Twice last week, the Jamestown community was rocked by news of unfathomable harm done to children by those who were supposed to be providing care.

Both cases are heartbreaking. Lives that had barely begun were snuffed out with little explanation why. Both are worst-case scenarios that defy explanation.

The news gets worse. We know of these two cases because of the heinous nature of the crime. What about the cases we don’t hear about? Unfortunately, there are a lot of them that don’t make headlines.

According to the Kids Wellbeing Indicator Clearinghouse, rates of child abuse/maltreatment – defined as reports of child abuse and maltreatment is calculated as the number of unique children in reports of child abuse or neglect received in the year in which at least one allegation was substantiated – is 15.2% higher in Chautauqua County than it is statewide, 27.6 per 1,000 children here compared to 12.4 per 1,000 children across the state.

It’s hard to believe, with the news that hsa come out in the past week, that April is Child Abuse Awareness Month. But child abuse and maltreatment cases here are a fact regardless of the number of blue pinwheels we see popping up every April throughout Chautauqua County. As frustrating as it is, though, we have to admit there is no easy solution to ending child abuse. If solutions were easy they would have been implemented years ago.

That doesn’t mean the death of two children should be excused, nor should the higher-than-average rates of child abuse and maltreatment. As Child Abuse Awareness Month comes to a close, our county should spend the next year coming up with a program to unveil during next year’s awareness month to close the gap in child welfare between Chautauqua County and the rest of the state.