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PROVO, Utah (AP) -- The state Division of Child and Family Services is reporting a 22 percent increase in the amount of juvenile sex offenders it has seen between 2001 and 2005.
"We're seeing more of them and at younger ages," said Patricia Coburn, child welfare supervisor.
From 2001 to 2005, the agency saw a 23 percent increase in offenders between the ages 8 and 12.
Coburn and other members of a multi-agency committee recommend behavioral treatment, detention or a combination of the two for juvenile offenders. In 2005, the division intervened in 778 juvenile sex offender cases.
Without a survey of individual cases, "it's impossible to say" why there's the jump in juvenile cases, said state juvenile court administrator Ray Wahl.
But Wahl and others think it could be related to a shift in the state's response to teen offenders, driven by research showing that only 6 percent to 11 percent of treated juvenile offenders recommit sex crimes.
States used to treat teen offenders like adult offenders by locking them up with other criminals.
"The general philosophy today is to keep kids at the lowest possible level of oversight, closest to home or in the homes and in treatment," said Wahl.
DCFS is the most likely agency to help parents with resources and supervision, Wahl said.
Coburn and her staff typically deal with serious crimes, such as rape and aggravated sexual assault.
And sometimes finding a foster home for teen sex offenders is difficult. In six months of searching for foster homes willing to take in teen sex offenders, Coburn has found one.
"It's hard, because they can't have other kids in the home. And most people are turned off by the idea of sheltering a sex offender," she said.
Kathleen Jones, director of a sex offender probation unit in Utah County, is working with Coburn to persuade lawmakers to fund a "safe house" for the youngest sex offenders.
But sex offenders have received few breaks from Utah lawmakers. On the agenda this year are bills to impose harsher penalties on adult offenders. Policymakers also are pushing compliance with a new federal law that mandates the posting of the names of felony-level sex offenders 14 years and older on public registries.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
