The details emerging about the death of 7-year-old William Evans-Ellis are almost impossible to absorb.
Prosecutors describe prolonged abuse. The coroner found bruises both old and new, a broken arm and fatal blunt-force injuries to his head. Investigators say the adults charged in his death exchanged messages about harming him. Each new disclosure seems worse than the last. But amid all those sickening details, one unanswered question stands out.
Did anyone call Children’s Services?
You don't have to prove abuse
So far, despite extensive reporting about William’s family, grandparents, prior warning signs and the adults around him, there has been no public confirmation that anyone called Hamilton County’s
241-KIDS hotline before he died.
Perhaps someone did. Children’s Services records are confidential, and we should not assume otherwise until the facts are known. But William’s death is a painful reminder of why that telephone number exists.
Hamilton County Children’s Services operates a 24-hour hotline − 513-241-KIDS − for reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. You do not have to prove that a child is being abused. You do not have to conduct your own investigation. You do not have to confront the parents or gather enough evidence to make a case. And if you are reluctant to become personally involved, you can make the report anonymously.
You report what you know or reasonably suspect. Children’s Services decides what happens next.
And Ohio law gives that report urgency. When a report of known or reasonably suspected abuse or neglect is referred to the public children-services agency, the agency generally must begin investigating within 24 hours. That is important because the people surrounding an abused child rarely possess the entire story.
A grandparent may see a bruise. A teacher may notice a change in behavior. A neighbor may hear something disturbing. A relative may suddenly be prevented from seeing a child. A child may simply say, "I don’t want to go home." None of those facts by itself proves abuse.
Together, they may save a life.
Adults must speak for children
That is why the responsibility for investigating does not belong to the person making the report. The caller’s responsibility is much smaller and much simpler: raise the alarm.
William was seven years old. Whatever was happening inside that Oakley home, he was in no position to assemble the evidence against the adults around him or find his way to authorities. Adults had to do that for him.
We will eventually learn much more about what happened to William and who knew what before his death. Hamilton County should disclose everything the law permits about whether Children’s Services ever received a report concerning him and, if so, how it responded. But we do not need to wait for that answer to learn one lesson from his death.
If you reasonably suspect that a child is being abused, do not investigate it yourself. Do not wait until you are certain. Make the call.
241-KIDS exists because sometimes the most important act in protecting a child takes less than five minutes.
Dennis Doyle lives in Anderson Township and is a member of the Enquirer Board of Contributors.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Did anyone call 241-KIDS before William Evans-Ellis died? | Opinion
