The molestation of a 6-year-old by another boy at a Vero Beach shelter for abused and neglected children compounded the tragedy that led to the child and his younger brother being separated from their widowed father in the first place. Less certain is what the single May incident says about the safety of children in general at Hibiscus Children's Village.

After the 6-year-old's abuse, St. Lucie County Circuit Judge Scott Kenney ordered all eight St. Lucie children removed from Hibiscus. A case coordinator and Guardian Ad Litem official had expressed "grave concerns" about reports of abuse at the center since it opened in April 2004. So, why hadn't United for Families, the state Department of Children and Families' foster care agency on the Treasure Coast, investigated sooner?

There are now 16 children - from Martin and Indian River counties - at the village, which has space for 72 children. But if the shelter is unsafe for children from St. Lucie County, what makes it safe for children from Martin and Indian River counties?

CEO Jan Huffert hopes the changes she has made since the May incident will convince Judge Kenney that the ban on St. Lucie referrals should be lifted. "We discover it. We report it immediately," she said. "We put a safety plan in place to protect children, and a therapist is able to meet with them."

Hibiscus officials correctly increased supervision, checking on children in their beds every five minutes and specifically observing each child for signs of sexual aggression. Because the shelter has empty beds, children easily can be separated. "We are constantly improving our programs," said Ms. Huffert, whose agency is paid $3.5 million a year by UFF for several programs, including foster parent recruitment, shelter services at Hibiscus House in Jensen Beach and parent training toward reunification.

Hibiscus Children's Village staff work in overlapping shifts 24 hours a day. "There's no sleeping," Ms. Huffert said. The "24-hour awake" setup adds protection for children whose backgrounds and histories of sexual abuse are not always immediately known to caregivers at the shelter. That is just one challenge in combating a national problem of child-on-child sex abuse that experts say appears to be more prevalent, if not simply more frequently reported. The numbers of child-on-child sex crimes - in private homes and in state-monitored shelters - are high enough in Palm Beach County to warrant a full-time prosecutor in the state attorney's juvenile division.

Since the St. Lucie judge's order in May, one child at the Hibiscus village has reported seeing inappropriate sexual behavior between a 3-year-old and 5-year-old. That allegation, Ms. Huffert said, is being investigated. And Indian River County Undersheriff Bill Brunner has confidence in Hibiscus Children's Village. In a letter dated Aug. 16, he wrote: "Over the past two years, of the eleven times we have gone there on official business, seven incidents have been unfounded or no crime occurred, three have been referred to another jurisdiction and one has been exceptionally cleared because of insufficient evidence."

A judge will decide whether St. Lucie County can resume referrals to Hibiscus Children's Village of some of the county's most chronically and severely abused babies and pre-teens. United for Families must make sure safety of the children at the shelter does not require a judge's oversight.