Re: volume/severity of reports in relation to time of year

["Sue Foley" <smfoley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In the mid 80's I had the task of looking at why child abuse reports - in
NSW Australia went up in October as well - not sure if this is still a
current trend - we thought to was due to increased reports by school staff
as this was the end of the 3rd term of school!
also curious
Sue Foley
Sydney Australia
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <allison.smith@charter.net>
To: "Child Maltreatment Researchers"
<CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2004 1:43 PM
Subject: volume/severity of reports in relation to time of year


> I am casually looking for research regarding the volume of abuse and
neglect reports received by public child welfare agencies in relation to the
time of year.  Specifically, I am wondering if there are certain months in
the year in which the number of reports goes up, the number of removals of
chidren goes up, and the severity of the maltreatment increases.  Also, I am
wondering if any researcher may have come up with some theories on why these
high volume/high severity periods tend to fall within certain times of year.
>
> As a bit of anecdotal evidence coming from a child protective services
worker in Georgia, I and many of my fellow workers have noticed that the
months of September/October and February/March tend to be the worst times of
the year for us in terms of numbers of children brought into protective
custody, the high number of reports, and the severity of abuse/neglect.
This trend seems to be common in our county as well as in other Georgia
counties.  It can even been seen in a quantitative form in our monthly
report.
>
> I have been in front-line work with child abuse and neglect for almost
four years, and September/October and February/March have consistently been
very bad for our agency.  I have several working theories about why this is
the case, including weather/seasonal changes, the fact that these periods
are times when school professionals are becoming more aware of maltreatment
indicators among children coming back from summer break, the changes in
amount of daylight hours, the positioning of the moon, etc.  I would really
like to see what those in the field of child maltreatment research might
have to say about this, if they are indeed saying anything.
>
> Thanks in advance for any research links you might send my way, as well as
any other anecdotal evidence you might have on the subject.
>
> --Allison P. Smith, BSW
>