(Continued from parts 1, 2, 3 and 4)
[EDITING MARCH 17: I edited this post tonight. See note on part 1. — SG]
Every investigation of child abuse or neglect has two possible outcomes: “confirmed” or “unconfirmed.” If any of the allegations is true, or if any of the children have ever been abused or neglected in any way at all, the result is “confirmed.” “Unconfirmed” is just the OKDHS’s way of saying “completely innocent.”
In Fiscal Year 2004, fully 80 percent of all Oklahoma abuse and neglect investigations resulted in an “unconfirmed” finding. Some of these might have been real abusers who just managed to avoid detection, but the rest of them were completely innocent people falsely accused of child abuse. When considered with the “screened out” reports that don’t even merit an investigation, this means that almost 90 percent of all child abuse reports in Oklahoma are found to be absolutely groundless. (All OKDHS stats are taken from their F.Y. 2004 annual report — PDF.)
At noon on Friday, March 10, Stephanie came and interviewed the children. By which I mean, she interviewed Faith and Abby, our two oldest. (The other three — aged zero, one, and two years — don’t have good interviewing skills.)