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Number of child abuse reports nearly doubles in Lancaster County

In January of last year there were about one hundred reports of child abuse in Lancaster County. This January there were almost a hundred and eighty. “Our...

In January of last year there were about one hundred reports of child abuse in Lancaster County. This January there were almost a hundred and eighty. "Our numbers skyrocketed," said Crystal Natan who is the director of the Lancaster County Children & Youth Agency. "We're almost at a hundred percent increase for February and we still have four or five days to go in the month," said Natan.

The increase is because of a new law that went into effect at the beginning of this year in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. The law created fifteen categories of mandated reporters including librarians, clergy and nurses. "Anyone who has contact with children. If you are working or volunteering in any capacity where you have contact with children you are a mandated reporter," said Natan.

If they don't report the abuse they could face felony charges. Natan said she needs six additional child abuse investigators to meet the increased volume of calls. The state has already approved two, but that's not enough and adding more costs money. Money that Lancaster County Commissioner Scott Martin said needs to come from the state. "Our funds are already allocated. We don't sit on this giant pile of money. We have dozens of things we do from emergency management to running prisons to funding courts to kids with developmental disabilities," said Martin.

These kinds of programs could potentially be cut back if the state doesn't fund the additional workers to meet the increased number of child abuse reports.
"When you're already running pretty lean, to pull money means you're going to take away from something else," said Martin.

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