Unpleasant reality: Whatcom County’s child abuse rates far exceed the statewide average

Whatcom County has a high rate of child abuse compared with the Washington state average and other counties its size.

It’s not clear why child abuse is so prevalent here. But factors that contribute to it can include social isolation, such as during the pandemic; alcohol and substance abuse, financial problems at home, and parental mental illness, experts say.

“The realities of child abuse are unpleasant to talk and hear about. It’s still important to know about,” Jenn Lockwood, executive director of the Brigid Collins Family Support Center said in a statement to The Bellingham Herald.

Whatcom County’s rates of child abuse and neglect have been well above the state average since 2007, with the highest rate — 56.2 per 1,000 children — being reported in 2019, according to the most recent data available from the Washington State Department of Social and Health Service (DSHS).

The average rate of child abuse across the state in 2019 was 37.93 per 1,000 children. The average rate of child abuse for what the report calls “Counties Like Us” in that same year was 40.56 per 1,000 children.

In 2022, the year with the most recent available data, the rate of reported child abuse in Whatcom County was 43.57 per 1,000 children. That’s compared with a rate of 35.35 across the state and 41.05 among comparable counties.

Most years with reported data show that more than 2,000 children are identified as victims of abuse or neglect each year in Whatcom County and that number is increasing. Young children under age 5 are most likely to be identified as victims of maltreatment, particularly neglect, according to Whatcom County’s 2020 Child and Family Action Plan.

Child injury and accident hospitalizations, and women injury and accident hospitalizations in Whatcom County also outpace the state averages, DSHS data shows.

“Counties like us” refers to a group of counties that are similar in characteristics to Whatcom County. These characteristics include the number and percentage of young people between the ages of 10 and 24 and the percentage of deaths in the county that are alcohol and drug-related.

Counties similar to Whatcom County are considered to be Benton, Clark, Kitsap, Thurston and Yakima, according to DSHS.

A total of 4,122 children were accepted by Child Protective Services (CPS) as having been found to be victims of abuse and neglect in the North Puget Region in 2021. A total of 2,078 of those children were from Whatcom County alone, DSHS reports show.

Still, these numbers only show “accepted referrals” made to CPS. A referral is a report of suspected child abuse. If the information provided meets the sufficiency screen, the referral is accepted for further action.

Not all cases meet the screening criteria.

The fight to end child abuse

“Unfortunately, child abuse is more prevalent in our community than most people realize,” the Brigid Collins Family Support Center’s Lockwood said. “We also have a lot of childhood trauma. The not-so-obvious reality of our community is that children are physically abused here, they are neglected here, they are sexually abused here.”

Brigid Collins Family Support Center is a Bellingham-based nonprofit organization dedicated to ending child abuse through basic family support, prevention, community education and abuse response.

In 2022, Brigid Collins served more than 1,500 children and youth who had experienced child abuse and/or neglect. The Whatcom and Skagit County Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs), which are housed within Brigid Collins’ agency, conducted almost 200 child forensic interviews that year.

Ninety of those forensic interviews were done at the Whatcom County center, according to Brigid Collins Donor Development Officer Barb Lupo.

As of July 17, 2023, the Whatcom County CAC had already conducted 76 child forensic interviews. The Skagit County CAC is also seeing a 10 percent increase in cases over last year.

“And we’re only halfway through the year,” Lupo said in an interview with The Herald.

Making sense of the numbers

Both Lockwood and Lupo said it’s hard to know why Whatcom County has higher rates of abuse or why the county continues to see an increase in numbers. But research shows that social isolation is one of the indicators of child abuse and neglect. So the community isolation created by the pandemic likely didn’t help, Lockwood told The Herald.

“When kids weren’t in schools, you didn’t have as many mandated reporters with eyes on [them],” Lockwood said.

Parental and caregiver substance abuse also remain leading contributors to child abuse and neglect, Whatcom County’s 2020 Child and Family Action Plan shows.

Opioids, alcohol, methamphetamines and other substances have significant ramifications for children and families in Whatcom County, as parents struggling with drug addiction have difficulty meeting children’s basic needs. Family economic hardship, housing instability, social isolation, parental incarceration or criminal history and parental mental illness can also put children at greater risk for maltreatment and toxic stress.

Children are most commonly abused by someone they know or someone who is known well to the family, Lockwood told The Herald.

Particularly among instances of child sexual abuse, predators try to groom the children they intend to harm along with their supervising adults in order to reduce the likelihood of the child disclosing the abuse and to reduce the chances that other adults suspect them of abuse, according to Lockwood.

Child predators also often use manipulation tactics like threatening to harm loved ones or threatening to expose embarrassing images in order to keep their victims from disclosing abuse, Lockwood said.

“All adults can play a part in paying attention to children in our community and speaking up when something doesn’t seem right or when a child discloses abuse,” Lockwood told The Herald.

A timeline of high-profile child abuse cases

The Bellingham Herald has reported on a number of child abuse and neglect cases in recent years:

▪ A 3-month-old infant starved to death in 2015 due to parental neglect. An autopsy found Lucian Mykael Shields died on Dec. 8, 2015, from malnutrition, dehydration and “neglect of ordinary care of an infant,” according to the county medical examiner’s office.

The infant’s mother, Brittany Shane Daniels, pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of second-degree manslaughter for the death. In 2021, Lucian’s father, Cody James Shields, was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the death.

▪ In 2019, 3-year-old Hazel Journey Homan of Bellingham was killed by her caregiver after extensive abuse. A jury found Kamee Nicole Dixon guilty of homicide by abuse. The jury also found that Dixon used her position of trust or responsibility to commit homicide by abuse and that Dixon knew or should have known that Hazel was vulnerable or incapable of resistance.

Dixon was the first person to be charged, tried and convicted for homicide by abuse — which has been a criminal charge since 1987 — by the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office. She was sentenced to 34 years in prison, with three years probation.

▪ In 2023, three people were arrested and accused of murder in the March death of a 5-year-old girl in Ferndale. Olivia R. Doane died due to a “very high and fatal amount” of fentanyl in her bloodstream.

▪ Also this year, a former schoolteacher and Blaine school board candidate, Tana Perkins Reneau, was arrested in June of 2023 and currently faces more than 10 charges related to the alleged years-long physical and sexual abuse of four children.

Warning signs

Child abuse and maltreatment can lead to poor mental and physical health well into adulthood, according to the Whatcom County Public Health Department.

Here are some signs and symptoms of child abuse to watch out for, according to the Mayo Clinic:

▪ Withdrawal from friends or usual activities.

▪ Changes in behavior — such as aggression, anger, hostility or hyperactivity — or changes in school performance.

▪ Depression, anxiety or unusual fears, or a sudden loss of self-confidence.

▪ Sleep problems and nightmares.

▪ An apparent lack of supervision.

▪ Frequent absences from school.

▪ Rebellious or defiant behavior.

▪ Self-harm or attempts at suicide.

Resources

▪ Brigid Collins Family Support Center: 360-734-4616, brigidcollins.org

▪ Child Protective Services: Washington state hotline for reporting child abuse and neglect, 866-829-2153.

▪ Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services: 24-hour Help Line: 360-715-1563, Email: info@dvsas.org.

▪ Lummi Victims of Crime: 360-312-2015.

▪ Tl’ils Ta’á’altha Victims of Crime: 360-325-3310 or nooksacktribe.org/departments/youth-family-services/tlils-taaaltha-victims-of-crime-program/

▪ Bellingham Police: You can call anonymously at 360-778-8611, or go online at cob.org/tips.

▪ WWU Consultation and Sexual Assault Support Survivor Advocacy Services: 360-650-3700 or wp.wwu.edu/sexualviolence/.

Brigid Collins Family Support Center professionals are on-call between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, to answer questions about children, families, abuse prevention or treatment at (360) 734-4616.

If you or a child is in immediate danger, call 911 and make a report to law enforcement.

To report child abuse or neglect call 1-866-END HARM.