Children know the ones hurting them.

In 90 percent of the Butler County Alliance for Children’s sexual abuse reports involving people under 18, the victims knew their attackers.

When 4-year-old Bentley Thomas Miller died last month, his mother’s boyfriend, Keith Lambing, was charged with homicide and sexual offenses.

Denna Hays, the executive director of the nonprofit child advocacy center at 1015 E. Jefferson St., said in a majority of cases tallied over the organization’s three years of existence the abuse comes at the hands of a parent or step-parent. Twenty cases involved a parent’s boyfriend or girlfriend.

Bentley’s death could draw greater attention to the alliance’s April Child Abuse Awareness Month events.

Since the alliance formed in late 2013 it has handled 559 cases involving children referred to it by police, the district attorney or the Department of Children and Youth Services.

Hays said, “Four hundred and fifty-six were identified as sexual abuse reports. Sixty three were cases of physical abuse, 11 were cases of neglect, one was a witness to violence, 17 were drug endangerment cases and 11 were ‘other.’”

Butler County Detective John Hertzog, whose primary focus is crimes involving child victims, said, “Everybody worries that the child abuse crime rate is increasing. I believe the mandatory reporting and the public awareness that has been brought forward by Children and Youth agency and the D.A. and law enforcement have increased.

“I believe the reporting has gone up and we are working cases that might not have been reported before,” he said.

According to Hertzog, in 2014 the state enhanced the Child Protective Services Law which brought about a change in mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse.

“I can tell from my records that I looked at or received about 643 incidents of suspected child abuse in 2015,” Hertzog said. “I looked at 841 in 2016, an increase of 31 percent.”

The reports led to 326 investigations in 2015 and about 368 in 2016, he said.

Hertzog said one source of reports is the state Department of Human Services Child Line, 800-932-0313. It is part of a mandated program designed to accept child abuse referrals and general child well-being concerns, and transmit the information quickly to the appropriate investigating agency.

Hays said the alliance serves as a place where child welfare staff, law enforcement officials, medical and mental professionals, prosecutors and victim advocates can meet to coordinate a response to allegations of child abuse,

By doing so, she said, the overall stress experienced by child victims is reduced and overall the quality of investigations is improved.

Hays said the alliance’s first priority is the needs of the young victim.

Hays said the alliance connects victims to medical examinations, community mental health services, victim advocacy and other services.

Some crimes wouldn’t have been possible 20 years ago.

Hays noted some of the cases classified as “other” included incidents originating online.

“It’s a reality, but it’s as scary as can be,” said Hays. “I’d be happy if people just kept their clothes on online. ‘Send me a nude’ is a norm for dating and flirting teens,” she said. “Teens dating will send each other nude pictures. Of course when they break up, those nudes get sent elsewhere and make it onto the Internet.”

In fact, Hays blamed the Internet for the troubling rise in child and human trafficking cases in Butler County.

“The Internet has added a whole new realm that has a lot of predators,” she said.

Hertzog agreed.

“The Internet is making child trafficking easier for the criminal, and parents should be very vigilant of their children’s activity on the computer,” he said.

“Parents must realize they are not their child’s friend. They are their guardian and protector and maintaining vigilance on the child’s activity online is paramount,” he said.

And it’s not just Internet connections that bring criminals closer to children.

“Western Pennsylvania is a hotbed of trafficking because of our road system,” Hays said.

Hertzog said, “The turnpike, Interstate 79, 80, these road bring a lot of people. It’s the same consideration as for drug trafficking; the mobility of a criminal is a factor in the crime.”