VIDEO: Signs Of Child Abuse

WEBSTER COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Nearly two children every minute of every day; that’s the number of child abuse cases reported each year in the United States.

Those numbers also hit close to home.

Just this week, abuse arrests were made in both Monroe and Webster counties.

There’s a fine line between child abuse and disciplining a child, and charges come when parents’ actions go past that line.

“Somebody has to protect these children when the parents do wrong. Now, I’m not saying that is wrong to discipline your child in any way shape or form, you need to discipline your child in a reasonably manner,” says Webster County Investigator Landon Griffin.

There’s a range of severities and cases.

“A single-parent household seems like it occurs more. I don’t have any stats to back that up, but it does seems like it does occur more in that situation. That and households where narcotics are involved. Usually and narcotics and that type of situation usually come hand in hand.”

Chief Deputy Jeff Mann says most cases they see involve parents being at their wits’ end with their children.

“It’s bad to say, but I don’t think any community is safe from it. A lot of times what it boils down to, sometimes it actually is a decent person wanting to discipline their child, but they involve anger in the situation and usually when they involve anger in the situation, that’s usually when it pasts what it should.”

It’s those cases which cross the line, that hit home for law enforcement.

Griffin has worked two child abuse cases since he started working at the sheriff’s department a year ago.

“Most child abuse cases that we have are coming in from family members, neighbors, aunts, uncles, and grandmothers that know the family, that know something is wrong with it. Some have proof, some have allegations.”

That’s exactly how Griffin’s second child abuse case unraveled earlier this week, when someone came by the sheriff’s department with a video of Stephanie Wofford, abusing her child, landing her in jail with one count of felony child abuse.

Griffin says one of the keys to stopping abuse is for people to step forward.

“If you know about child abuse, you’ve seen child abuse, and you know what’s going on and you don’t report it, you will be arrested for condoning child abuse also.”

Wofford is still in jail on a $50,000 dollar bond.