Over the past decade, there has been an increase in reports of child abuse and neglect to government agencies in the United States. While this sounds like good news, more allegation coverage doesn’t necessarily make children safer. If an increase in reporting is not aimed at real risk, the shortcomings of a reformed child welfare system will be perpetuated.

Here’s why the problem is: It’s a straightforward process for hired reporters like doctors and teachers to call child protection services if they suspect abuse or neglect. But it’s too hard to get families in need the help they need before a crisis strikes. Assigned reporters often feel compelled to report because there are no other ways to help a family.

There is another problem behind this worrying trend. Poverty is often mistaken for neglect, leading to hired reporters showering child welfare systems with phone calls and tips on families in need, rather than what we think when we hear “abuse” or “neglect”.

For all child care successes, the system should continue to focus on intervening in the most serious cases. Even if parents are able to reunite their children, the trauma of investigation and removal can destabilize children and families for years to come.

The country needs a broader child welfare system that is geared towards supporting families. The way to do this is to help the parents before they get into trouble and before the decision is made to take their children. We need a policy that puts more focus and resources on empowering families rather than dividing them.

One of the most damaging effects of overreporting is who is being investigated. Black, Hispanic, and Native American families are disproportionately targeted by investigations and their children are often unjustly evicted from their homes. These families are more likely to be poor and therefore subject to increased scrutiny due to poverty conditions such as poor quality housing and food insecurity.

As assigned reporters, paediatricians and other health professionals are placed in an impossible situation. In the end, they contribute to racial prejudice because they are stuck between their legal reporting requirements and a lack of community resources. I believe that the reporting challenge and its harmful effects focus on this core issue. Too often we have nowhere else to go, except in the child support system, which tends to be punished.

The current system is failing too many children because it is overloaded with cases it shouldn’t have. The result is that other children who may be at risk from abuse are overlooked.

There is a better way. We need to invest in a system that allows families to seek support on their own and enables professionals like me who work with families at risk to connect parents and children in support. The goal should be to give families what they need – including shelter, food and access to psychiatric care and treatment for addictions.

Pediatricians develop close relationships with children and their parents, and we often see the fighting, but we become hampered in our efforts to help. Programs exist, but not enough of them, and they can be expensive and difficult to access.

At my clinic, we have been able to temporarily close that void for our families by receiving a grant to hire a social worker who is able to connect families to resources in the community and ensure they get the services they need.

The children of our nation would be far better off if, in addition to traditional child protection services, there could be a separate system tied to a robust network of services to help families in need.

To help families in need, we need less reporting and more support.

Dr. Valerie Borum Smith is a pediatrician at St. Paul Children’s Clinic in Tyler and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics Child Welfare and Health Policy. She wrote this column for the Dallas Morning News.

Do you have an opinion on this subject? Send a letter to the editor and you might get published.