CHILD ABUSE VICTIMS' STATS ON INCREASE

Three members of governor's commission warn that, if services don't increase, the number of victims will continue to rise.

Without further services, child abuse in Indiana will increase, not only in number but in severity, the director of the Pleasant Run Children's Homes says.

"The number of families in crisis continues to increase, and the funding continues to stay stable or decrease. The stress on families continues to increase. So we're gonna see more abuse and worse abuse, not less," said Mary Roth, whose organization provides services to abused and neglected children.

Roth was one of three people interviewed by Children's Express who were appointed by the governor to serve on the Commission on Abused and Neglected Children and Their Families. The commission, which started meeting last May, made recommendations to the Indiana General Assembly in December on how to improve care to children. Many of their recommendations have been rejected by the legislature because they were considered too expensive. Thousands abused

In 1991, 15,000 kids were abused in Indiana and 17,000 kids were neglected, according to Sheldon Siegel, dean of the Indiana University School of Social Work and chairman of the commission.

Peggy Eagan, executive director of the Indiana Chapter of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, added that, "There are national statistics that suggest one in four females and one in six males will be at least sexually abused by the time they are 18."

Siegel and Eagan agreed with Roth that child abuse often occurs in homes where parents are under stress.

Parents who have lost their jobs and don't have enough money to buy food sometimes take out their own frustration on their children.

"As unemployment goes up, the incidence of family violence goes up," Siegel explained. "If you're unemployed and there are few jobs out there and you can't take care of your family, you're frustrated, and who do you take your frustration out on? The people who are closest to you, both in proximity and emotion."

Today's families have fewer places to turn to for help.

"We're in a time where keeping a family together is really difficult," Roth said. "Years ago, families had extended family _ grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors _ people who could help them raise their kids. . . . The majority of families right now don't have that."

Parents who were hit by their parents are more likely to do the same thing to their own children, the commission members said.

Cycle of abuse

"The way you learn how to parent is by watching your parents," Roth said. "If they didn't do it right, chances are you're going to repeat what they did."

"A lot of abuse happens because of unrealistic expectations _ people believing that children can do things at a certain age when they can't . . . for instance, toilet training," Eagan added.

Physical abuse starts when it leaves a mark, Eagan explained. Spanking in Indiana is not considered abusive if it is done in what is legally termed a mild manner, where there are no bruises or injury to the child.

Indiana is one of few states that still allows corporal punishment in schools.

Discipline should be a positive approach to guiding a child to do the most appropriate thing, Roth said. She recommends other forms of discipline, such as putting the child in a time-out chair or removing them from the classroom, instead of spanking.

The commission stressed education of the entire family as the first step toward ending child abuse.

"You're going to take driver's ed and learn to drive. If you want a license to work as a barber, you have to study to be a barber. The one thing that we have no educational prerequisites for, if you want to call it that, is to be a parent," said Siegel.

"It's really difficult to be a parent," Eagen agreed. It's probably the hardest job anybody will ever have (because) . . . babies don't come with owner's manuals."

One way to educate parents is for the state to offer programs on preventing child abuse and family violence to families in need, the commission said.

But child protection services in the state are already underfunded and understaffed, the three agreed.

Not enough caseworkers

Each of our interviewees mentioned overworked and undertrained child welfare caseworkers as a major problem.

"In '79 (the year Indiana enacted the law that requires all people to report suspected child abuse), there was the same number of caseworkers for 2,000 cases reported. Last year, there were over 671,000 cases reported, and we have the same number of caseworkers. So, cases are slipping through the cracks," Eagan said.

Siegel agreed. "The people who are doing the work of investigating _ making the reports of abuse and neglect _ and the people who are working with the families where there is abuse and neglect have very high workloads," he said. "In order to reduce the workload of the caseworker, you need to hire more caseworkers."

Caseworkers aren't just behind in investigating child abuse complaints. They are also behind in checking the qualifications of foster care parents.

"Even though these people come through screenings and some training before they become foster parents, the caseloads of the people who do that are so large that they don't do a very good job," Roth said.

Overworked caseworkers is not Indiana's only problem. Unlike 48 other states, Indiana does not have a tracking system to follow up on child abuse suspects. In such a system, if someone is charged with abusing a child and skips town but stays in the state, they can still be found.

Eagan explained the situation in Indiana: "I can abuse a child and move, even to Johnson County or to Hamilton County, and there's no tracking system. And that's a major problem in Indiana that we're trying to get to change."

The three committee members also cited several other needs that Indiana should fulfill, including a category in Indiana law that recognizes emotional abuse as well as physical and mental abuse, a statewide abuse hot line and treatment for imprisoned child abusers.

They all called for speedy legislation to fix the problems.

"Children are our future," Eagan said. "If we raise a crop of children who are damaged because of abuse and neglect, then where's gonna be our work force in the next 20 years?" EDITED BY: Matt White, 14, and Jason Quinto, 14. REPORTED BY: Brian Hartz, 14; Jennifer Dawson, 15; Brad Banich, 12; and Frankie Byrd, 10.