In a recent thought-provoking New York Times op-ed piece, an economist posits that the web search engine Google may provide a better gauge of child abuse incidence than reliance only on reports made to state and local child protection agencies.
The author first became skeptical about the statistics when he looked at child fatality incidence rates in states hardest hit by the Great Recession. While the national statistics showed a drop of reported cases from 2006 to 2009, the hardest hit states, including Nevada, reported the highest drops.
Yet, these figures did not jibe with child fatality (due to abuse or neglect) rates, which, during this period, rose 50% in Nevada.
This apparently prompted him to look at anonymous Google searches that alluded directly or indirectly to child abuse or neglect, including “Why does my father beat me?”
Interestingly, he found that after a long period of decline, these victim searches rose as soon as the recession began. On weeks that unemployment rose, the searches also rose. He asserted that Google may also have been used more by people suspecting abuse and neglect, with a 3% increase in searches of the terms “child abuse” and “child neglect” by such people associated with each 1% point increase in unemployment.
In trying to account for the discrepancy between reporting and his own research, he suggests that the downturn itself could account for lower reporting of cases. Similarly, he points to agency budget cuts and a shortage of caseworkers, making reporting more challenging for those suspecting abuse.
