KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — Statistics surrounding child abuse in Knox County show that there are still more incidents reported across the county than there were before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from experts Monday.
Representatives from the Child Advocacy Center in Knox County said that through Nov. 30, there were 1,383 reports of child abuse. They said it's the second-busiest center in the state, behind Shelby County. In all of 2019, there were 1,255 reports.
In 2021, they said they served 1,921 children and they expect to serve 1,509 children by the end of 2022.
"That is a tremendous increase for just one county," said representatives during a Knox County Commission meeting. "The good news is, what is happening in Knox County thanks to our DA is perpetrators are being put behind bars quickly."
Out of the previous five years, most children who the center served were also between 7 years old and 12 years old, with 2,639 cases reported. Children between 0 years old and 6 years old ranked at the second-highest number of cases reported, at 2,424 over the last five years.
"These are babies that are being abused and neglected in our community," said a representative of the Child Advocacy Center.
He said that 72% of children they see are survivors of sexual abuse. Through Nov. 30, 2022, he said they served 999 minors who are survivors of sexual abuse this year.
Representatives said with additional funding this year, they were able to bring down therapy wait lists. In 2021, they had a waitlist of 95 cases. As of Nov. 30 this year, they said there were 30 cases on the waitlist.
They also said they managed to have 125 therapy sessions per week, compared to 30 sessions per week in 2021. The therapies are trained in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Play Therapy.
In 2023, they hope to use additional ARPA funds to hire three additional therapies and increase the number of sessions per week to up to 200.