Though April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the struggle to protect children doesn’t end. The Guilford Police Department is tasked with working every month of the year on this issue and strives to not only help with the immediate crisis, but also connecting those in need, to social services that can mitigate the future effects of abuse.

GPD Chief Butch Hyatt said Guilford, despite its image as a safe and accepting community, is not immune to the impacts of domestic abuse. In fact, domestic calls are a common call his officers receive.

“It’s not only Guilford, it’s across the region. Many of the calls we go on are domestic, although many of those do not involve children,” said Hyatt. “Child abuse is one of those things that many times can go undetected. People don’t always get to see this type of abuse happening firsthand. That’s why we have these statutes for mandated reporters, the police, fire departments, doctors, teachers, coaches, whoever.

“And abuse isn’t always physical abuse. It could be mental, not properly feeding or clothing a child,” he added. “There are many forms of abuse, and that is why those statutes are so vital and important.”

According to Hyatt, a call that initiates law enforcement involvement is just the first step for his department when an incident occurs.

“We work quite regularly with DCF [the state Department of Children and Families] anytime it involves children, whether it’s an abuse situation or a situation where a child may need mental health care, emotional care...We partner with them as well as Guilford Youth & Family Services, who have been a great partner for us here, both on the social worker side and the adult realm, as well as working with children that we come into contact with, in so many different ways not and not just in a domestic or child abuse incident,” Hyatt said.

Hyatt said every call is different and both the department and the various agencies that get involved can’t simply throw a one size fits all solution to this complex issue.

“These calls come to us many different ways; it can come from the actual child themselves, reporting it to an adult that they have been abused; it can come from a mandated reporter who reports it to us,” he said.

According to Hyatt, any time there is a report of child abuse, the department immediately involves its partners, which may include Yale New haven Hospital as well, particularly when a child needs to be examined physically or mentally.

According to Hyatt, Guilford like most departments has to weigh and adapt to a changing methodology in dealing with certain social-based or domestic-based crimes. Allegations of abuse on youth require nuanced investigation techniques and these partner agencies are a critical component, said Hyatt.

“Yale is a big piece of this as well as social service agencies like Youth & Family Services. When abuse is identified, we investigate it not only from the criminal side, which is the job or the police, but we are also partnering with those social service agencies and DCF to make sure the best interest of the child is addressed on that plain as well. With Yale, we work with multi-disciplinary teams that we work with. A multi-disciplinary team has social workers, police, and prosecutors involved in it, Particularly, if you are going to interview a child, you only want to do that one time. You want to have all the professionals interested in the case as part of that process so that you can get the best information from people who are trained to do that. If there is evidence of abuse, it obviously needs to be carefully documented and saved for any actions that need to be taken down the road.”

Hyatt stressed that citizens do not need to be designated as mandated reporters in order to take action.

“It’s like everything else, if you see something, say something. It’s important to report that. Let the police, let the DCF look into those things,” Hyatt said. “Let’s face it, there are legitimate reasons why a child may have bruises, or something of that nature. Let the people tasked with that responsibility vet out those factors. We always ask folks to come forward, especially when we talk about children. We need to be the voice for them.”

According to Hyatt, child abuse is truly a community problem, and one that requires a community solution.

“We deal with this all the time, the key to this and the key to Child Abuse Awareness Month is just that, it brings awareness to the fact that child abuse is real and can go unnoticed and unreported. We want that awareness to be known, that people can report abuse to the police department, DCF, Youth & Family Services that can work to ensure those children are safe and taken care of.”

Hyatt said the department works very closely with many local, state and federal organizations that work to rescue children, educate parents, and support families dealing with child abuse.

To report any instance of suspected abuse of any kind, contact the Guilford Police Department at 203-453-8061 or the State Department of Children and Families at 800-842-2288.