Behind Closed Doors

“It is more concerning during COVID because the kids aren’t being seen, so if they get hurt, no one’s there to call.”

Behind Closed Doors
Child Abuse Reporting Goes Quiet during Quarantine

What else is there to do during quarantine than binge Netflix? They have a large selection of docuseries—everything ranging from Zac Efron to Jeffery Epstein to Joe Exotic. Another option is a series called “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez.” This heartbreaking series is the true story of an eight-year-old boy who was abused and killed by his parents in 2013. The family resided in Palmdale, California and the case struck rage and sorrow throughout the nation. People were outraged and confused about why Gabriel wasn’t taken out of his home even after multiple people made calls to social services. Four social workers were charged along with Gabriel’s parents. The charges against the social workers were recently dropped, which brought up allegations of racial bias. Similar cases to Gabriel’s are more common than one might think. This made me think about how quarantine is affecting social work and child abuse victims. 

I spoke to Michele Moore, who has been answering calls on the Child Abuse Hotline in Oakland, California during COVID. Formerly, she was an Emergency Response Worker. “I was the first person knocking on the door to tell people a child abuse report had been made, so it wasn’t always pleasant,” she recounts. Moore explained that she stopped doing home visits, as she was tired of being out in the field, “kind of putting my life on the line especially when I got pregnant.” She moved to a desk job, which made her feel safer.

According to kidsdata.org, nearly 700,000 children are abused in the U.S. each year. About four out of five abusers are the victim’s parents. When the Department of Social Services conducts home visits, they have to ask permission from the parents to talk alone with their child. This is a problem considering parents are most likely the abusers.

Social workers often go to the school to talk to kids because it’s a neutral setting, where they don’t feel like parents can influence their children not to talk. According to Moore, “By law, we have the right to go and do that, which makes parents mad sometimes.” This poses a problem during COVID, because going to the school has not been an option.

In 2012, more than 1,600 children died or suffered neglect at the hands of their own parents. The Department of Children and Family Services in Los Angeles County has hundreds of cases to watch over. Some caseworkers have dozens of cases at a time. Child services are overrun and understaffed. Moore explained that she felt overworked at times. “[With] emergency referrals, I could have up to 25 or 30 child abuse cases at a time when I was working in the field.”

This brings up a real concern during quarantine. Normally, children would be able to go to school and stay with their parents for a shorter amount of time. However, with quarantine, many children are stuck at home with their abusers with no way to get out. 

The opportunity to go out gave abused children another advantage—interactions with people who could potentially see visible signs of abuse and report them. A teacher, counselor, or any person they come into contact with could see bruises or marks. “All the professionals are mandated reporters,” Moore explained. “We get mostly schools and doctors, but a lot of neighbors too. It is more concerning during COVID because the kids aren’t being seen, so if they get hurt, no one’s there to call.”

When talking about social work, it would be obtuse not to talk about the racial bias that is present. Moore touched on this when describing the demographics of her county. “African Americans make up about 12 percent of Alameda County, and they’re about 85 percent of who gets called in. It’s very disproportionate.” She attributes it to public housing, where “there are more people looking in.” She also explained that when women have children, they do toxicology screens more often on black women than white women. “The bias is already there.”

She brings up an interesting point. When a community is looked at more for abuse it makes sense that abuse rates are higher. This doesn’t necessarily mean that abuse happens more but that it’s reported more. Limited-income communities are being hit more than higher-income communities by the Coronavirus. The lack of health care means that these communities are less likely to seek medical attention. Unemployment causes problems with regards to food and schooling. This can cause a spike in neglect for children, which is the most common form of abuse.

Moore stated that taking children from their parents seems like it’s 100 percent of the job because of how it is presented on TV, but it’s really just five percent of cases. “We try to keep the kids with their parents as much as possible and just help them,” she assures.

Unfortunately, in Gabriel Fernandez ’s case, it was wrong to keep him with his parents. There are many layers when talking about what social workers could’ve done better. Would they have cared more if he was white? Did they talk to enough people? Did they try hard enough? “Parents usually let me interview the kids alone, but sometimes they are there,” Moore explains. “It’s always hard when the kids aren’t willing to say what happened and we can’t really do anything. You have to know something’s happening.” Sometimes it comes down to judgment and Fernandez’s social workers made the wrong call. 

There are new sets of problems because of the quarantine. Social work is a hard job and now is even harder. Kids are stuck at home with their possible abusers; signs of abuse are less likely to be noticed, and the tough times raise tensions in different households. Quarantine is not affecting us all the same. We need to keep an eye out for our youth. We don’t know what’s really happening behind closed doors.

Sources

Child Abuse Hotlines

  • Toll-free within California: (800) 540-4000

  • Outside California: (213) 639-4500

  • TDD [Hearing Impaired]: (800) 272-6699

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