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County Child Abuse Rate Near Worst in State

 

By Sheryl McCabe

COURT HOUSE — Cape May County had the highest number of children in out-of-home placement in 2010 and the second highest number of abuse and neglect investigations in 2009, according to the non-profit organization Advocates for Children in New Jersey (ACNJ). In the statewide report on child well being, the organization used a scale from 1 to 21, with 21 being the worst. Cape May County ranked 18.
The organization did the study based on 15 different measures. According to Executive Director Rush Russell of Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey, the rate of child abuse is higher here than in Essex County, which includes Newark, and other urban counties like Camden County.
What is causing this?
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) website, “Poverty is the most frequently and persistently noted risk factor for child abuse.” It also cited high unemployment and lack of social services as community risk factors.
Cape May County was ranked to have the highest unemployment rate in the state for the past two years, even though it improved from 16 percent in 2009 to 13.2 percent in 2010.
The county ranked at 20 for the median income of families with children with $52,974 by ACNJ. The statewide median income of families with children was $83,742. The 2010 U.S. Census revealed that 10.7 percent of the county was living below the poverty level.
The New Jersey Division of Prevention and Community Partnerships released a child abuse and neglect prevention plan in 2010, which outlined child abuse prevention goals for 2013. It identified four main prevention priorities: early childhood services, school-linked serv-ices, family support services and domestic violence services.
A school-linked service that Cape May County has is School Based Youth Services Program (SBYSP). The state-sponsored program ad-dresses a broad spectrum of issues affecting teenagers, including reducing teen pregnancy and improving mental health.
Poor stress coping skills and teen pregnancy heighten the risk of child abuse. Cape May County has two sites: Cape May County Tech-nical School and Lower Cape May Regional High School.
Cape May County improved its rank from 18 to 15 in percentage of births to girls ages 10-19 by ACNJ. Though the county has less un-derage pregnancies than before, it’s still behind most of the state. The percentage of births to girls ages 10-19 in the state is only 6.95. Cape May County’s percentage is 9.29.
“Factors that increase the risk of child abuse include emotional immaturity of the parents, which is often highly correlated to actual age, as in the case of teenage parents,” the AAFP website states. Another risk factor for child abuse is unwanted pregnancy, which is also correlated with teenage pregnancy.
The Cape May County Board of Social Services has some programs to help families in need, including NJ FamilyCare and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). There are 535 families on TANF and 10,949 people on FamilyCare in Cape May County.
The county also supports the food stamps program SNAP, in which 10.1 percent of residents in the county participate.
Cape May County has one domestic violence service in Court House that is Coalition Against Rape and Abuse, Inc. (CARA). Domestic violence is repeatedly shown in many studies to increase the risk of child abuse.
There are two early childhood services in Cape May County. One is run by Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey. The organization staffs and runs Healthy Families at Holy Redeemer Health System in Swainton. It is an evidence-based program which means a family is referred to the program if a health care professional deems a child at-risk for child abuse. The program is completely voluntary and includes an inten-sive program to educate parents on healthy parenting.
Russell said that the program on a national level is seen to improve immunization rates and health care enrollment, among other catego-ries. Right now, there are about 80 families enrolled in the program in Cape May County. Russell said he knew that “we’re only scratching the surface” and the program is “serving a small percent.” But he said that the organization is planning to expand in New Jersey, though he was not sure that Cape May was involved in that plan.
The other early childhood service is also evidence-based. Caring for Kids runs the Parents as Teachers program in Court House. It has a structured program to teach parents about nutrition, how to deal with stress and discipline. The program serves about 55 families.
There are no county sponsored programs for child abuse prevention.
County Director of Human Services Patricia Devaney said that the county supported a family center in Ocean City, which went out of business. There are two programs, Differential Response and Family Success Centers that prevent child abuse in other counties including Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland. Devaney said that the county has put in a request for a proposal to set up a Family Success Center in July.
According to an e-mail message from DCF Communications Officer Leida Arce, the department’s goal is to establish one by next year.
Devaney acknowledged the “stressful economic stability” for many residents in Cape May County. She said the high rate of substance abuse and domestic violence could be tied into the high rate of referrals.
“The problem is that we have high rates—we don’t have high numbers,” Devaney said. Since Cape May County has less people, it was less likely to impact state numbers of child abuse and less likely to receive aid from the state.
Devaney feels the state has also not been focusing on the rural poor, saying that Essex and Camden counties get more attention that Sa-lem, Cumberland or Cape May. “Cape May County may only be noticed now by the state,” she said.
Cape May County is waiting for the state to submit its assessment of needs for families before and after they are referred to the Divi-sion of Youth and Families Services (DYFS). It is expected to come in July.
Russell said the county could convene a meeting to look at what factors are correlating or causing the high amount of child abuse.
Prenatal care, services for substance abuse and transportation to existing services were among some issues he named for the county government to consider. “The county has to look at itself and ask: Where are the gaps?” he said.
To report suspected child abuse or neglect, call the Child Abuse Neglect Hotline at 1-887-NJ Abuse.
For information about Caring for Kids, call 889-8100.
For information about Healthy Families call 465-2082.
Parts of this story were first published at capemaycountyherald.com
Contact McCabe at (609) 886-8600 Ext 27 or at: smccabe@cmcherald.com

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