Campaign puts all adults on watch for child abuse during pandemic as #Essential4Kids
Missouri Child Abuse Hotline:
1-800-392-3738
If a child is in immediate danger call 9-1-1.
Learn about warning signs at MissouriKidsFirst.org
The two facts stand frighteningly opposed to each other:
Historically, in times of economic and societal stress, reports of child abuse rise.
Since schools began closing in mid-March, calls to Missouri’s child abuse hotline have fallen more than 50 percent.
The likely explanation, Jessica Seitz said Monday on a virtual conference call ahead of this week’s Child Advocacy Day, has launched an urgent call for everyone’s help.
Most calls reporting possible abuse usually come from the educators who see children daily in school and who are trained to watch for signs of trouble, said Seitz, the director of public policy for Missouri Kids First.
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Those “mandated reporters” aren’t able to watch with schools closed. So Missouri Kids First is rallying the state to designate all adults as critical sentinels during the pandemic, with the slogan #Essential4Kids.
“We all have to become more aware,” Seitz said. “All parents are essential . . . All people who are still serving kids . . . grocery workers . . . neighbors” have to become more attuned to signs of abuse.
Missouri Kids First has created online advice to guide adults, workers at ongoing essential businesses and educators on how to help protect children during the stress of the pandemic.
“We need more general education,” Seitz said.
It’s not an easy responsibility, she noted to the child advocates on the conference call. People only get glimpses in public that might show any indication of child in danger at home.
It’s made harder, the website’s materials note, because “children are not going to school, activities, places of worship and other public places where adults look out for their safety and well-being.”
But the site reminds concerned adults that you are not making an accusation, but only asking a professional child care worker to give a family help.
“You may be the only person to act,” the site says, so “trust your gut.”
Guidance of what to look for is available on the #Essential4Kids webpage at Missouri Kids First.
The hotline number is 1-800-392-3738 or 1-844-CAN-TELL. If a child is in immediate danger call 9-1-1.