lake Dillon Drive in Dillon.<\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>DILLON \u2014&nbsp;April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and while officials around the state are reporting a considerable drop in the number of cases they\u2019re seeing, the dip likely doesn\u2019t reflect what\u2019s actually happening in the Summit County community.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the Colorado Department of Human Services reported a staggering 50% decrease in calls to the state\u2019s child abuse and neglect hotline since schools shut down statewide. The number of child abuse cases in Summit County also has dropped off dramatically. But individuals in the know say the decline is only an illusion and that the community might actually be facing more instances of abuse than normal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s concerning because we\u2019re sure that everything that was happening before is happening still,\u201d said Nicole Bortot, adult and family services program manager with the Summit County Department of Human Services. \u201cAnd a lot of the complications have gotten worse. All those risk factors we talk about are really heightened right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bortot said that similar to the state, the number of child abuse cases in Summit County has dropped by about 50% over the past month, down to about four to five instead of the usual 10. Similarly, the TreeTop Child Advocacy Center \u2014 a facility that provides children who are victims of abuse or sex assault a safe and comforting environment to speak with law enforcement, advocates and mental health professionals \u2014 has reported a steep decline.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row sd-donation sd-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/sdn-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Krista Burdick, Treetop\u2019s executive director, said that last year the center assisted in 83 cases and that operations continued to ramp up at the beginning of 2020, with almost 30 in the first three months. Over the past month since Summit County enacted its public health order, the center has seen three cases.<\/p>\n<p>Burdick emphasized that despite the decline, the number of child abuse and sex assaults are likely up as parents are dealing with a myriad of new stress factors in their lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we probably have a new wave of children who are experiencing abuse due to financial stress, anxiety and parents having to work from home,\u201d Burdick said. \u201cIn a lot of ways, our entire lives have changed. Parents are having to carry a lot of extra weight by having to essentially home-school, taking on new roles and not being able to get support they\u2019d normally get outside the home for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to new struggles facing parents and families, kids also haven\u2019t had the opportunity to spend time with other trusted adults outside of their homes, like teachers and coaches, who Bortot said typically make up the majority of people who report child abuse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now, we know the regular contacts kids have with trusted adults, they no longer have,\u201d Bortot said. \u201cSchool is No. 1, but there\u2019s also all the extended family members kids are no longer able to see, their coaches and even other kids\u2019 parents. All those outside relationships are cut off right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Bortot and Burdick noted that they\u2019re bracing themselves for a considerable increase in cases \u2014 even beyond normal numbers \u2014 once stay-at-home restrictions are lifted and children are able to interact normally with others outside the house again.<\/p>\n<p>Though, Bortot noted, there\u2019s a chance that if students don\u2019t return to school until after the summer, there could be a noticeable gap between the public health order being lifted and influxes of abuse cases.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, state and local groups are doing what they can to raise awareness of the issue and prevent abuse from happening in the first place. Bortot called on members of the community to keep their eyes and ears open for signs of abuse, and take advantage of opportunities to connect and ask questions with children in their lives.<\/p>\n<p>County officials are recommending trusted adults do their best to maintain regular contact though video streaming, or other online messaging platforms in case a child can\u2019t share something out loud, and to generally be aware of anything concerning facing kids in their neighborhoods. Parents also should practice proper self-care, giving themselves breaks whenever necessary so they\u2019re not tempted to lash out in any capacity.<\/p>\n<p>The TreeTop center is about to launch a new online volunteer training program to help prepare for a potential surge in cases after the shutdown, and to help get out information about events and other outreach efforts. The center is also asking community members to get involved themselves in spreading the word about child abuse prevention by constructing pinwheels with their children and placing them outside their homes. For families that don\u2019t have the necessary supplies, the center is offering to drop them off at their doors.<\/p>\n<p>But most importantly, officials are urging any community members who seen signs of abuse or neglect to speak up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think this can be hard for people to read about or to connect with,\u201d Bortot said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, the message we want to send out is that making a report of abuse or neglect does more good than bad. A lot of people are scared to reach out. But it can really connect families with resources and the support they might need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/summit-county-officials-expect-spike-in-child-abuse-reports-after-shutdown-is-lifted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CASA of the Continental Divide&#8217;s pinwheel garden on Lake Dillon Drive in Dillon.Courtesy photo DILLON \u2014&nbsp;April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and while officials around the state are reporting a considerable drop in the number of cases they\u2019re seeing, the dip likely doesn\u2019t reflect what\u2019s actually happening in the Summit County community. Last week, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-806384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-14 03:37:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}