LANCASTER, Ohio -- Faced with a $2.5 million budget deficit, the Fairfield County Job and Family Services office decided it no longer could afford a full time child abuse investigator, so the position will disappear on May 1.
Gary Pierce has investigated sex crimes and child abuses cases in Fairfield County for more than 30 years, but his job at Job and Family Services officially ends May 1 -- the victim of necessary budget cuts.
Fairfield County JFS cut $2.5 million from its budget. Pierce says he had an idea his job was not safe because the position is not mandatory.
With just a little more than a week left on the job, Pierce is prepping case files to be transferred to Lancaster Police and the Sheriff's office.
"The children will suffer the most. It takes skill to get a child to open up about abuse," Pierce tells NBC4.
Lt. Gary Kennedy heads the Fairfield County Sheriff's office's detective division. He says its tragic that JFS cut Pierce's position.
It will now be up to his six detectives to investigate accusations of child abuse. Right now, only one is trained to interview children.
"When you are dealing with children, it's a whole different game than dealing with adult victims. They don't have the experience to verbalize what happened to them, so you have to be able to read certain signs and know how to answer questions simply enough that they can answer," Pierce said.
Kennedy says these cases will add greatly to their workload, where each officer easily investigates more than 100 other crimes each year.
Along with Pierce, five case workers will child protective services will also disappear.
The department has seen a 75 percent increase in the calls of abuse between 2003 and 2008.
There are preliminary plans to send another detective to specialized training for child abuse investigations.
Pierce is not alone. Child abuse investigators in other rural counties have also gotten the axe in the last year. He just hopes no child falls through the cracks in his absence.
April is child abuse prevention month. The Fairfield County Job and Family Services office will host its 8th annual candlelight walk event on Thursday in recognition. The even begins at their offices at 239 W. Main Street in Lancaster at 6:30 p.m.
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