Reports of possible child abuse have almost quadrupled after the pandemic lockdown. In the year of confinement, the Unified Child Abuse Registry (RUMI) experienced a notable decrease in the number of reports, and in 2021 many more reports have surfaced. Thus, in 2020 the system registered 2,529 alerts of children who could be being mistreated, abused or in a situation of neglect, while in 2021 8,696 alerts were received.

Most of the alerts (65%) were classified as serious. Serious cases of sexual abuse and especially physical abuse have increased the most after the year of confinement.

The Councilor for Social Affairs, Fina Santiago, explains that during the health confinement there were cases of mild or moderate abuse that were not detected and therefore could not intervene, so the situation worsened and have already surfaced as serious cases. In addition, says the councilor, the crisis may increase this situation with a lack of protection of minors.

Who uses the RUMI

The RUMI is designed so that professionals who are in contact with minors (health workers, teachers….) can make an alert when they see signs that a child or young person is suffering physical or psychological abuse; being the victim of parental neglect or sexual abuse. It is common for professionals from different fields to coincide and issue an alert for the same child. In 2021, in fact, the 8,696 notifications received concerned 4,863 minors.

Social service workers are responsible for 42% of the alerts registered, while teachers and professors notify almost 40% of the cases.

This fact is another example of the important role of schools beyond their educational role and the consequences of keeping them closed due to the health crisis.

The police notified 8% of the cases while another 8% came from health services.

From these two spheres, the police and health services, it is more frequent that the most serious child abuse cases are detected, as was the case for example on the 5th of this month, when a family doctor gave the warning when a father came to his office with his two-month-old daughter with bruises all over her body and a fractured femur, among other injuries. The doctor gave notice and both parents were arrested.

More serious child abuse cases

Of the notices received, 1,889 were for physical child abuse (1,273 considered serious). A total of 3,097 alerts registered with the RUMI in 2021 were for neglect (1,885 severe) and 2,720 for psychological maltreatment (1,733 severe cases) and 950 for sexual abuse (825 considered severe, double that of the pre-pandemic year).