Along with most of you, we have bid 2020 goodbye. We have gathered up our stats, examined our financials and are nearly ready to leave it in the dust.
During the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the CAC was faced with figuring out how to function. Do we shut down for a time? Should we cut back on staff? Will we have to cut back on services? No one wants any of that!
We had to figure out how to continue to help kids despite COVID. Initially, we divided our staff into two teams, each working in the office for one week and home the next. That seemed to be what a lot of places were doing, so we gave it a shot. It didn’t work for us.
Instead, we developed a plan that would allow as many of our employees as possible to work from home. Technology helped us a lot by allowing many of the children we serve to be seen via tele-health for therapy.
But that doesn’t help the kids who need to have a forensic interview. Those can only be done in-person. There is no good way around that. We decided it was best to stay open, keep at least a skeleton crew in the office full-time, and keep helping kids. That worked for us-mostly.
Within 30 days we were all back in the office doing what we do. Our staff is dedicated to their work and all of them decided they needed to be here, face-to-face with the children we serve (precautions in place, of course).
During the first couple of months of COVID, the whole state of Missouri experienced a drop in reports of child abuse – nearly 50%. This was worrisome to us and to everyone who works with abused children. The kids weren’t in school, no one had eyes on them outside their own families. They weren’t going to regular medical appointments, therapy, daycare or school, therapy . . .how would anyone know if they were in trouble?
We experienced a similar drop in cases at the CAC. We interviewed 56 children in March, which dropped to only 28 by May. Luckily, it was only a short time before we were seeing kids again, with 53 interviews in June then stayed steady for the rest of the year.
We are sad that we know there are children who needed to be seen during that time frame that probably didn’t receive help because no one knew they needed it. It has to be one of the most upsetting consequences of COVID-19 – to know that children were home with their abuser with no one to tell, no one to see they needed help. We lived with that reality all through the summer months of 2020.
School started back in the fall in a different way, but many children were at least getting a face-to-face Zoom with teachers and other school professionals. Thank goodness! People began to get back to a somewhat normal daily schedule and that is good for kids. We personally know many teachers and counselors who were so happy to finally see those little faces that worried them most when they lost contact last spring.
We join the many non-profit organizations (and other businesses) who struggled financially in 2020. Giving was down, fundraisers were cancelled or postponed. People were worried about their own financial situations, of course, and so they were unable to give as they normally would.
But, we look forward to a better 2021. We love what we do. Our mission is always front of mind. We just want kids to be safe, healthy and protected. That’s our goal. We say it over and over – every child deserves a happy and safe childhood.
This past year has shown us that there is no obstacle that will keep us from our mission. Many have been thrown in our path, but we found a way to get around them. I am very proud of my staff for that. We put kids first. After all, that’s our job.
Here’s to a better and brighter 2021.
Melissa Birdsell
Executive Director
