Community Child Fatality Team issues annual report

COLUMBUS —  Child abuse and neglect is an issue in Polk County, with 324 child protection reports made to the Polk County Department of Social Services during 2017.

Of the total reports, 227 met the legal criteria for an assessment or investigation.

Polk County DSS provided child protective services last year to an average of 191 children each month.

The Community Child Fatality Prevention and Protection Team issued its annual report recently, with team members saying they reviewed three child protective services cases last year and one child fatality prevention case.

In comparison, there were 260 child protection reports made to DSS in 2016, with 188 of those meeting the legal criteria for an assessment/investigation. Polk County DSS provided child protective services to an average of 102 children each month in 2016.

The child fatality prevention case was the death of an infant caused by perinatal conditions during labor and delivery.

“The team did not identify any gaps in services, system deficiencies or other barriers that could have prevented this death,” states the report.

The child protective services reviews involved allegations of sexual abuse, neglect and dependency.

Contributing factors to the abuse were determined to include substance abuse, mental health issues, under/unemployment, lack of appropriate child care, minimal parenting knowledge/skills and criminal activity, according to the report.

Mary Edwards said the issues presented in previous reports remain the same, including substance abuse, mental health, unstable living situations, inadequate parenting and domestic violence.

“An investment in prevention now and for the next several years will be much more cost effective than waiting until after abuse or adverse experiences occur,” Edwards said. “The benefits of prevention far outweigh the costs of remediation when our society continues to pay for the results of child abuse and neglect.”

Edwards, Dr. John Kornmayer and Josh Kennedy, with the protection team presented the annual report to the Polk County Board of Commissioners, with the board approving the report.

Edwards asked the county to fund and continue to support a family resource center for Polk County, which would provide ongoing prevention and child advocacy programs, including parenting education, coordination and facilitation of support for children and families affected by child sexual abuse and a venue for supervised visitation.

The team also asked the county to increase funding for mental health services to develop local prevention and treatment options, specifically for the growing substance abuse problems that are usually present in child abuse and neglect cases and to support additional childcare opportunities in the county.

Edwards said many parents have issues finding childcare for second and third shift jobs.