COLORADO SPRINGS — The CO Department of Human Services (CDHS) recently released data noting that calls to the Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline, 844-CO-4-Kids (844-264-5437), are increasing as more mandatory reporters are seeing kids in person.
Several key pieces of data include:
Calls increased 8% to 208,949 in 2021 from a low of 193,448 in 2020. In 2019, the year prior to the pandemic, the total number of calls to the hotline was 219,478.The overall uptick is, in part, due to a 20% increase in calls from education professionals last year.Calls from medical professionals, however, decreased by 3%, and the percentage of calls from family members and the general public also decreased by 2%.
Safe Passage is the children’s advocacy center for El Paso and Teller counties. They assist over 1,000 children a year who have experienced abuse and neglect. They serve as a nexus, coordinating the investigative response to a child’s outcry of abuse alongside law enforcement, the department of human services, the forensic medical team, therapists, and prosecutors.
Safe Passage recently opened Colorado’s first co-located children’s advocacy center. Safe Passage is housed with the Colorado Springs Police Department Child Crimes Unit, UCHealth Forensic Medical team, Department of Human Services Investigators, The Family Center, and KidPower of Colorado.
The state data indicates a significant (20%) increase in calls coming from school personnel. This tells Safe Passage that now that kids are back in school and are able to tell trusted adults about abuse they are enduring, kids are able to access safety.
“I think the responses El Paso County has the highest rate of calls are complex,” Mo Basenberg, Executive Director, Safe Passage Children’s Advocacy Center said. “A key reason for the volume of calls is that we live in a caring community that understands our responsibility to the safety of our children.”
Safe Passage expects the numbers to increase. For a child to share that they are being abused requires them to feel they have a trusted adult on their side. To build up that trust can take time. Schools have only been able to remain fully open recently, meaning kids are still in the process of re-establishing relationships and connections with teachers and school staff.
“While it can be intimidating to make a call, realize that if you have a suspicion of a child being harmed you can be a lifeline to them getting the help they need to be safe,” Basenberg said. “There is no expectation for a caller to know every detail, but if a mandated reporter can help the investigators understand what a child is experiencing it can mean all the difference in a child achieving the safety they deserve.”
Mandatory reporters are vital to children achieving safety, according to Safe Passage. Without mandatory reporters, children who are experiencing abuse cannot connect to law enforcement, department of human services, medical response and Safe Passage.
