Child Protective Services used to receive a median of 100 reports of child abuse every month before the pandemic. These numbers however increased to 140 ever since schools closed down due to lockdown. Steve Libreri, the Manager of Foundation for Social Welfare Services, stated that the increases surprised him as reports usually came from schools.
The reports seem to consist all manners of abuse such as verbal, physical and even sexual abuse. The reports also seem to come mainly from adults who notice the abuse, but in certain isolated cases it is the children themselves who report the abuse. Libreri stated that there is a degree of hope as the agency Sedqa does hold courses for children in order for them to realise what constitutes abuse.
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