BOE member wants to help DYS to reverse trend of child abuse and neglect cases

A member of the Board of Education wants the Public School System to help the Division of Youth Services in reversing the alarming trend of child abuse and neglect cases in the CNMI.

BOE member Andrew L. Orsini said child abuse and neglect cases were very alarming for a small community like the CNMI, while noting that the DYS report didn’t include the number of child suicides.

“It didn't provide a breakdown on how many are child abuse and suicides, as far as the data is concerned. I care deeply about this issue, as should everyone else on these islands, as the CNMI has the highest underage suicides in the U.S. per capita.”

Orsini then urged DYS to approach the problem by tackling it as more of a family issue.

“In the CNMI, families have strong ties to each other, and so if there is an issue in one individual, it might be a sign that there should be more outreach of support to their families, not just the students affected by such causes. Entire families may need to be guided to recovery, not just individuals.”

Orsini also volunteered PSS’ help to DYS in reversing the troubling trend.

“DYS currently works closely with PSS, but our manpower is a lot greater—we, the PSS, can be more supportive to DYS if the partnership should grow and continue.”

According to new data from the latest data from DYS, Child Protective Services is now handling 519 active cases involving 1,450 child victims.

Child abuse cases continued to surge at the start of the new fiscal year, with 41 new cases reported since Oct. 1, 2025, adding to a large backlog of 478 still-active cases carried over from FY 2025.

The carryover underscores the steep rise in workload Child Protective Services has faced in recent years. FY 2025 closed with 776 child abuse cases—a 52% jump from the previous year—and 2,114 child victims, the highest levels recorded over the past five fiscal years. Neglect, emotional abuse, and “other” categories such as domestic violence exposure and truancy saw the largest increases.

Child Protective Services officials say the agency continues to respond to growing reports of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, and other high-risk situations, with FY 2026 already showing early signs that the upward trend may continue.

Meanwhile, Orsini gave his 2 cents worth on PSS’ $31-million budget for fiscal year 2026, describing it as unfair and insufficient for PSS to operate.

“PSS has used millions of pandemic relief funds to fund its operations so that the central government can stabilize itself, permitting the local share for PSS to be much lower than it should have been. Now that those federal funds allotted to PSS have run dry, the Legislature seems to have forgotten that we have covered for the central government. Now it's the central's turn to cover for PSS.”

In any case, he said the CNMI Constitution mandates that PSS is entitled to 25% of the local government's total yearly gross collection.

He, however, shakes his head that the computation used by the legislative and executive branches ultimately reduces the actual budget allocation to what PSS should receive and deserve.

Aside from that, Orsini also aired his concern about the Legislature’s political interference as to how the PSS should spend its provided budget.

“To me, it oversteps the CNMI Constitution by having non-partisan elected school board members make these decisions. They should just provide the budget needed/requested and let the PSS fulfill its constitutional responsibilities to allocate how the money should be spent on each of the needs and priorities of the Public School System.”

For Orsini, the Legislature is allowed to make recommendations, but it needs to trust the experts in PSS to make the best decisions on how PSS should spend its funds.

“You would not tell an expert chef how to cook a meal on their menu, so why would you tell expert educators what makes a successful graduate? There are many important priorities that parents and students want to make their futures the best possible. Therefore, the constitution has entrusted the BOE, through its Education commissioner, to be trusted to spend the allocated amounts in the best interest of its students and school system, as a whole.”

As for the perceived infighting at the BOE that led it to cancel a recent board meeting due to a lack of quorum, Orsini essentially said it comes with the territory.

“I've been on the board for almost seven years. [Previous to that] I've been on the Northern Marianas College Board of Regents for four years, and I've been on the Board of Regents at the University of Guam for four years. A healthy board has discussions and has members agreeing and disagreeing on different matters. Over the years, I've agreed and disagreed so many times with so many different board members, but at the end of each day, we should respect one another because we understand the rationale of one another, even if their solution opposes our own. I understand that in the modern world, this form of politics is disappearing, but I seek to uphold these values in whatever board I'm trusted to be on.”