After nearly $100,000 was cut from the Children’s Advocacy Center’s 2018 fiscal budget, the center is running short on money and staff. With only five counselors left, they can only handle about 1,500 cases per year, which puts a delay on how soon children can be interviewed and how soon they can receive help after a reported abuse. Kent and Sussex County offices will soon have to share locations which can lead to a decrease in cases they can handle. They will also have to stop after hour interviews and will only see children in the middle of the night for very serious cases. Delaware has begun to take child abuse more seriously since the conviction of serial abuser Earl Bradley, a doctor in the Lewes area. In 2011 he was convicted of raping nearly 100 of his child patients and molesting many more. After this event reports of child abuse increased from 11,222 in 2010 to 20,778 in 2016. With the budget cuts, this center is taking, more children will possibly be abused, without notice. However, caseworkers and forensic scientists continue to work relentlessly despite the budget cuts and continue to help in any way they can.

Photo by Jennifer Corbett, The News Journal