FEATURE It Takes a S Community to Keep Kids Safe ince the start of the pandemic, there has been a precipitous drop in reported cases of child abuse and neglect. In fact, reports are down by as much as 40-50% from this same time a year ago. While that may sound like good news, this decrease unfortunately does not necessarily mean there are fewer cases of child abuse and neglect. Rather, there are fewer reported cases. In fact, part of the disturbing trend is a wave of severe injuries in abused children. At least 155 children died or nearly died this year in Pennsylvania as a result of suspected child abuse or neglect, according to state data from Jan. 1 to July 15, compared to 144 in all of 2019. By TINA HASSELBUSCH United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley 18 Lehigh County Health & Medicine | FALL / WINTER 2020