Safe Harbor Children’s Advocacy Centers… An Effective Response to Child Abuse

It is a devastating occurrence that never seems to stay out of the headlines for long.

From an 8-year-old boy repeatedly sexually assaulted by a babysitter to a former homecoming queen convicted of physically abusing and locking her daughter in a basement for nearly two years as punishment, these stories all have something in common…Children in Georgia are suffering from an often-hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect.

When the news breaks, we are all stunned to learn that a monster was able to deceive and hurt so many.

“How could this happen?” “Were there any signs?” “Why wasn’t he or she arrested after the first report?”

As complicated as it may appear, the reality is quite simple. It wasn’t long ago when investigations of child abuse in Coastal Georgia was typical of many communities across Georgia. Prior to the development of the Children’s Advocacy Center model, a child disclosing child abuse or neglect would be subjected to numerous interviews. Social service and the criminal justice systems, at that time, were not working together in an effective manner which added to children’s emotional distress, and created a segmented, repetitious, and often frightening experience for child victims.

In response, Safe Harbor Center and other community leaders throughout the Brunswick Judicial Circuit recognized if they were to effectively tackle child abuse, like any criminal justice issue, collaboration across disciplines was a critical component of the solution. As a result, Safe Harbor has established the Children’s Advocacy Centers in Glynn, Camden, and Wayne counties to provide a safe, child-focused environment for children who disclose sexual assault, physical abuse, neglect, or have observed violence and/or abuse of another person.

To reduce the trauma of victims and their families, the centers utilize a multidisciplinary team approach for the identification, investigation, prosecution, treatment, and prevention of child abuse. The Children’s Advocacy Centers create a child-friendly setting, which puts victims at ease and allows professionals to do their work. A child forensic interviewer is trained to elicit all information in an unbiased and sensitive manner. Prosecutors, law enforcement, child protective service workers, medical personnel, mental health counselors, and others coordinate to ensure that all the necessary information is elicited from the child at one time. This multidisciplinary approach has proven effective in breaking the cycle of abuse in the Brunswick Judicial Circuit not only by seeking justice for child victims, but also by putting families and child victims on a sustainable path to healing.

On a recent afternoon, an 11-year-old girl came to the Children’s Advocacy Center after she had found the courage to tell someone about something bad a male relative did to her. The girl walked into the welcoming waiting room. She sat with a specially trained forensic interviewer who spoke to her in a comfortable room where she could sit in a chair just her size and talk about what had happened. The interview was recorded so she would not be forced to repeat the harrowing events again. Professionals from other disciplines watched via closed circuit TV so they could work together to conduct the best, most effective, thorough investigation. Once the interview was over, the girl’s mom was given information about mental health care that would help her daughter heal.

When the pair left the building, the girl was walking taller. She grabbed her mom’s hand and said, with a smile “Today it starts”. Her mom asked, “What starts?” “My new life,” she replied with a spring in her step she had not seen in months.

Unburdening herself of this terrible secret and knowing she was believed, this young lady was able to take the first steps of her new life, steps toward healing.

She did not need to know about all the work the professionals continued to do after she left. There was an investigation to complete, a potential arrest to be made and many more official actions to undertake. What she knew was that she had her fresh start.

In the context of a child’s life, the best argument for a child advocacy center is simply that it clears the path for a child victim to leave his or her victimization behind and have the hope to start again.