OxfordPress.com

HAMILTON — Meet Deshawn. He is 12 years old, and his grades have slipped. He can't do homework because the electricity was turned off at home.

"I told Mom, but she was really high," he said.

Meet Josh. He is 9 years old and was sent to the school nurse because of bruises on his back. They turned out to be shoe prints.

"I made too much noise, and Joe whupped me with his work boots," Josh told Children Services. Joe is his mother's live-in boyfriend.

Butler County Children Services will introduce the county to Deshawn, Josh and others in the agency's annual report, which will appear in this newspaper Sunday, Dec. 28.

The stories are true, though details, names and photos were changed.

The report includes photos of neglect and abuse, including Deshawn's garbage-strewn home and the shoe prints on Josh's back.

The report's title is Behind closed doors.

"This report is meant to break the silence and to shed light into the dark corners," wrote Children Services Director Michael Fox in a preface.

"We didn't do this to shock people. When we talk about abuse and neglect, it can be very academic," said Children Services Spokeswoman Denise Winkler. "But in reality it's shocking, and it's brutal and it's frightening."

Winkler said the agency's goal is to let people know about the need for people to become foster or adoptive parents, to educate everyone about the signs of abuse and who to contact if neglect or abuse is suspected.

"We need people in the community to be our eyes and ears," she said.

The report also explains the agency's budget — which Fox said has been reduced 12 percent — and has statistics on allegations of abuse or neglect.

With 16,395 calls to the agency's reporting line in 2007 and 15,611 through October, officials say investigations are increasing slightly every year.

But with families strained by recession, Winkler predicts the problems will worsen.

"We will see an increase in the number of calls and the number of families served," he said.