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Child abuse reports rise dramatically State increases aren't reflected in local counties From wire and staff reports PORTLAND -- The number of children who suffered abuse or neglect in Oregon last year reached a 10-year high, according to a state report. Rates in the eight-county southern region, which includes Medford, remained highest in the state. That's despite a slight increase in Jackson County and a dramatic decline in Josephine County. The state counted 11,241 child abuse or neglect victims last year, a 10.8 percent increase over 1998 and a 38.3 percent increase over 1990. Of those victims, 18 died, most often at the hands of their parents. Fifty-four percent were younger than 7, with infants the most vulnerable, according to the annual report released this week by the State Office for Services to Children and Families. "We are seeing more and more cases of abuse and neglect, particularly with younger children," said Karmen Fore, an analyst with the Oregon Commission on Children and Families. "It really should be a cause for alarm in our state." In Jackson County, child abuse rates rose just over 1 percent in two years, up from 14.6 per 1,000 children in 1997 to 15.8 in 1999. "Given our population increase and as busy as we've been this year, I can see why we've gone up a bit," said Susan Kaough, manager for the Jackson County office of Services to Children and Families. In Josephine County, rates fell dramatically, from 20.9 per 1,000 kids in 1997 to 13 per 1,000 in 1999. Branch manager Shaun Brink credited her county's Family Support Team, a community-based integration team that intervenes early with at-risk families. "It is basically stopping families from getting referred to us," Brink said. "We take care of them then and there." The SCF southern region -- which includes Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake and Lane counties -- is still a tough area, conceded administrator Doug Mares. "The domestic violence situations and the drug and alcohol use, it's pretty high," he said. "Those factors contribute to family tension and to child abuse." In families where children are abused, caseworkers routinely see a conglomeration of problems -- from substance abuse and involvement with law enforcement to domestic violence and unemployment. Parents who were abused as children are at higher risk for abusing their kids. "We have identified families who are at high risk," said Ramona Foley, state SCF administrator since August. "Now it calls on us to do a better job of intervening with those families." Helping to untangle the web of problems confronting families is a major challenge for the agency's 820 caseworkers statewide, 223 of whom work specifically in child protective services. One factor in the rising number of abuse and neglect cases is that more people report suspected abuse. But state officials don't see that as the entire reason. Statistically, the increase in cases is heavily fueled by dramatic growth in one category: the number of children living under "threat of harm." Such situations include homes, for example, in which a mother is addicted to drugs and has not physically abused her children, but is at risk of doing so. Many states do not track these situations and intervene only when a child has been abused or neglected. But in Oregon, child protective workers can intervene in families earlier, when children are at clear risk for harm. Oregon's incidents of threat of harm jumped 22 percent from 1998 to 1999. Meanwhile, incidents of neglect rose 6 percent, and mental abuse and physical injury rose slightly. Incidents of sexual abuse decreased by 8 percent, Foley noted. The reasons for this decrease cannot be pinpointed, but Foley credits a national emphasis on educating children about sexual abuse, as well as better screening of child-care workers, youth counselors and foster home providers for criminal histories of abuse. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA