Data gathered by the Indiana Youth Institute show a troubling increase in child abuse, neglect and Children in Need of Services cases in recent years.
The number of substantiated child neglect cases soared from 276 in 2010 to 522 in 2013. The number of CHINS cases identified by the state Department of Child Services also increased significantly in that time frame.
The child abuse/neglect rate per 1,000 children under age 18 went from 16.1 in 2010 to 28.2 in 2013; the number of substantiated child sexual abuse cases increased from 55 to 64 (in 2012, there were 46 cases).
“Probably the biggest culprit of the increased abuse and neglect cases is drugs,” James Wide, deputy director of communications with the Indiana Department of Child Services, said in an email. “Vigo County is not immune to this awful trend. Unfortunately, parents are choosing their drug of choice (especially the heroin and meth) over the safety and care of their children.”
Vigo County’s Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program is feeling the effects of the increase; the program and its volunteers advocate on behalf of Children in Need of Services.
Nikki Fuhrmeister, CASA director, also attributes the increase to drug use by adults and domestic violence. “We’re seeing heroin and cocaine back in the picture along with a lot of meth,” she said. “We are seeing re-abuse cases,” in which children re-enter the system. She explained that involves families that had problems with abuse, resolved those problems and did well for a while, but then problems returned.
The agency now has a waiting list of 89 children. “We’re trying to get all these kids covered,” but more CASA volunteers are needed, she said. Some children “are not getting any advocacy at all” because of too few volunteers.
One challenge she sees with the new generation of volunteers is that they may not be willing to commit the time that is required to be a CASA volunteer.
She provided some additional eye-opening statistics for Vigo County CASA:
• In 2013, the agency served 574 CHINS kids, with 97 cases involving domestic violence.
• In 2014, CASA served 682 CHINS children, with 227 cases involving domestic violence.
• So far in 2015, CASA is serving 622 kids, with 157 cases involving domestic violence.
“We need to look at this as a community,” she said.