Prosecutors in Prince George’s County, Maryland, held a news conference Thursday to highlight their efforts at combating child abuse during National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
It’s a crime that’s being reported with more frequency lately, though that doesn’t mean incidents of abuse are occurring more frequently than they used to.
New cases get reported every day, said Jess Garth, who is the assistant state’s attorney in charge of the Special Victims and Family Violence unit. Just a few years ago, that wasn’t the case.
“During the pandemic, we actually saw a decrease in the number of child abuse cases reported,” said State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy. “We believe that wasn’t because child abuse wasn’t occurring. It’s because mandatory reporters didn’t have access to the children.”
The list of mandatory reporters includes everyone from law enforcement to teachers, coaches, guidance counselors, therapists and others who are around children.
“They were just not available to them because of the conditions of the pandemic. But right after things started opening up, we started seeing more cases,” said Braveboy.
Garth said that on an anecdotal level, she’s also seeing those mandatory reporters getting better training and doing a better job of spotting situations that spark concern.
“We get a ton of reports that come from the non-offending parent, that’s probably one of the major reporting sources for us,” said Garth. “Also teachers at school … when schools are doing good touch/bad touch presentations, then kids know they can go to their teachers, kids know they can go to guidance counselors and they will report it to us.”
That’s exactly what led to a recent conviction of a Hyattsville man, who was found guilty of sexually abusing his daughter and her twin half-sisters. His daughter was 7 and the other girls were between 8 and 10 when the abuse occurred.
Braveboy’s office said one of the girls, who by then was 12, started having a panic attack during one such lesson at her school in Montgomery County.
The school system then referred 48-year-old Jaimen Sical to police in Hyattsville, who began an investigation. He was convicted on all counts and is set to be sentenced next month.
“We believe that it’s really important we work hard to protect our future,” said Braveboy. “Those are our children.”
For more information on how to report child abuse and neglect, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Welfare Information Gateway. If you or someone else is in immediate and serious danger, call 911.
