Poll: 9 in 10 would report suspected child abuse, neglect

The kid down the street seems to have bruises all the time. She looks thin and her clothes are dirty and poorly fitting.

Or his parent is always yelling at him, using four-letter words to describe his intelligence or actions. You think the child is probably being abused or neglected.

Would you do something about it?

Nine out of 10 residents of Spokane and Kootenai counties surveyed last month said they would likely intervene if they suspected a child in their neighborhood was being abused or neglected. Most told pollsters for the Our Kids: Our Business survey they’d call police or a child welfare agency.

Only about one in six said they’d talk to parents, according to the poll conducted by Research 2000 for The Spokesman-Review, KHQ, KSPS and KXLY.

They’re probably being honest, said professionals familiar with the child welfare system.

“My sense is that people don’t really look the other way,” said Roy Harrington, of Washington State University-Spokane’s Area Health Education Center. “I think all of us would like to think, if we saw something like that, we’d do something about it.”

But only if the abuse or neglect is clear-cut and detectable, said Harrington. That’s a different problem, because most abuse and neglect does not occur in plain sight, he said.

“I’ve been in this for more than 40 years, and I’ve never seen a child being abused in public,” Harrington said.

Lucy Berliner, director of Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress and an expert on child abuse research, agreed: “Citizens are calling because they’re concerned.”

The number of people who would report their suspicions would probably go down if it was a member of the family, rather than a stranger or someone in the neighborhood, Berliner said. “I do think that when it comes down to ‘Would you call the authorities on your sister?’ I don’t buy that” 90 percent would, she said.

Reporting people to the government can be a hard decision, but being able to do it anonymously probably makes it easier for some people, she said. Some professions, especially teachers and medical workers, are required to report suspicions of abuse or neglect.

But those kinds of reports, even if they turn out to be unfounded, can ruin the relationship between a teacher and a student or a doctor and a patient, Berliner said. Some mandated reporters may have a tendency to be conservative and not report vague suspicions, to avoid reporting instances that don’t rise to the legal level of child abuse and neglect, she added.

Last year, the Department of Social and Health Services in Washington state received about 75,900 calls of suspected abuse or neglect. It opened cases on just less than half of them, about 36,200. The number of calls has declined slightly over the last 10 years, although there have been increases some years, Kathy Spears, a spokeswoman for the department, said. The ratio of cases opened to calls has stayed about the same.

That doesn’t mean only half the calls involve cases of abuse or neglect, Harrington said. It means only half meet the legal definition of abuse or neglect.

To remove a child temporarily from a home, the state must show the preponderance of the evidence suggests abuse or neglect is occurring. To place the child under state custody, it must have a higher standard of clear and convincing evidence. To convict someone of a crime involving child abuse, it must prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The state defines abuse and neglect narrowly, said Mary Ann Murphy, of the Spokane Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Council. That doesn’t mean that people have to wait until they’re sure abuse is occurring so they can call Child Protective Services. They can get involved earlier, offering to help that relative or neighbor before a stressful situation builds into something worse.