PODCAST: Preventing child abuse in Vermont

When Prevent Child Abuse Vermont first started running a phone hotline in the 1970s, many of the calls the organization received were frightening — parents, for example, reporting their child appeared to be dead. One parent called while holding a child out an open window.

Now in its 40th year, the organization has seen awareness of child abuse shift dramatically. Today, the hotline phone calls tend to be less dire in nature, instead people are typically asking for tips or advice.

In this week’s edition of “Digger Dialogue,” Linda Johnson, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, and Department for Children and Families Commissioner Ken Schatz, celebrate some of the victories in the efforts to curb child abuse in Vermont, and discuss the challenges the state still faces.

Substance abuse and particularly opiate addiction are major concerns for child safety in Vermont today. Among opioid addicted parents, there tends to be a greater risk for neglect of children, which Johnson characterized as “a really deadly form of abuse” that has a profound impact on brain development, than actual physical abuse.

“Neglect is particularly pernicious, especially if it goes on for a long period of time,” Johnson said.

Schatz said that a number of programs aim to support parents who struggle with addiction. Some reach out to pregnant opioid-dependent women to try to give them resources to change their course.

“For the most part, people want to do well, not only for themselves but particularly for their children,” Schatz said.

Other significant driving factors for child abuse include domestic violence, financial stress and mental health issues.

Though there are significant challenges facing the state, both Johnson and Schatz said that Vermont has made strides in preventing abuse from occurring to begin with.

The decline in the number of children sexually abused, for example, is significant.

In 1990, 768 children were sexually abused in Vermont; in 2015, 306 children were.

However, both Johnson and Schatz stressed that prevention efforts need more resources in order to continue to be successful.

As DCF struggles to handle record-breaking caseloads for instances that require intervention — there are almost 1,400 children in the state’s custody now — prevention needs to remain a priority, Schatz said.

Johnson said that parental education courses Prevent Child Abuse Vermont runs across the state are at capacity, and have waiting lists.

Families are asking for help, she said, that can not always be provided.

“That’s a hard thing to live with,” she said.

The post PODCAST: Preventing child abuse in Vermont appeared first on VTDigger.