The Times-Reporter
NEW PHILADELPHIA When the state s schools closed in mid-March of 2020 due to the pandemic, children were sent home for the end of the academic year.
An increase in child abuse followed, including an increase in sex offenses, according to local experts who oversee investigations and help for the victims.
The number of cases of all forms of child abuse reported to Tuscarawas County Job and Family Services spiked in 2020, and continues to be elevated this year, according to Heather Morris, intake supervisor for Children Services. Drugs is the main reason for it, she said. We have a lot of meth in the area. There s domestic violence, sexual abuse. Those are always our three top types of cases.