Murphy – The severity of substance use and physical abuse has increased in Cherokee County over the last five weeks after the Stay-at-Home Order issued by Gov. Roy Cooper to combat the spread of COVID-19.
“Reports are coming in at the same frequency, but now that everybody is so isolated there are more serious cases,” said Amanda McGee, director of the Cherokee County Department of Social Services. “Since the Stay-at-Home Order, the reports we are getting include more serious substance use, more serious domestic violence and more serious injuries to infants and toddlers, to the point where they have to be hospitalized.”
About 11 children become victims of maltreatment each month in Cherokee County, according to Fostering Court Improvement, a non-profit organization that analyzed a 10-year trend from 2006-15 by collecting data from state child welfare systems across the country.
Normally, the majority of child abuse reports originate in the school system from educators who suspect maltreatment. However, since students attend school remotely due to the Stay-at-Home Order, the number of reports from law enforcement and hospitals have increased.
“We thought reports would drop, but even without the school system reporting our reports have not gone down,” McGee said, adding that the number of reports coming from hospitals is very
worrisome.
“It’s good that hospitals are reporting at a high rate, but the implications of that are concerning.”
Although the state has placed restrictions on personal contact, local DSS officials continue to visit homes and hospitals to investigate reports of child abuse. The staff wears personal protective equipment supplied through Emergency Management Services, and they also provide equipment to the victims and families they visit.
“We are being diligent about the rules of distance between people, and we hand each client an entire set of protective equipment,” McGee said. “About 99 percent of the people agree to wear the equipment when we offer it.”
For cases that were moving through the system prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, DSS officials use the pro version of Zoom to conduct follow-up interviews and allow children in foster care to speak with their parents. The agency also purchased 10 new laptop computers using reallocated funds from the 2019-20 fiscal year budget to allow staff to work from home when possible.
“At first I was leery about how it would work, but we’ve had great success using Zoom,” McGee said.
“Our world is so technologically driven now, that it’s not new to our younger people. It’s actually been very rewarding and inspiring to see the quality of the meetings we’ve been able to have. It has changed our practice for the better, and we’re going to continue using Zoom.”
Cherokee County has about 49 children under the legal custody of DSS due to abuse and neglect at the hands of their parents. Twelve of those children are available for adoption, meaning the legal rights of their parents have been terminated or relinquished.
So far this fiscal year, DSS has completed 10 adoptions. Officials hope the adoption cases set for June move forward as planned.
“We’re hopeful that we won’t see kids having to stay in foster care longer because of court shutdowns,” McGee said.
“Right now, we don’t have any permanency cases in jeopardy of not closing due to COVD-19, but we’ll have a problem if the courts remain closed for a long time.”