« 5 convicted of rapes on island founded by Bounty mutineers | Main | Better action needed against sexual predators »
October 26, 2004
Protecting the children
Children's Advocacy Center provides support to victims
By Paul Swiech -- pantagraph.com
BLOOMINGTON -- A 3-year-old girl was playing with Sharon Klingman at the Children's Advocacy Center when the girl picked up an anatomically correct doll.
Using the doll, the girl showed Klingman, a crisis interventionist, what the girl's dad did to her and her 18-month-old sister.
Another time, Klingman was playing a role-reversal game with a boy, meaning he was playing the parent and she was playing the child. The boy tied her up, then asked, "Do you know what my dad did to me?"
"It (child sexual abuse) happens way too often," said Mary Whitaker, associate director for operations and a forensic interviewer at the center. "But it's never something you get used to hearing."
The Children's Advocacy Center, at 200 W. Front St. in Bloomington, provides support to victims of child sexual abuse and serious child physical abuse. It is among 29 agencies funded in part by the United Way of McLean County, whose 2004 fund-raising campaign is in its final three weeks. The goal is $4 million, an amount never raised before.
Like many other agencies, the center's 11 employees have been busier this year.
After seeing 241 children in McLean County in 2002, the number dipped last year to 188. But numbers are back up this year at 216 children.
Among Livingston County children, the center had 45 cases in 2002, 88 last year and 64 so far this year. In DeWitt County, the center served 23 children in 2002, 22 last year and 48 so far this year.
Billie Larkin, the center's executive director, isn't sure of the reasons for the increase. But she's worried the number of physical abuse cases involving children may increase as job layoffs take hold in McLean County this fall.
"When money isn't coming in, when the home environment becomes chaotic, for some people, behaviors change," she said.
Calls to the DCFS hot line (1-800-25ABUSE) or to police are given to the Children's Advocacy Center.
Whitaker, forensic interviewer for McLean County, or Jo Sipes, forensic interviewer for DeWitt and Livingston counties, interview the child in a child-friendly room at the center. In an adjoining room, representatives of police, Department of Children and Family Services, the states' attorney's office and a mental health professional observe. The child knows that the group is watching and listening.
Whitaker and Sipes are trained to interview potential abuse victims without asking leading questions. The other parties observe the interview so the child doesn't need to repeat an emotional story.
"Disclosure generally is a process, not an event," Whitaker said. Because some of the children don't understand what has been happening to them, they have difficulty describing it.
Larkin recalled a 10-year-old girl at a sleep-over who asked the girl who lived there when her dad would return to the bedroom after tucking her in for the night.
When she was told that the dad wouldn't be coming back, Larkin said the girl asked, "You mean your daddy doesn't sleep with you and touch you?"
Because some children are so traumatized or are so young that they can't describe what happened, they are sent to Klingman, who uses play therapy.
While there is no "average victim," Whitaker said a typical case may be a 9- or 10-year-old girl whose mother or guardian brought a man into the house to live with her. The man got to know the girl, they became comfortable with each other, and the abuse happened. Sometimes, it's a one-time incident and the child tells. Sometimes, it happens several times before the child inadvertently says something.
"Usually, the person is within the family or is a trusted friend," Whitaker said. The victim often says, "I don't want to get him in trouble. I just don't want him to do this to me again."
A good percentage of the cases involve penetration -- even among the very young, Whitaker said. Abusers often know what to do to minimize signs of assault.
"Occasionally, we have cases where we conclude that no abuse happened. Those cases are fine with us," Whitaker said.
When abuse does happen, the center has a medical room for the child; Jennifer Patton, McLean County assistant state's attorney, is assigned to the case; and the child and non-offending parent are provided an advocate throughout the process, Larkin said.
Some of the cases result in a plea by the defendant. Some go to court.
"Either way, the victim is protected," Larkin said.
Posted by Nealus at October 26, 2004 11:58 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
