OPINION: We have mandatory reporters. We need mandatory supporters, too.

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts sounded the alarm that fewer interactions between children and mandatory reporters — professionals including educators and doctors who are required by law to report suspected child abuse and neglect — could lead to a decrease in reports and an increase in abuse and neglect.

Without a doubt, the pandemic did cause a decline in reports to state child welfare agencies, including a decline in reports to the Alaska Office of Children’s Services of as much as 30% in some months of 2020. However, there wasn’t a matching increase in child abuse and neglect; national rates of child abuse and neglect actually decreased during the pandemic. Research shows that the decrease wasn’t just a reflection of decreased reports; other indicators of abuse, including emergency department visits and hospital abusive head trauma admissions, also decreased during the pandemic.

A child welfare system with fewer reports of abuse and neglect does not have to mean a system where children are less safe. During the pandemic, increased financial assistance including the expanded child tax credit and direct economic relief payments may have played a role in providing families with the concrete support they needed to weather the storm and keep their children safe.

When we support families, children thrive. For Child Abuse Prevention Month this April, we call on every Alaskan to be a mandatory supporter.

Our society’s emphasis on mandatory reporting may lead many adults to believe that filing a report is the best way to help a child and family in crisis. However, in Alaska and the nation, the vast majority of child welfare reports concern neglect. Many of these reports incorrectly mistake poverty for neglect. While the two are not the same, reporters often mistakenly perceive indicators that a family is struggling financially, like living in a homeless shelter, to be indicators of neglect. When those reports are screened in and investigated, families, especially families of color, who are more likely to live in poverty and more likely to be reported to child welfare, risk facing child removal for issues that could have been solved with the provision of basic concrete supports. When those reports are screened out, those families may still be struggling and in need of help, but they aren’t going to receive it through the child welfare system.

Most parents don’t intentionally abuse or neglect their children. But left without the knowledge, skills, support and resources they need, parents may reach a breaking point. That’s when harm can occur. If you see a family struggling, reach out and offer support. Maybe that means lending a sympathetic ear to a parent in need or calling 2-1-1 to connect a family with resources. By offering your support early, you may be preventing that family from ever needing to be reported.

The goal of mandatory reporting is to protect children, not to create more reports. If we all fulfill our moral obligations as mandatory supporters, we can prevent mandatory reporters from ever needing to fulfill their legal ones.

Let’s focus on prevention, not just intervention. Be a mandatory supporter, not just a reporter.

Trevor Storrs is president and CEO of Alaska Children’s Trust.

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