INDIANAPOLIS — Child abuse and neglect cases filed in Indiana courts have increased 97.4 percent in the last 10 years.
"The CHINS cases have just really exploded," said Indiana Chief Justice Loretta Rush, who lived in Munster as a child. "I think it's directly related to the opioid crisis that we have going on now."
CHINS cases are up significantly in both Lake and Porter counties, while LaPorte County saw a drop in 2015 after hitting an all-time peak in 2014.
It's undisputed that Hoosiers increasingly are addicted to opioid pain relievers and, when those aren't available, heroin. The drug abuse has led to numerous overdose fatalities, near-deaths and contributed to a major HIV outbreak in Scott County.
Rush said a pilot program that drug-tested all newborns at an Indianapolis hospital this year found 25 percent were born drug exposed.
She said juvenile court judges across Indiana are struggling to keep up with Indiana Department of Child Services requests for abused children to be classified as CHINS and removed from homes deemed unsafe for them to live in.
"We don't have sufficient resources to meet the needs right now," Rush said. "The surge in heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, parental substance abuse is just really taxing the system."
Last year, there were 1,439 CHINS cases filed in Lake courts, up from 1,320 in 2014 and well above the county's 2010-14 average of 1,172 annual CHINS cases.
Porter reported 175 CHINS filings in 2015. That's more than two-and-a-half times the county's 69 CHINS filings of 2010.
There were 155 LaPorte CHINS cases last year, down from 228 in 2014, but still in line with the county's five-year average of 158 annual cases.
State lacks treatment centers, child advocates
Rush said Indiana's courts and legislature have taken steps to mitigate the drug crisis, but she admitted, "We have a lot of work to do."
She noted that the state still does not have enough drug treatment centers and even is short of volunteer advocates to assist abused children at court hearings.
"We are listening to all the different players to come up with a plan, but I still think we're behind given that blip (in CHINS cases); what I hope is a blip, I hope we don't continue to see that," Rush said.
Moreover, Rush said CHINS cases today are more complicated than the traditional abuse, or even "messy house" cases, that she encountered when first serving as juvenile court judge in Tippecanoe County in the late 1990s.
"There's very few cases that come up with just one issue. It might be mental health and substance abuse, there's poverty ... just multiple issues that these case managers are dealing with," Rush said. "I would love a messy house case."
Under Indiana law, any Hoosier who suspects a child is a victim of abuse or neglect has a duty to report their suspicions to authorities.
On a positive note, Rush observed that juvenile delinquency cases have dropped 49 percent in the past decade to 14,297 statewide last year, which she credited to juvenile detention alternative programs.
"By making smarter decisions with regard to kids, not taking low-level offenders and putting them in with high-level offenders, what we're seeing is we're reducing recidivism," Rush said. "So it has been a very successful program."
Juvenile delinquency cases in Lake County fell to 1,047 last year from 1,734 in 2010; Porter recorded 397 cases in 2015 from 497 in 2010; and LaPorte courts handled 206 delinquents last year down from 458 in 2010.