ELLSWORTH — All children dream nightmares. Far too many children actually live them.

“Child abuse is a societal problem,” Marie Kelly-Harding of Child Protective Services said Thursday. “In our society, children are often seen as property of the parents, who can do with them what they want,” including physically, emotionally and sexually abusing them.

The number of reported incidents of child abuse continues to rise in Hancock and Washington counties, Kelly-Harding said. Her agency in Hancock County typically receives 100 to 120 reports each month of child abuse and neglect, a number that has quadrupled since 1984.

In fact, Hancock County has the highest rate of reported sex abuse of any county in the state. With only six caseworkers, few of those cases are actually “opened” each month, Kelly-Harding explained.

At a one-day conference in Ellsworth Thursday, Kelly-Harding and Matthew Stewart, a detective with the criminal investigation division of the Maine State Police, explained their integrated role in investigating and dealing with child abuse cases.

The conference, sponsored by the Hancock County Children’s Council and the Sunrise County Children’s Task Force, drew about 100 participants, including public health nurses, day-care providers, staff from Washington-Hancock Community Agency, and others involved with the welfare of children. Jane Sheehan, Maine’s commissioner of Human Services, gave the keynote address at the conference, with a focus on the role of community and the DHS in protecting children.

Stewart described his role in investigating the increasing number of child abuse cases in Hancock and Washington counties.

“Children often feel responsible for getting the adult in trouble,” Stewart said. “We try to let them know that they are not responsible and let them know that we will protect them.”

Explaining that the roles of the detective and those of the DHS worker are different, Stewart said his primary goal when investigating a child abuse case is to protect the child and to prosecute any offender. Stewart said his investigation may include questioning the child, getting corroborative statements from any witnesses, obtaining physical evidence and interviewing the suspect.

Agreeing that child sex abuse is a growing problem, Stewart said there is an alarming network across the county that actively advocates sex between adults and children, with publications and photographs.

“We all realize that normal children have nightmares, but we also realize that some children live them,” Stewart said.

Kelly-Harding said there are many misconceptions about the role DHS plays, with some well-publicized stories implying DHS workers take children away from homes when they should not. Contrary to others involved in such cases, Kelly-Harding added, DHS workers cannot publicly talk about the cases or defend their actions.

“Most of our cases are not court cases,” she said. “We do not take children away in most cases … only if (there is) an immediate risk of serious harm.