How Big a Problem is Child Abuse in Monroe County? Local Statistics

 

 

We, at the Monroe County Child Protective Services (CPS), recognize that mandated reporters need feedback about how well the system is working. While we are prohibited by state law from giving details on the outcomes of specific cases, we can share with you some of our program reports of local statistics. Over the past five years, we have investigated an annual average of 8,381 calls to the Child Abuse Hotline. Tables 1 and 2 show the number and types of reports of suspected child abuse and neglect investigated by Monroe County over the last five years.  After our investigation of these Hotline reports, about one-quarter of these reports turn out to be indicated (ie. evidence of abuse or neglect is found). See Chart of Outcomes of Calls to Hotline in Monroe County.

TABLE 1. Reports of Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect from Hotline Calls, Monroe County 2006–2010

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Type
# of reports
#of reports
#of reports
#of reports
#of reports
Physical Abuse
73 77 49 60 53
Neglect
7,391 7,012 7,155 8,312 9,157
Sexual Abuse
565 456 461 525 558
TOTAL 8,029 7,545 7,665 8,897 9,768
 Rate = number of reports/1000 children in Monroe County
* = Information not available from New York State
Source: Monroe County Child Protective Services, Department of Human Services

TABLE 2. Types of Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect from Hotline Calls, Monroe County
2012–2016

Type % of total report Examples
Physical Abuse 0.8% 312 cases of fatalities, severe fractures, severe lacerations, subdural hematomas, internal injuries, severe burns, severe malnutrition/failure to thrive
Sexual Abuse 6.1% 2,565 cases of sexual contact, sexual intercourse, deviate sexual intercourse, prostitution, incest, using a child in a sexual performance
Neglect 93.1% 39,027 cases of fractures, lacerations, bruises, welts, burns, excessive corporal punishment, allowing or encouraging child’s drug/alcohol use, lack of medical care, malnutrition/failure to thrive, educational neglect, emotional neglect, lack of food/clothing/shelter, lack of supervision, abandonment
TOTAL 41,904(100%)
Source: Monroe County Child Protective Services, Department of Human Services