There were more than 5,500 child abuse cases reported across Western New York in 2023. Close to 55% of those were from Erie County, according to the New York State Kids' Well-being Clearinghouse, but the highest incident rates came from rural counties of Chautauqua and Genesee Counties.
Lacking resources are prevailing issues regardless of whether a child abuse survivor lives in Buffalo or rural communities in the region.
In rural counties, that often means there are a limited number of places to look, and transportation can be challenging, said Program Manager Kayla Johnson of the Southern Tier Child Advocacy Center.
“These children are in a population that's more land than people, so they're spread out a lot further. Help seems, seems further away, even though it is available," she said. "And then you have the unfortunate event of repeat offenses, where kids are offended on multiple times.”
While Buffalo might have more total resource options, there also are accessibility concerns, especially because the number of cases also increases.
Sam Vaugn, who’s the director of the Scott Bieler Child Advocacy Center at BestSelf, believes the actual number of child abuse cases likely remains consistent from year to year but says the level of awareness and education is increasing.
“We go to a school and all of a sudden, there's more kids who come at the end of that to say, ‘hey, I want to talk about this,’ or ‘I want to talk about that,’ or maybe ‘this happened to me.’ That's the goal," he said. "You know, the goal is not to hit people over the head with it over and over, and over, and over again till they can regurgitate it.”
Buffalo Toronto Public Media will have further coverage on child abuse awareness later this month, focusing on proposed state legislation for more strict punishment after deaths caused by child abuse.
